How to Tackle the Kitchen Counter Clutter

Are your kitchen counters buried in papers, your keys, small appliances, yesterday’s dinner ingredients, and a pile of food prep items that you aren’t sure where to store? If so, you aren’t alone! It’s quite easy for the kitchen counter to become a catch-all for all sorts of items.

But now is the time to make a change so you can live a clutter free life! Here are some simple tips from the Professional Organizer in NYC to take back control of your kitchen counters.

1. Remove anything that doesn’t belong. Kitchen counters become a catch all for all sorts of things. It’s easy to come home, toss your purse and the mail on the counter, and go about your evening. First, remove these items from the counter and put them in their proper locations. Second, change your habits. Put the mail in a bin on your desk, store your purse in the closet. Don’t allow for extra items that don’t belong to be kept in the kitchen at all.
2. Clean out your cupboards. Often the counters are cluttered because the cupboards are full! Remove all expired items, sort the remaining contents of each cabinet and group like items together.
3. Give every kitchen item a home. Often you end up leaving small appliances, food, and other gadgets on the counter because you really don’t have a place for them. Assign a category to each drawer and cupboard so that every item has a space. Maximize your space with shelf dividers and stacking bins so that all of the items in a particular category can be stored together. This will be a lot easier after you have completed step number two!
4. Store appliances out of sight. Yes, even those appliances you use daily! Think about it – if you toast yourself a bagel every morning, you use your toaster for approximately 5 minutes. Then it sits on your counter, not being used, taking up valuable space, for the next 23 hours and 55 minutes. The key is to find an easily accessible location in a cupboard for these types of small appliances so you can pull them out when you need them.
5. Don’t wait. It is easy to come home after a long day at work, pull out food and kitchen gadgets needed to make dinner, and then leave a trail of leftover ingredients and utensils on the counter while you get ready for bed. This is how the clutter can build up. Take a few minutes after dinner, don’t wait, and put everything away. Wash the dishes, put food items back into the cupboard, and wipe off the counters.

Let keeping your kitchen counters clutter free become a part of your daily routine. With a few simple tips from your Professional Organizer in NYC, you can enjoy making dinner in your clutter free kitchen in no time.