11
Steps to an Ordered Kitchen
by Karen Henke
1) Revaluate your cupboards. Is there wasted room in between
widely spaced shelves?
Add a plate rack or an expanding shelf rack. Add rollout shelves,
spice racks or a lazy Susan.
If the items you are storing inside the cupboard don’t
use the full depth, mount racks to the inside of the cupboard
door. Just double check your clearance. Some take as little
as two inches of depth.
Mount under-the- cabinet appliances like microwaves and coffeemakers.
This will free up counter space
2) Add cabinets. Wall cabinets can be installed as base cabinets
when there is not enough depth for a base cabinet. Serving
carts and mini islands are a great way to add storage and
a little more work space.
3) Evaluate your fridge. Carousel trays and baskets can be
very useful. In our old fridge, items that touched the back
wall of the refrigerator would freeze. I started storing things
in plastic baskets to create a buffer. I still use a basket
for duplicate items that we use frequently. It is our refrigerator
pantry. I use it to store things like butter, cheese and pesto.
It prevents us from having 2 tubs of cream cheese open at
the same time.
4) Think vertically. Mount a rack for pots and pans. Install
a shelf 18” from the ceiling for oversized bowls or seldom
used cookbooks. Store items in the open space above your cabinets
if you don’t have a soffit. Use baskets if you want camouflage.
5) Store spices alphabetically. There are many ways to store
spices: on racks inside upper cabinets, drawer racks, stair
step organizers in the cupboard and spinners on the counter.
My small drawers wouldn’t accommodate the angled drawer
rack that I had my eye on. So I sat the bottles upright in
the drawer. I always buy the same brand, so the jars were
all the same size. Since I couldn’t read the labels,
I attached labels to the lids and then placed them in alphabetical
order.
While you’re creating a home for your spices, dispose
of anything that is over three years old. If you aren’t
sure, give it the sniff test. If you can’t get much of
a scent it is probably too old.
6) Eliminate duplicates. How many saucepans do you need? How
many cheese graters and cookie sheets and plastic tumblers,
do you actually use?
7) Rethink all of your extra gadgets and appliances. Do you
need a juicer and a blender and a food processor? Or will
one do the job? Do you need an electric can opener or is the
manual sufficient?
I once bought a deluxe hand held cheese grater. I found it
time consuming to disassemble and wash it. I noticed that
I wasn’t using it as much as my standard grater. So now
I am back to the manual method.
8) Recycle in the kitchen if possible. Set up a recycling
center as close to the kitchen as possible. The kitchen is
where the majority of the recycling waste is generated and
collected. So it makes sense to keep it close for convenience
sake. It would work well if it were stationed in a base cabinet
or somewhere near the trash can. Keeping it close will encourage
the habit of recycling. Make it easy to use and it will get
used.
9) Store items near their point of use. Store plates and glassware
near the dishwasher for easy unloading. Keep spices close
to the stove. (Don’t store them above the stove or they
will dry out.) I have a basket in the cupboard devoted to
school lunch supplies. Lunch bags are stored in the drawer
below. Keeping things close makes you work more efficiently.
10) Cookbooks. Determine how many you really use. Dispose
of any that you haven’t opened in the last two years.
As with everything, our interests, and tastes, change. Pass
it on to someone who may be newly interested in your old interests.
Here are a few ways to keep track of your favorite recipes:
Make a list of favorites and attach them to the inside cover
of the book.
Use 3M Post-it Durable tabs to mark a page. You can write
on the label and remove it like a post-it note!
Or, create a recipe binder. Scan favorite recipes and insert
them into plastic sleeves. Keep them in a 3 ring binder. My
notebook holds recipes from magazines, the scanned recipes
and family favorites. I have a pocket divider that holds recipes
I want to try. Condensing all of our favorites into one book
saves valuable counter space. Since my kitchen is small I
keep all other cookbooks on a bookshelf in another room.
11) Plan first, purchase second. There are so many great products
available. If you wander down the aisles before you are ready,
you may be tempted to buy the wrong things. Assign every item
a home. If you know that all the plates will fit in the cupboard,
but stacking is cumbersome; you are ready for the plate rack.
Go to the store with the dimensions of your cupboards. Yes,
most sizes are standard, but you sometimes need to know a
few other details.
How much clearance do you have for a pullout? Is there enough
depth inside your cabinet to install a spice rack without
it bumping into other items that are stored on the shelves?
Will the door still close? Are your shelves fixed or adjustable?
If they are fixed, the height between shelves would be an
important measurement to know.
The width and inside height of drawers is valuable when looking
for drawer dividers. Make sure they aren’t too high or
the drawer won’t close.
The guys on This Old House always say: “Measure twice
and cut once.” I say measure first and go to the store,
once!
Copyright
2006 Come2Order
Karen Henke is the owner of Come2Order in Minneapolis, MN.
Visit www.come2order2day.com
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