Cooking up the Urban Look

Tips for kitchen organisation

Kitchens are an area of the house that can easily get out of control – we store so many items in there and are constantly adding to them with food and all the paraphernalia to help us cook and prepare it, that it can mount up without us realising. If you take the time to declutter and organise your kitchen, you will find it will not only look nicer, but it will save you time when both cooking and cleaning, and help you to avoid wasting food.

As with all organisation projects, start by clearing and decluttering. One idea we really love for helping you to decide which items you don’t need is the box method. Put all your kitchen utensils in a box and only take an item out when you really need it. Once you’ve used it, put it back in its rightful place in the kitchen. After a month, put the box somewhere out of the way like a garage or attic. Then after six months take it to the charity shop.

Consider your larger items in the kitchen as well, that cheese toastie or waffle maker for example, how often do you use them? Maybe even put them in the box! Other larger items that don’t get used every day can be put out of the way in cupboards or on shelves, so they are not taking up valuable counter-top space.

When planning your new organised kitchen, try separating the room into sections. Think of it as different zones for food storage, cleaning, crockery, preparation and cooking. Then make sure you are storing things in those areas that are only related to that area.

You may need extra shelving to help you to organise your kitchen, especially if you are creating a new pantry area or trying to organise an extra cupboard into a pantry. Our Chrome Wire Shelving works particularly well in kitchens, as it’s both stylish and functional, helping you to create an organised space. There are also options in this range on wheels, which mean you can fit it sideways into a space next to a fridge for example, and pull it out when you need to access something. There is also a wine rack version if you are lucky enough to have the space for one,  which works particularly well either in a pantry or a basement. Another option for kitchen shelving is Adjustable Wall Shelving, which can be used either on a spare wall or as the main framework of a pantry, and can be tailored exactly to your needs, so to the heights of jars, bottles, boxes and so forth.

Once you have your shelving, you need to look at storage. Use Clear Storage Boxes that you can easily stack. Be sure to label them as well! The key is being able to easily see and access the items you need.

One kitchen hack idea is to use one of our Suspended Hanging Rails. These are normally used for clothes, but can easily be attached to the kitchen ceiling or alcove area. Then hang some hooks on it and use it to hang your pots and pans from. Plus our Wall Mounted Grid Mesh Shelving has all sorts of options for kitchen storage, particularly the one with storage baskets attached, these work very well on the back of a cupboard door. In a similar vein to the Hanging Rail, Grid Mesh Panels can be easily installed to any wall and used in conjunction with pegs or S hooks to attach utensils and other kitchen accessories simply to.

Other ideas you could consider include using those small free-standing shelves to put inside cupboards to help you stack items and adding hooks on the inside of cupboard doors for utensils. Magazine racks are also great for storing items such as rolls of foil and cling film, how about trying a wire one for tinned food, that way you avoid the risk of toppling when you stack them. Lazy Susans are also a very effective way of utilising hard to reach cupboard space.

Recycling boxes that can go in a cupboard to separate your recycling, or bins with separate sections will save you time when putting the rubbish out. You should also think about how you organise your food to avoid waste. When you buy new tins and packets, rotate them so the new ones are at the back and put a ‘eat me first’ container in the fridge to make sure you are not wasting food. One trick for using up any vegetables that are past their best is to chuck it all into a soup. Make sure you label all your food in your freezer and consider how you store items in the fridge. Dairy should be on the top shelf as that’s where the temperature is most constant, and meat at the bottom as it’s coldest there and it avoids other food being contaminated if there is any leakage.

If you take the time to organise your kitchen, you will soon reap the rewards, allowing you extra time to sit, relax and enjoy all the delicious food you prepared in an efficient and organised way!

If you have any questions or need any advice on the best ideas to make your kitchen more organised with awesome shelving and storage, please get in touch – we’d be happy to chat through the options with you.