Posted By Homekeeping Moderator

Maridel Willer was promoted from Corporate Project Manager to full time wife and mother in 1998. She writes to encourage women to embrace motherhood and enjoy the blessings of a home centered life. In addition to inspiration and encouragement, she shares practical advice on home organization, time management and family relationships at Enjoy A Home Centered Life.

(Moderator’s Note: I asked Maridel to write an article for Homekeeping. I’ve known her for years, and I just try to sit near her anytime I can and soak up her wisdom. She is a homeschooling mom to two precious children, an amazing motivational speaker, and now a fellow blogger. She is responsible for lighting a fire under me to better streamline and organize my life. And I just adore her. Be sure and stop by her site to welcome her and say “hi.”)

Quick Kitchen Makeover

Does the current state of your kitchen really frustrate you? Do you spend a lot of time looking for ingredients or cookware that you know you have but cannot seem to find? It’s time for a quick kitchen makeover!

We spend an amazing amount of time in the kitchen. Investing a couple of hours into cleaning out the clutter and organizing your kitchen pays off by saving you a lot of future preparation and cleanup time.

Clear out the Clutter

Step one of your kitchen makeover is to clear out the clutter. Giving up valuable storage space to items you will never need is definitely not worth it. In this step you want to pare down to the essentials that you need for a truly functional kitchen.

Put a large trash bag and 2 large boxes in the center of your kitchen. Start at one corner of the kitchen and begin to open every drawer and cabinet to look for things that you really do not need or that do not even belong in the kitchen. Work your way around the kitchen until you have been through every storage space and surface.

The large trash bag is for putting things that are ready to be thrown away. In this bag throw scraps of paper, broken items, unidentifiable small parts, free plastic cups from restaurants, empty butter tubs and anything else of little value.

Use one of the large boxes to put all of those items that do not belong in the kitchen. At the end of your kitchen makeover, carry the box throughout your house and deposit the lost items back to their homes. Don’t have a home for some of these items? Go to HYPERLINK “http://www.MaridelWiller.com” www.MaridelWiller.com to find more organizing tips for the rest of the house.

The other large box is for items that you are ready to part with. This is for items that are useful enough to give away or sell, but are not worth taking up space in your kitchen cabinets. Good candidates for this box are gifts you received 10 years ago but only used once (or never took out of the box), knick knacks that are in the way, extra items that you own more than one of, appliances that do something that is more convenient to do by hand, mismatched dishes and silverware and any other item that you rarely use. Dispose of these items by donating to charity, having a garage sale, or selling on ebay.

Define Work Centers

Now that you have cleared out the clutter, you are ready for the planning stage of your kitchen makeover. The best way to organize items in your kitchen is to divide the space into centers based on the activities you do there. The basic functional centers for a typical kitchen include food prep, pantry, cooking, baking, beverage serving, cleanup, food storage and tableware storage. Some kitchens may also have room for a household information center. Consider the layout of your kitchen and assign preliminary work and storage spaces for each of these functions.

Organize Supplies by Center

It is time to rearrange your cookware and other kitchen supplies into the new work centers. Here is an example of one way to organize items by center. You may want make adjustments to these suggestions to take into account how you work in your kitchen.

Food Prep Center (between sink and refrigerator)
Knives and other preparation utensils
Chopping boards
Strainers
Small appliances such as food processor

Pantry Center (near food prep center)
Canned goods
Packaged ingredients

Cooking Center (near stove or cooktop)
Pots
Cooking utensils,
Spices
Potholders

Baking Center (near oven and food prep center)
Mixer and mixing owls
Measuring spoons and cups
Baking pans

Beverage Center (near refrigerator)
Glasses, mugs
Coffee Maker, filters
Coffee, tea, sugar

Cleanup Center (under or near sink)
Detergents and other cleaning products
Scrubbing pads, sponges and brushes
Paper Towels

Food Storage Center (near refrigerator)
Food wraps
Plastic storage containers and lids

Tableware Center (near dishwasher and dining area)
Dishes
Flatware
Serving containers
Table linens
Table decorations

Household Information Center (near phone)
Cookbooks
Phonebooks
Mail slots
Household files
Calendar
Message board
To do lists

When assigning locations within the centers, consider how often they are used. The highest and most inconvenient locations should contain rarely used items. The most convenient locations should be reserved for the items that you use everyday.

Make a goal of finding a home for every item in your kitchen. Reduce or completely eliminate counter clutter. An appliance that you use daily can be stored on your countertop, if you have enough room to perform other tasks without moving the appliance. At the end of each day, restore your kitchen to this clean, clutter free state.

Enjoy the Results!
Put on a pot of herbal tea, light a few candles and invite your family to enjoy the fruit of your labors. An orderly and hospitable kitchen will be a blessing to all who enter.

Maridel Willer
Enjoy a Home Centered Life
For more encouraging and informational articles go here.