Words By Nicole Anzia, Special to The Washington Post
Freelance writer and owner of Neatnik, Nicole Anzia and Katherine DiGiovanni of Refine Home Concepts developed these recommendations for maximising your storage space and making your kitchen work for you.
Take stock and cull the clutter
First, take a complete inventory of your kitchen. Pull everything out of the cabinets and drawers and put back only the items you need and use. It’s better to stick with the basics and store things so that they’re easy to access.
Pare down your glassware and store the items you use daily within reach of the sink and dishwasher. You probably don’t need one drawer dedicated to dish towels and another for potholders. Six dish towels and two hot pads are probably sufficient and can fit into one drawer.
Kitchen helpers
Cabinets, especially upper cabinet space, make things like spices, cooking oils and baking decorations easy to see. Installing pullout drawers in cabinets will help maximise space for things like storage containers and will also work well on deep shelves so that food stored in the back isn’t forgotten.
Clear bins help corral like items and are great for keeping bags of rice, pasta, chips and cookies upright.
When storage is especially tight, consider hanging your most frequently used pots and pans on a hanging pot rack. Pot racks come in two varieties, wall-mounted and ceiling-mounted, and can help free up a lot of real estate in your lower cabinets.
Photo for The Washington Post by Stacy Zarin Goldberg
Pantry and refrigerator
Look for versatile organisational products such as mason jars, which are easy to clean, or stacking clear plastic containers.
Drawers
Drawer dividers can be used in shallow drawers to make measuring spoons, a meat thermometer, a can opener, a corkscrew, tongs and knives easy to find and put away.
Saving counter space
Countertops, free of clutter, are utilitarian and aesthetically pleasing. Don’t store rarely used appliances on the counter just because it seems difficult to put them away.
The items that stay on your countertop should be those that you use frequently, such as a toaster or coffeemaker. So unless you’re a die-hard baker, you probably shouldn’t be wasting valuable real estate with a stand mixer.
If you’re short on drawer space, use one countertop canister for the six utensils you use most often when cooking.
And be sure to make use of wall space. Most knife blocks take up significant countertop space; knives can be stored more efficiently in a drawer or on a magnetic strip attached to the wall. Magnetic strips can also hold small containers of spices, saving valuable cabinet or drawer space.
If your upper cabinets are mounted high enough above your countertops, you can even store stemmed wine glasses underneath.
And last but certainly not least, what to do with those large cutting boards? If you have a large wooden cutting board, you might be able to lean it upright against the backsplash. The wood can create a little warmth in an otherwise stark kitchen and will still be easy to access when you need it.
Featured Image: Stacy Zarin Goldberg, Washington Post
