It’s spring-cleaning time of year. Are you fan or foe?
I love the brighter days but wow! This house needs cleaning! 1 husband, 3 kids and 4 dogs in a farmhouse at the end of mud season will do that! I’ve been going through a drawer at time but it’s not enough. Time to bring out the big guns. Time to hire a carpet cleaner, go through room by room; take things to the charity shop and the dump.
We all need to get to grips with the mess and get rid of some of the clutter from time to time. And the kitchen is a good place to get to start with as it’s so central to our homes. Most kitchens have a junk drawer (or 2) where useless charging cords multiply when you’re not looking. Yes, you need to get rid what is broken, duplicated or not used. But what if your kitchen was easier to deal to keep tidy?
Thoughtful design will make it easier to keep organised and tidy.
There are some things when designing a kitchen that will make it easier to clean and keep tidy.
Plan a home for everything. When things have a place to live it’s much easier to put it away. Do you use it every day and so does it need to live out on the worktop (a coffee machine, for example) or is it an occasional use and can be put away? Does it need a shallow drawer or a deep one? A shelf or cupboard? Even plan where the docking station for the robot vacuum goes – build it into a cupboard and plinth if you can.
- Really think through your workflow in the layout. From where the shopping comes into the kitchen, the placement of the fridge, the prep and washing area, moving on to the cooking zone and finally serving. Try and create storage for the things you need in the right place. Your mugs and teabags near your kettle or boiling water tap. Your serving dishes towards the end of the flow.
- Getting the right inserts for drawers and cupboards can make a huge difference to the function of the space. Cutlery and utensil dividers can keep those drawers organised and make it easy to put you hands on what you need. And while you’re there, cull your utensils: How many spatulas and wooden spoons do you actually need?
- Drawers make it easier to find things than cupboards. And pull-out mechanisms in corner cupboards mean things don’t get lost at in the back in those dark corners.
- A larder cupboard can really pack a lot in. Choose drawers rather than fixed cupboards means you can easily find everything you need
- Choose appliances that are easier to clean: an induction hob is much easier to keep clean than a gas one. Can you get an oven with pyrolytic cleaning function? Or a flatbed microwave.
- Accept that every kitchen needs a “Christmas Cupboard”: the one where things you rarely use are put. It’s usually an awkward or high cupboard for those roasting trays or baking trays you only use occasionally. But have you thought about putting in hidden steps to make it easier to reach?
- Decant flour, sugar and dry goods into jars. I prefer square jars rather than round. Dishwasher-proof. A secure lid (how many times have I tried to pick up a jar by its lid only to find I’m holding just the lid). I look for plastic rather than glass as kids tend to drop thing and a broken flour jar makes an unholy mess!
- How do you store your spices? Do you keep only what you need for a particular recipe or does your spice collection resemble a stall at the Grand Bazaar? If, like me, you buy spices in larger bags, matching jars make it easier to plan the storage and will keep spices fresher for longer. I prefer spices in a drawer rather than on a shelf as you can easily find the one you need. Jars like these make it easy to store in a drawer, either lying on their side or standing.
- Do you need to keep all those instruction book when most of them are online? Do you even have that appliance still? What about all those cookbooks? I have several shelves of cookbooks and every so often I get rid of the ones that I don’t get on with.
