Organize Your Kitchen - 9 Simple Steps

The kitchen duties we perform fall into four different categories: cooking, baking, eating and food storage. It is easy to identify these specific tasks; therefore, it makes sense to likewise divide your equipment by task and to store those items in specific areas of your kitchen. Following are nine guidelines to consider in order to create a kitchen where all of your tools are easily accessible when and where you need them.

1. Find a place as close to the sink as possible where you can put all of your food preparation gadgets. Tools you might include here would be your food processor, a salad spinner and your favorite bowl.

2. The next step is to store all your pots and pans near the stove. Personally, I like keeping my pots and their lids together.

3. I find myself baking only on special occasions, so it doesn’t bother me if these items aren’t right next to the sink. But if you bake every day, you might want to keep your baking pans, mixing bowls and measuring cups closer to the sink. No matter whether you’re an occasional or everyday baker, be sure to store all your baking supplies together.

4. Find a way to organize your dishes, glasses, silverware, napkins and place mats so that setting the table can be speedy and enjoyable. In other words, also keep these items in an established area. The first three typically have traditional places to occupy. Store napkins and placements in the drawer closest to where you typically eat. Design your command stations so they follow a logical flow of energy consumption. For example, you are wasting steps if you store your place mats at the opposite end of the kitchen from where you eat. Your wasted steps equal wasted time. Don’t squander your life force—direct it!

5. Remember, you need to establish a home for containers and other food-storage items. What could be more wasteful than spending your time walking around in circles looking for foil in one area and one of those infamous plastic storage containers in another? Arrange your kitchen in such a way so that you avoid those moments of muttering under your breath, "I can never find anything in this kitchen!"

6. Store your small tools in drawers according to their function. You don’t want to find a rolling pin, a knife sharpener and a tea ball in the same place. If you have the drawer space, then keep your baking items together in one, your cooking utensils in another and specialty items and gadgets, such as that pizza cutter, in a third.

7. Lots of cooks find it practical to store their most frequently used tools in a container on the counter. In you can find the counter space, use a container that’s both functional and attractive. Then keep those tools you use less frequently tucked away in a drawer.

8. Some good drawer liners will prevent slipping and sliding. It’s also a good idea to find some small containers in various sizes to house your tools. You wouldn’t want to get everything neatly divided, only to discover a chaotic mess forming in your drawer.

9. I have found that in every kitchen there is always that one drawer, which I have dubbed "the macho drawer." Here can be found the screwdriver, a small hammer and perhaps some picture hooks or nails. Finding some multi-sectioned plastic containers will help you organize the tiny treasures lurking in this drawer. Try and minimize the amount of macho supplies you keep in the kitchen, and store them in a deep-bottom drawer close to the ground. If you have the room, place a small toolbox in your pantry and completely free up this drawer.

Dining Furniture
After organizing your kitchen consider adding a solid handmade American dining set to your formal dining room.