Steps to an Organized Kitchen

The kitchen can be a complex room. So much goes on in there. There is a constant daily use of supplies and dishes and cleaning going on. So being well organized is a necessity. This is a room that needs a plan and a good routine to keep things moving.

One way to come up with a plan to better organize your kitchen is to step back and look at your kitchen and consider all that you do in there. The variety of meal preps, the storage of food, pots and pans, the baking, cooking, etc. Then break your kitchen up into zones.

You can start with a baking zone. Examine where you keep your supplies. A baking zone will have measuring cups for both dry and liquids, measuring spoons, mixing bowls, as well as spices, baking powder, soda, etc. You want everything simple to access so that making a batch of muffins does not become a chore of digging around to find needed supplies and equipment or walking from one side of your kitchen to the other. I stay in one area of my kitchen and access all I need while I bake.

The next zone would be the cooking zone. Near my stove I have my pots and pans in a cupboard. I also have a cupboard with all my spices and herbs at easy reach. In a drawer next to my stove are my spatulas, large stirring spoons, ladles, etc.. anything that I may need in close handy reach while cooking at the stove.

Then there is the cutting zone. I put all my knives in one drawer and my cutting board sets on the counter above this. These are right next to my refrigerator so I can easily pull out whatever may need to be chopped, sliced and cubed.

There are a few other things to consider when organizing your kitchen. One is where to put the plates, bowls, cups and silverware. You don't want to have to walk across the kitchen to put these away after having unloaded them from the dishwasher. You want this to be in easy reach as well.

Small appliances are another consideration. I am always amazed when I walk into kitchen stores and see the variety of little appliances and machines to do everything! Last week I even saw a machine for making s'mores! I had to laugh a bit because someone could end up needing a whole room in their house if they were to get a machine for each task! But of course most of us don't do this, but we do have a few that are important to us. If you have the counter space you can keep the ones you use most regularly on the counter; if not then perhaps a cupboard or a pantry shelf. But keep in mind that if it is something you use regularly you will want to have easy access to it so using it does not become a chore.

Finally consider the little things you do in a kitchen and make these things convenient for your use as well. An example of this is when I was moving things into my kitchen last year I thought about where to put the toaster. The problem with my chosen spot was that it was on the other side of where the cutting board was. We would have to cut our bread on one side and walk to the other end of the kitchen to access the toaster. So I had to move the toaster and it sits next to the cutting board now.

So if you are doing any extra cleaning in your kitchen you may want to take the time to reorganize your kitchen and make it a place that is easy to work in!

Crystal Miller is a mother of 8 children and enjoys her God given role as wife, homemaker and mother! She has a homemaking and country living web site called The Family Homestead http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com and has a free monthly newsletter called Homestead Happenings. You will find sign up information on her website.

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