As an important part of any home, a kitchen should be given as much attention as you would a bedroom or living room. And plus, who wouldn’t be inspired to use a kitchen that looks neat and clean?
There are many ways to organize your kitchen so that it suits your taste. But it shouldn’t only be about the aesthetic. Kitchen organization should also be efficient for you. And more importantly, it should be simple and easy to stick to.
Here are five steps to get your kitchen looking like it’s been designed by a professional—minus the fees!
Clear Out Your Kitchen
As with any cleaning project, the first step is clearing out the area. Remove all your kitchen tools from your cabinets and drawers. You may put them on your counter or table temporarily. The point is to make sure no items are left on the shelves. Just get everything out.
And while you’re at it, you might also want to declutter your kitchen. Throw out expired food from your fridge. Get rid of all the utensils that are too worn out to be used. Try selling or donating items that you don’t really need but are still functional enough for others to use.
If you’re living alone and don’t have many people coming over to your house every now and then, you certainly don’t need to keep 15 plates or mugs in your kitchen. Downsizing is the key, especially if you don’t really have enough room in your kitchen to store multiple items that serve the same purpose.
If you’re still not completely sold on the idea, just remember: the fewer items you have, the easier it will be for you to place them back in your storage units and organize them.
Wipe the Surfaces
Once you’ve gotten everything out of storage, it’s time to put on some cleaning gloves and get a wet towel. Clean every compartment of your kitchen cabinets and drawers. Even if you regularly clean your kitchen (which you should, by the way), dust still accumulates on your shelves.
Wipe all the surfaces you can see in your kitchen—even countertops and the top of your fridge or cabinets. You can use a store-bought cleaning solution or make one yourself. Just make sure that it wouldn’t damage delicate surfaces in your kitchen.
If your kitchen isn’t that dusty, wetting a towel with water is usually enough to clean the surfaces and make them look new.
Remember that a clean kitchen also automatically looks and feels more luxurious.
While cleaning, you might notice that there are some issues with your cabinets—minor dents, damaged handles or hinges, chipped paint, etc. Now would be the best time to have them repaired or retouched.
You can DIY simple repairs. But if you suddenly feel like you need to change your cabinets, call in some professionals to do the job for you.
Segregate Your Kitchen Tools
Once you’ve cleaned your kitchen, it’s time to put your focus back on the kitchen tools you’ve taken out of storage.
It can get overwhelming, especially when you have a lot of things around. But don’t worry. The easiest way to go about it is to segregate them.
You can devise your own system for classifying your kitchen tools. Make sure it works for you and your needs. The goal is to make your kitchen as accessible as possible.
But if we may offer some advice, it would be best to group together your dinnerware—plates, bowls, cups, mugs, spoons, forks, and knives. Gather your pots, pans, and other cooking utensils in another area.
Place all your spices and dry goods together. These are the things that won’t go into your fridge but rather your pantry if you have one.
It would also be nice to group all things coffee-related together. Yes, we mean your coffee maker, coffee pods, creamer, and sugar. If you have some wine bottles and shot glasses around, you can also group them together with the coffee.
You should also have a separate group for all your cleaning materials—those that usually go under the sink. We mean cleaning solutions, brushes, towels, garbage bags, and other similar things.
Put Them in the Right Places
Once you’ve grouped together all your kitchen items, it’s time to decide where you should place them.
The things you use every day (dinnerware and cookware) should be placed somewhere easy to reach. If you have items that you wish to use more often, place them at eye level so that you can always see them.
Placing things high up your cabinets or at the far corner of your drawers only makes it less likely for them to be used. Remember that last tub of ice cream or bar of chocolate you hid at the back of your fridge because you wanted to save it for another day? Neither do we.
The only things you should be placed on your top shelves are the special dinnerware that you only take out when you host parties or have people over. Also, if you don’t often bake, you can store your baking supplies high up in your cabinets. Make sure they’re all in one place, though!
Keep it Up
The hardest part of organizing your kitchen is probably maintaining it. Let’s face it—you won’t always have the time to put back your kitchen tools where you got them. This is especially true when you’re running late for work or preparing for a dinner party.
But again, sticking to a simple and efficient storage system for your kitchen makes things much easier. If you store your plates and pans within reach, chances are you’d find it less of a hassle to immediately put them back in place after washing them.
Maintaining your organized kitchen takes some time and effort on your part. But once you get used to it, it should no longer be hard to keep up.
Kitchen Interior Design
Sometimes all you need to make your kitchen look like a luxurious part of your house is to organize it. If you have open shelves, it might be nice to get matching kitchenware so that it’s pleasing to the eyes.
Kitchen organization can be tiring, but it sure is fun! You’ll be much happier going into a clean kitchen. And hey, it might even inspire you to try out new recipes!
To recap, here are five steps to have your kitchen looking like it’s been designed by a pro:
- Take out all of your kitchen tools and utensils from your cabinets and drawers. Place them on your counter or table in the meantime.
- Wipe all the surfaces in your kitchen—even the tops of your cabinets and fridge. Use a cleaning solution or water to make sure your kitchen is spotless.
- Group your kitchen tools depending on how you use them. Our advice? Segregate them into dinnerware, cookware, pantry, coffee and bar, and cleaning materials.
- Once done, place your items back on the shelves. Make sure that the ones you use every day are at eye level and are easy to reach.
- Try your best to stick to your new kitchen organization system so you can always have a neat kitchen.
But if you don’t have the time to sit down and organize your kitchen yourself, try getting in touch with an interior designer. They should be able to help you make your kitchen look so much more put together. They can also share some tips on how you can maintain the space better.
