I don’t know about you, but a disorganised kitchen makes me more frustrated than Gordon Ramsay being forced to eat dry chicken. There is nothing more annoying than being in the middle of baking and needing to move every single pot to get to the one small saucepan shoved at the back of the cupboard. Or accidentally using plain flour instead of self-raising flour because the canisters look the same.
If this sounds familiar, perhaps it’s time to bring a bit of order to your kitchen. Here are a few tips that will help restore the balance and make you feel a little less Gordon and a little more Nigella.
Pots and pans
Throwing pots and pans randomly in a cupboard and quickly closing the door before they fall out is usually a bad idea. This creates a certain kind of chaos that’s best avoided while cooking a meal.
There are a few ways of going about this problem: you can either use a rack for storing pans, or you can hang their handles from a beam on the ceiling. The latter option may require some DIY skills, but do it right and you’ll be adding an attractive new feature to your kitchen.
Dry ingredients
Instead of keeping the original, bulkypackaging, transfer ingredients like flour, icing sugar, herbs and spices, cereal and dried fruit into clear plastic containers (such as Tupperware). Many of the brands available in your local supermarket have been designed to stack together in your pantry for easy access. Write On Stick On Labels from Stuck On You allow you to mark everything clearly. This will keep everything organised and within easy reach, making your cooking adventures so much more fun.
Herbs and spices
Using a lazy Susan (rotating tray) for spices will help keep them close to hand, while at the same time save space in your pantry or on the bench. Another trick is to glue magnets to the bottom of the spice jars and stick them to metal surface, such as the fridge or a sheet of tin placed in a convenient location.
Spoons and utensils
The best way to keep these nearby but out of the way is to place them in a slender jar or vase near the stove. You can easily reach out and pick up a spoon or spatula when needed. A nice idea for measurement cups is to place hooks on the inside of cupboards and hang them there (handy for a strainer, too).
Empty containers
If you are like me, you keep all your plastic containers in a jumble and it’s impossible to match lids and containers. Every time you have to find one, it takes a couple of minutes to rummage through everything. If you install separators in the drawer it will keep the containers and lids apart from one another. This way you can easily find the lid, and can stack the containers to save space.
If you keep everything organised it will make cooking more enjoyable and will make cleaning easier – leaving your kitchen a far nicer place to spend time in. Use personalised name labels to mark ingredients and spices; avoid cluttering by using racks and jars; and separate plastic containers to easily find all the pieces you need.
Feature image: Interiors by Darren James
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