Organizing A Kitchen

By Cyndi Seidler

Reprinted from Organized Living newsletter, May/June 2001 issue

The kitchen is one of the main areas of activity in a household. It should therefore be a place you can enjoy being in.

Some kitchens have plenty of cabinets, cupboards and drawers, and some do not. Whatever your situation, it's how we utilize the space we have and how we discover ways to add more storage solutions (as needed) that makes a difference.

KITCHEN EFFICIENCY

The cupboards and drawers in the kitchen should contain items that are grouped together.

For example, dishes should be in a cupboard that is either near the eating table or near the sink area. Food should be situated with like-items together, and not spread out into other cabinets that contain unrelated items (or having the same type food item put in 2 places).

If your coffee machine is resting on a counter-top above a cabinet area, it would be handy to have the coffee and tea items together near the machine. Pots and pans should be near the stove area.

In organizing or re-organizing a kitchen, it might be best to empty out the cabinets, one section at a time, and rearrange the items back into cabinets that best suit "the flow" of how you work in your kitchen.

A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING

As with organizing any area, there should be a place for everything and everything in its place. This would involve having the correct organizing "tools" in which to store items. You can browse through catalogs or department stores for ideas.

Avoid cluttering the counters with too many appliances. If you use the appliance often, keep it out. If not, keep it stored in a cabinet. In some kitchens, you can build a shelf above the counter to hold appliances. This frees up your counter space to work on.

Establish a section of your kitchen to keep 1) a message center and/or paper-related items, like a note pad and pens near the phone, 2) cookbooks and recipe boxes, 3) a mail center (if no office).

ORGANIZING YOUR REFRIGERATOR

Organize your refrigerator like you would any other cabinet: group like-items together. Try to avoid keeping left-over foods in containers that sit in the back of the shelves, as they often get forgotten. It's a good habit to clean out the refrigerator weekly to get rid of food that has "expired."

These are a few tips on making your kitchen a place you'll enjoy working and being in.

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