8 Tips For A Clutter-Free Kitchen

Image courtesy of planetgreen.discovery.com

This week I launched an assault on my household nemesis, kitchen clutter.  I drew a line in the sand and declared that I wanted my counter tops back.  And now that it's done, I can't believe how much better it looks! I had to reorganize once or twice and learned some good lessons.  Take advantage of these here. 

1. Ruthlessly edit counter top appliances.  Counter tops are prime real estate in the kitchen so you shouldn't give up that space to precious appliances that duplicate each others' uses.  Strongly consider shelving any appliance that's used less than twice per week.
2. Coordinate the color of any needed jars and canisters to match your counter tops or walls. The common color scheme will create a space that looks uniform instead of highlighting the items on your counter tops.
3. Ditch the utensil canisters if you have decent drawer space for those utensils.
   
4. Use the built-in soap dispenser if you have one.  One less bottle on your counter top.
5. Consider carefully which side you'll put the dish rack on if it has to be on the counter.  Putting it on the side with the smaller amount of space is a nice trick that leaves you with a more unbroken counter top space on the other side to use for preparing food.  If it takes up the space that once attracted the junk mail and other clutter villains, all the better.
6. Follow the "one item in, one item out" rule and apply it by category (pans to pans, knives to knives etc).  If you're looking at the newest beehive-shaped cake pan, think about which other cake pan would get the boot to make room.
7. Switch to e-bill through your bank and elect to receive your bills online.  You might think of this as deferring the mail that piles up on your counters to your inbox, and you'd be right.  But it's one better in that it saves you the step of shredding the bill after it's been paid.  You'll be delighted at how easy paying bills online is too.
8. Tray organizers aren't just for forks and knives.  After you've dumped the cluttersome utensil jars, get that drawer functioning beautifully with an organizer that keeps your spatulas, spoons, and whisks in nice, neat sections.  Remember to consider how long the the trays need to be to fit your cooking paraphernalia when selecting the right one(s) for you.  Great options start at $10.49.