The kitchen is usually the focal point of any house, usually flowing from your dining or living space, you will find everyone gathers around the kitchen!
Trying to keep your kitchen space organised can be challenging, especially if your kitchen is small. It is easy for your space to look cluttered, especially when you have limited storage space.
Whilst challenging, you shouldn’t be discouraged, we have some easy tips that will help you with organising a small kitchen and will allow you to transform your space into an enjoyable and functional area to prepare meals and entertain your family and friends.
Make the most of what you have
Your first step to decluttering is by ensuring you have organised kitchen cupboards and drawers. Remove the items that aren’t used regularly or that you have more than one of. If there is something you don’t use regularly, but it’s still something you want to keep, find an alternative storage space for it (Garage, under stair storage etc).
If you have functional kitchen supplies that you know you won’t use, give them away or donate them. You need to be drastic in your decluttering and only keep items that you know you use regularly (ie: weekly!)
Organising Your Kitchen Pantry
When it comes to dry food items, remove them from their packaging and store them in labelled containers or jars. You can purchase cost effective ones from Kmart or IKEA.
Matching canisters are more visually appealing and by having your pantry space organised, you will know exactly what foods you need to stock up on, without having items lost at the back of the cupboard.
You can arrange the containers in one of two ways, either by what you use most to least frequently, or you can have things like oats and cereals together, then your rice, pasta, biscuits and snacks.
Don’t forget to label them with their expiration dates.
Think outside the box
When you are limited with space, every single inch matters. Stand back and take a good look at your kitchen, what spare space can you see? Are there areas above your kitchen cabinets that can be utilized? What about the side of cupboards that can be used to hang things?
Obviously, you won’t want to create an eyesore, but there are plenty of unique storage items you can purchase that can slot into certain spaces. For example, attaching a small shelf near your sink space is a great place to put hand soap, dishwashing liquid and sponges. This will free up your bench space if your sink doesn’t accommodate this and also allows more storage space in the cupboard underneath your sink. Is there a space between your fridge and the wall of the fridge space? Why not add a wine rack? A wine rack allows you storage space for your wine, without taking up cupboard space and looks great.
Looking for somewhere to put all your spices? Consider attaching your spice rack on the wall, it will display all your beautiful spices in the new dispensers you’ve purchased.
Installing the rack on the wall near your stove is the ideal space. Looks great and makes cooking more convenient!
Consider Zones
It might sound strange, but if you consider putting everything into different ‘zones’, it will allow for you to have a much more organised space. Have a baking drawer, that has your pans, measuring cups, mixing bowels etc. Other drawer or cupboard can be for storage containers.
You want to try and keep your benchtops clear, to allow you to have as much room as possible for meal preparation. Have a cupboard (or drawer) near your benchtop that has everything you need to use during meal prep, consider storing items like chopping boards, can openers, knife set, wooden spoons etc.
Utilize a dedicated cupboard for pots, pans, fry pans and cooking utensils.
As you can see, organisation is key, as well as only keeping what you need. No one needs 10 saucepans, a small and large one will suffice!
If you’re unsure of where to begin, visit a storage store or even Kmart and see what storage options are available to you and start planning from there.
It may feel like an overwhelming task, but once it’s finished you will love the space available in your kitchen.