Organizing Your Home: The Kitchen (Part One)

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Without debate, most would admit to the fact that the heart of any home is found in the kitchen.  Not only are meals prepared there, but the typical family performs many other functions within the kitchen setting.  From eating together to catching up on the day’s happenings to doing homework at the kitchen table, the kitchen is a vital room in the house.

As it can be anywhere if the house is disorganized, a messy, disorganized kitchen can discourage us from using the area more often.  Not only will we not want to gather for dinner, we may not even want to prepare the meal!  The mere sight of clutter is enough for many to avoid that area in favor of some other part of the house.  Even when entertaining guests, if the kitchen is disorganized it is likely we will want to avoid having them in there.

So let’s get to it!

It is worth noting that, depending on the condition of your kitchen, it isn’t likely it will qualify for the Good Housekeeping seal of approval right away.  That being said, by taking it in small steps, you will eventually reclaim the kitchen once again.  I’m willing to bet it took more than one day for your kitchen to look the way it does—so it will take more than one day to un-do it.

So, be patient and attack these different tasks in small chunks of time—small steps!  You’ll find that as each one is done, you’ll be motivated to do another and another.  And when it’s all done, you’ll not want to mess it up again and will be motivated to keep it organized!

Okay, let’s begin with the dishwasher.

Unload your dishwasher.  If your dishwasher is full of clean dishes and not put away, you won’t have a place to put your dirty dishes as you clean up.  If you don’t have a dishwasher, take a look at your sink.  If you’ve got clean dishes in your dish rack, put them away now.  Then move your dish rack to the counter and put an empty dishpan under the sink.  You’ll see why as we keep going.

Now that you have this done, take a look at your countertops.

Let’s clear off one countertop at a time.  Pick your smallest one first and clear everything off.  Put it on a table or other surface where you can go through the items when placing them back on the countertop area you are working on.  Put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher (or dishpan under your sink), go through the papers (junk mail = trash can, bills go to the study, etc.) and place all the other miscellaneous things you’ve found in separate piles to be returned to the appropriate rooms where they belong.

You now should have a completely cleared countertop.  Take a cleaner of your choice, such as disinfecting wipes or your favorite spray cleaner, a bleach cleaner or simple window cleaner and a rag and start wiping from back to front.  Remove all crumbs and place them in the garbage can.  Now put only the things deemed necessary back on the counter.  By this I mean no excess paperwork, no hair bows, etc.  You now have room for that coffee maker or other small appliance!

Once you have accomplished this task, continue by moving on to the next counter and repeat the same steps as above.

In Part Two of Organizing Your Kitchen, we’ll take a look at the next steps to be taken in order to create a kitchen you’ll be proud of!

Related posts:

1. Organizing Your Home: Where To Begin? (Part One)
2. Organizing Your Home: (Part Two) Your Linen Closet
3. Organizing Your Home: (Part Three) The Linen Closet Continues
4. Organizing Your Home: The Garage
5. Organizing Your Home: Bathrooms

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