“The kitchen is the castle. This is where we spend our happiest moments and find the joy of being family.” – Mario Batali
There is something entirely refreshing and life-giving about a clean, uncluttered kitchen counter. In fact, it is one of my favorite benefits of minimalist living. It sets the tone and culture for the home. It communicates calm and order. It promotes opportunity and possibility (who enjoys cooking in a cluttered kitchen?). It saves time and promotes cleanliness.
Yet kitchen counter organization is one of the most difficult things to get started with. There are, of course, several reasons maintaining a minimalist kitchen is so hard:
- The kitchen is hard-wired as a natural gathering place for the family.
- The kitchen is physically located in a high traffic area of the home.
- The purpose of the room requires messes to be made during its use.
- The kitchen is often used as a collection area for various odds and ends (mail, etc.).
While kitchen counter organization is difficult, it is completely achievable. We have made it an important feature of our house and you can accomplish it in yours as well.
Decluttering Tips For Keeping Your Kitchen Counter Organized:
1. Remove the unnecessary.
One of the biggest causes of clutter in our homes is our tendency to put too much stuff in too little of a space. When we do, it becomes difficult to store things, find things, and access them. As a result, we dread putting things away and it becomes convenient to leave things on the counter.
Typically, the kitchen is full of this clutter. We have cupboards and shelves and drawers full of cooking utensils, gadgets, things we thought we needed, and items we purchased for one-time use.
If keeping your kitchen counters uncluttered is a problem in your home, this is the most important step you can take. Remove completely any item you no longer use. And store items used less than 3 times/year elsewhere.
2. Relocate anything that does not belong.
Kitchens are notorious for becoming collection areas for all various odds and ends. Unintentionally, they become the storing place for many of them: mail, kids’ homework, purses, keys, almost everything in your junk drawer.
Identify a new proper home for each. Then, change the culture in your home that allows them to stay there. Think of your kitchen as a Department Store Customer Service Area – items may enter there, but rarely stay. You can also extend this thinking to items you already store in your kitchen: televisions, radios, telephone books, etc.
3. Give every item a proper home.
One of the most essential steps in organizing and keeping a home clutter-free is to find a proper home for every item. Designate drawers for silverware and cookware; cupboards for plates, containers, and small appliances; and closets/shelves for food and larger, less-used appliances. After taking steps #1 and #2, you’ll find this easier than you think.
4. Store daily use appliances out of sight.
If your counters are routinely cluttered, there is a good chance you are storing many daily-use items there (toasters, coffee makers, teapots, can openers, spice racks, etc.).They are often stored on countertops for convenience’s sake.
But in reality, these items spend far more time as clutter than they do as needed instruments for food preparation. For example, if you make toast every morning for breakfast, it’ll take roughly 3 minutes to toast your bread. After that, the toaster will sit unused for the next 23 hours and 57 minutes. You use it far less than you think you do.
Rather than allowing these appliances to take up counter space and cause distraction, find a home in an easily-accessed area. In our current home, we store the toaster, coffee-maker, and teapot in a cupboard right next to the outlet. In our previous home, they were stored in an appliance garage.
5. Change your “counter is convenient” mentality.
The fallacy of convenience is a big reason our kitchen counters stay cluttered. We tend to keep things in plain sight because we believe it makes our kitchen more convenient. As a result, our counters fill up with baking ingredients, knife racks, cutting boards, and coffee mugs.
And while it may be more convenient to readily grab those items when needed, we rarely notice the other conveniences we are sacrificing by storing them there. We move them every time we wipe the counters. We sacrifice precious prep space when we cook. And they subtly fight for our attention whenever we enter the room.
6. Finish unfinished jobs completely.
When a counter is clear and tidy, it becomes a motivation to put things away. But a cluttered counter attracts clutter… and unfinished jobs are a clutter.
Granted, some projects take more time than others, but many kitchen jobs (washing the dishes, wiping the counters, returning used items, etc.) can be completed right away before ever leaving the kitchen in the first place. For best results, if a job can be finished in less than 2 minutes, do it. Finishing tasks will do wonders for your attitude the next time you walk in.
7. Reset each evening.
If you are lucky, your kitchen gets used every day. And any room that gets used daily will need to be reset daily. That’s why it has been on my evening checklist for a number of years.
We live our lives and often get too used to them. As a result, we get used to our cluttered kitchen counters and don’t realize how freeing it can be to keep them clear. We may be reminded when we walk into a friend’s house or see a photo of a simple kitchen, but we’ve become so accustomed to the current state of ours we forget we can change.
You don’t need to live with a cluttered kitchen countertop. The solution to your kitchen’s countertop organization is indeed simpler than you think.
Image: Yasu’s Photo
Larry says
I struggle with this because I live in an apartment and the kitchen doesn’t have a lot of storage but I love to cook/bake/host so I have a mixer, kettle, coffee machine, and produce on the counter. Any advice on how to reduce clutter when storage is an issue?
Roshesh Virani says
Hey,
Thanks a lot for these tips. I used the productivity tips for my office desk and it helped me increased my productivity. But was not sure about how to do the same for Kitchen counter. Loved your tips. Will definitely try to follow these tips.
Thanks again!
Anna Salvador says
Being in culinary arts, I spend my days in the kitchen. My weakness is to wait until I get everything cooked and done before I clean up. Doing it all at once. That’s contrary to the rule in cooking. This makes me rethink of my way of doing rather than completing the task until finished. btw my boss is always so helpful and showing grace when telling me this too)
Maria Pinto says
A cleaner more organized kitchen to me also equals less or no frustration when I go in there to cook something, especially if it involves cutting up a bunch of veggies for a soup or stir fry. I want a clean countertop to place my cutting board & ample room for bowls so when I start to cook I can easily add things as needed.
Then I rarely go to bed with a sink full of dirty dishes. In my apartment I have a dishwasher but living alone I don’t need it, in fact I actually enjoy doing dishes by hand. I’ve been doing so all my life & the motion of washing & having my hands in water is very therapeutic.
shanaya says
JOSHUA BECKER great ideas to clean the kitchen great work keep it up
Maria Pinto says
Good comments here. Having to move things around to make space so you can easily prepare and cook food is no fun.
Joe dillon says
Can’t get wife to give this a chance. Suggestion
Arlene says
Try doing the organizing some time when she isn’t home. She might like the way it looks.
Monica says
If she’s like me, she might be overwhelmed by the state of the kitchen and doesn’t know how to start. When I get stressed out, my executive functions diminish and I am literally unable to make a decision of what to do next, so I just…. don’t. And because I feel like a failure as a result, I cope by putting on a bit of a defiant attitude, saying I LIKE it this way, etc. Your wife may feel guilty that she can’t *get it together*, and feels like she’s letting you down. Because women are culturally conditioned to view the kitchen as their responsibility (and often sole responsibility depending on subculture or family), they may feel like they can’t ask for help. My suggestion would be for YOU to take the first step. Clean and organize the kitchen for her so she a) feels like she can breathe without a monumental task before her and b) sees what it would be like with a clear (yet functional) kitchen. If you also feel overwhelmed by the task, invest in a professional organizer who can help make the kitchen more efficient and functional for both of you.
Sandi says
Excellent point made about helping her. :)
Kate says
Ummm, why don’t you do it then???
Kate says
Ummm, maybe you could do it then???
Jessica McDonald says
“Would you be willing to let me try this out for x amount of time. I will do the initial work it would take. Are there some things you are unwilling to trial, but would be willing to trial the rest? If we don’t both like it after x time, we can return to the way it was or maybe a middle ground”
Armina Stone says
Great ideas to to keep the kitchen clean! Thanks for sharing!