|
Organize Your Kitchen
The kitchen is the heart
of the home. It is a gathering
place, a
special place. From your
kitchen come sights, scents and
sounds that signal the appetite. It
is the most memorable place in your
home.
Your kitchen
might come complete with plenty of
cabinets, cupboards and drawers, and
some may not. Whatever your unique
situation, it's how you utilize the
space you have and how you discover
ways to add more storage solutions
(as needed) that makes a difference.
An
efficient kitchen
Use the
cupboards and drawers in the kitchen
to contain items that are grouped
together.
For example,
place your dishes in a cupboard that
is either near the eating table or
near the sink area. Food should be
gathered with like-items together,
and not spread out into different
cabinets that contain unrelated
items (or having the same type food
item put in two places).
Place your
coffee machine on a counter-top
above a cabinet area. Place your
coffee and tea items together near
the machine. Pots and pans can
placed near the stove area.
To start with,
it might be best to empty out the
cabinets, one section at a time, and
rearrange the items back into
cabinets that best suit "the flow"
of how you work in your kitchen.
Take your time for this takes some
thought.
When you decide
you organize you will have a place
for everything and everything in its
place. To accomplish this you will
need organizing "tools" in which to
store items. You can browse through
catalogs or department stores for
ideas on what to buy.
Get away from
cluttering the counters with too
many appliances. If you use the
appliance often enough, keep it out.
If not, keep it stored away where it
cannot be seen. Consider building a
shelf above the counter to hold
appliances. This will free up your
counter space to work on.
Establish a
place in your kitchen to keep 1) a
message center and/or paper-related
items, like a note pad and pens near
the phone, 2) cookbooks and recipe
boxes, 3) a mail center...
Organize your
refrigerator in the same way as you
would any other cabinet: group
like-items together. Try to avoid
keeping leftover foods in containers
that sit in the back of the shelves,
as they often go bad and smell up
your fridge. It's a good idea to
clean out the refrigerator weekly to
be rid of foods that have "expired."
Take advantage
of these few tips. You will enjoy
your kitchen that much more.
next
Cynthia Cunningham is also the
Program Director for POSA
Professional Organizers of San
Antonio
|
