The worst feeling in the world is when you need to prepare a quick dinner after a long day at work, and you just can’t find your tools and things! You can’t find your misplaced ingredients or the shelves are overflowing with all the extra items that should have been somewhere but there! This is when you need to put your feet firmly down and decide to de-clutter your kitchen.
The best way to de-clutter and enhance kitchen interior is to start organising your kitchen by placing the items under two headings, do they serve your kitchen and do these things make you happy by just being there. If the answer to both the questions is a resounding ‘no,’ then you should start throwing them out. Let’s have a look at the common areas that only waste your space and how to get rid of them!
Keep as less plastic as possible
[Image: Studio Dearborn]
All the plastic bags and bottles that have been accumulated for all these days/ weeks/ months to be used “just in case”, need to be discarded. However, to realistically stock some of them for the actual need we can keep around 10 that we genuinely reuse.
Just pick a handful of bottles and bags that you think will be useful and make room for them to be stored neatly in your kitchen. You can recycle the remaining as they will hardly ever be used again.
Clean up later
[Image: Gabriel Holland Interior Design]
Spare yourself the extra work. Don’t tidy up the kitchen before you begin de-cluttering. Doing so before will leave you with extra work on your hands and there is no point of tidying up when you know things will be messy again. Why put the things back when you know you will throw them away?
Remove out-dated stuff from your pantry
[Image: Moylans Design Limited]
Just sift through your canteen and cupboards that hold all the cans and jars. Remove all the things that are past their expiration date. If you think there is something in your cabinet that you will use for sure, keep it aside and mark a date. If you do not use it by, then it’s time to chuck it away.
Rearrange the food containers
[Image: Dura Supreme Cabinetry]
Don’t be scared every time you open up your cupboard or drawer that is full of plastic containers. It is time that they all be taken out and cleaned and matched with all the lids. Throw away any box that does not have a matching lid and does not complete your neat set of boxes.
Set priority on your appliances
[Image: Torie Jayne]
Kitchen appliances are the biggest culprits when it comes to wasting space. They are not only huge in size but are used very occasionally. This is why you need to sort your appliances as per the ones that you will use every day and the ones that are being hardly used. You can place the everyday use appliances on the countertop. Pack the rest away if you only use them on certain occasions. Keeping the countertops clean is a great way to make your kitchen appear larger and organized.
Donate the extra dishware
[Image: Higham Furniture]
We just hold onto our dishware, old and new, because we are too greedy to throw them away. However, do you realize how much space they are taking and what other better things you can do with that empty space if the old dishes are discarded? Pick out your least favourite set and put it behind for at least a week. If you are able to forget about and get along just fine then it is time you donate the set for good.
Sort the utensils
[Image: Woodworks Inc.]
Simply going through your utensils you will come across the ones that have not been used in a long time. You should donate these items and put the ones that are used regularly within reachable distance. Find a spot that can be dedicated to these items. It can be a drawer or some space on your countertop.
Organise the foils and wraps
[Image: Venegas and Company]
The best way of organising foils and wraps is by putting them in a single drawer. However, you don’t want that drawer to be another hot mess so only use it for the things it has been earmarked for. Make sure that you keep the rolls tidily next to one another and if you still have some space left to use, add a tray so that you can store other items too, albeit in a separate slot.
Box the items that you are uncertain about
[Image: Adam Butler Photography]
If you still find some items that you think you will use and have not been able to throw away, you can box them together. Write a date by which you intend to use it and move it to a garage or a loft. If you stumble upon this box by accident and realize that you have never felt the need to use these items then you can discard them.
Sort the take-out menus and recipe books
[Image: Hutchison Furniture and Interiors]
Take a look at all the menus and books and store only those that you are going to use or have been using in the past. If there is a book that has not been used in some time like a year, then it is time to send it away. You can also gift it to someone if you want to inspire them to cook.
If there is a takeout menu that you have never used to order food, then you can throw it away. There are also many menus that can be seen online so don’t keep paper menus as they are space wasters.
These simple tips are just tricks to organize your space in an effective and functional way, and also, to augment kitchen interiors. This is extremely important to de-clutter your kitchen to save you not only time but also energy by keeping things organized.
