The kitchen becomes a part-time office when everything is neat and organized.
It's much easier to cook in a well-organized kitchen. The time invested in making every section neat and organized will save lots of time in food preparation and putting things away later. You can divide up the job, so you can spend a few hours or a couple of days getting everything into place. An important bonus of going through everything in the kitchen is that you'll find cooking utensils and other items you haven't seen in a while. When you complete the project, you'll have a fresh start on cooking in a more organized way. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
Give Everything a Home
1. Move pots and pans near the stove. Base cabinets with deep drawers built into a kitchen island make a good place to store these larger cooking utensils. Lower cabinets on either side of the range are ideal places for pots, pans, baking dishes and iron skillets, for example. Pile pots and pans on a countertop and remove any that look old or worn. Store the ones in good shape in an orderly fashion. Create a system for quickly finding lids, too.
2. Place glasses and dishes near the kitchen sink. Use cabinets on upper walls on each side of the sink for drinking glasses and plates used daily. Reserve this space so that dishes coming out of the dishwasher can quickly be put on shelves in cabinets overhead. Toss out old cups, chipped glasses, badly stained mugs and cracked plates.
3. Place canned goods and spices in upper cabinets near the stove. Use a pantry for most canned items, but keep frequently used canned goods within reach of the range. Store small cans of green beans, evaporated milk or jars of spaghetti sauce near the cooktop, for example. Keep your favorite spices there, too. Make sure you write the date on spices, and toss out outdated spices and herbs.
4. Store dry goods and cereals in base cabinets. Use air-tight containers for large quantities of flour, sugar, oatmeal and similar ingredients. Buy plastic containers made especially for cereals to fit in lower cabinets. Encourage kids to help keep everything in the dry-goods cabinet neat and organized. Wipe out shelving in this storage space periodically to avoid attracting small insects.
5. Create a larger pantry outside the kitchen's main work space. Use a double-door pantry cabinet in a nearby hallway or laundry room to store cake mixes, large cans of vegetables and other food items not needed near the cooktop. Install a lazy Susan in this cabinet, along with glide-out drawers that will hold items for easy viewing. Keep the main pantry away from the main kitchen, so it's easy to put away groceries there without cluttering the kitchen.
Create Storage for Small Items
6. Buy storage bins for under-the-sink storage. Place dishwasher detergent, sponges, cleaning supplies and miscellaneous items in plastic storage containers. Use large bins so that moving everything out from under the sink will require only a few steps.
7. Keep small items and flatware in drawers. Store jar lids, clothespins, flatware and small kitchen tools in drawers near the kitchen sink or stove. Designate one drawer for dish-washing cloths and drying towels, along with one or two drawers for flatware. Toss out bent spoons, old kitchen tools and stained cloths as you put everything back in neat order within the drawers. Buy drawer dividers to help keep small items separate and organized.
8. Have a catch-all cabinet for holiday and picnic items. Buy a cabinet for storing odd items that all families have on hand. Put table candles, holiday platters and folded tablecloths for picnicking in this cabinet. Toss out everything that looks worn or outdated, so the cabinet contains everything in a neat fashion. Use plastic bins to store everything from packs of birthday candles to a small flower arrangement for special occasions.
Tags: neat organized, pots pans, along with, canned goods, containers large, cooking utensils, everything from
