Decluttering your KITCHEN: Week 3 of the #LYSdeclutterthon!

This week, we’re decluttering KITCHEN category. After clothes, kitchen is probably my favourite category to declutter. It’s the heart of the home and makes such a powerful impact when it contains only items you LOVE and in a system that makes sense.

It’s the same method; vision, division, position, LOVE. But, given the size of the category, I’m going to go through it in some key subcategories so that it can be tackled in one, two or more sessions if necessary. First, KITCHEN category divides into 1) Food, 2) tools you cook with, 3) tools you eat with and 4) storage/other, but I’ll also break each of these down further. Think about the size of your own kitchen and see if you want to do it in one, two or more sessions.

DIVISION

1. Food

Yes, you can even declutter food. Do you push past the same old tin of cannelloni or find yourself never finding the nutmeg but several versions of oregano? As a start, you can break ‘Food’ down into a) dry goods, b) fridge and c) freezer as subcategories. Bring together a subcategory and, as always, divide into keep and discard. For all these, the key thing is to see if you want to discard anything because it’s past its use-by date but is also an opportunity to ask yourself if there’s anything there you decide you’re just not going to use; think an experimental custard pudding you bought on holiday or a funky tasting popcorn you were given one year. It’s also a good moment to ensure things are in the cupboards grouped in a way that makes sense. For dry goods, think herbs and spices, baking, grains, tins, etc. You can also think about grouping things according to type of cooking such as Asian (noodles, coconut milk) and Italian (pasta, tinned tomato). For fridge, this means diary together, condiments, vegetables, dips, etc. Whatever system, it’s got to work for YOU.

2. Tools you cook with

When you’re thinking about tools you cook or prepare food with, think:

a) Cooking utensils

i.Pots and pans

ii.Baking equipment (tins, scale, etc)

iii.Electronic kitchen equipment

b)Cooking tools:

i.Wooden spoons, spatula, whisks, rolling pins, etc

ii.Kitchen knives, etc

Divide between keep and discard, focusing on discarding anything that is broken (that you don’t choose to fix) and whether you want it in your life. You might bring together baking tins and realise you have four different muffin tins, but realise you never make muffins. You might keep one tin (just in case) but can part with the rest. You might also realise you have more than one whisk or rolling pin or cooking scale – and only you can decide how many of those you want!

3. Tools you eat with

This includes cutlery, crockery, glasses and serving dishes. Gather all together and check if there’s anything you want to discard; chipped, odd, or unused items. It’s also a good time to count and see if you’re sets are missing anything – and decide whether you get extras or think about upgrading the whole set.

4. Storage and other

This includes almost everyone’s nemesis; Tupperware. We all have, we all need it, but it can become a never-ending game of Tetris. We can also include wraps (oven paper, Ziplock bags), Lunchbox items and drinks bottles in this category. When you’re going through to discard, partner up your boxes with their respective lids and THEN whether you want all the Tupperware you have. Do this with all other items in this subcategory.

POSITION

Each kitchen is different, but there are some key tips that can help improve the whole flow of your kitchen. It’s about working with the appliances; mainly your oven and then your dishwasher and then your fridge. Start with your oven and assess the cupboards/drawers around it. If possible, store the tools you cook with close to your oven. I have two deep drawers and I keep baking tins in the bottom and saucepans in the top. I also have a drawer just behind me when standing at the hob and I keep utensils I cook with here. I also put the food that I cook with (oils, herbs and spices) in the cupboard near here. Thinking about what I eat with, I keep all this category close to the dishwasher so that it’s easy to unload from the dishwasher but also one of the first cupboards when entering – so that it’s accessible when I’m setting up for eating. For everything else, I work it around these key items being in place and, again, what makes sense; the electric items being near a work top and plug, the chopping boards being near the knives and a close to the preferred prep space.

LOVE

More than some other categories, the KITCHEN category has lots of products that can help ‘pimp’ the space to help you LOVE it even more than when you’ve decluttered it and got it in the right location in your kitchen. These days, and with the help of The Home Edit and Marie Kondo x The Container Store, there’s so much to choose from in terms to items to help you store and display KITCHEN category. I’m going to have fun this week looking at some of these tools, so check out my Instagram for some inspiration!

DISCARDING

A quick word on getting rid of things you declutter from this category. It can be much more difficult to discard KITCHEN items than those from the clothes category, as I have found you’re often discarding items that aren’t really in good enough condition for giving to charity shops. Always talk to donation centres if in doubt or take somewhere that accepts scrap metal for old pots and pans, for example.

Good luck this week! So excited to see some of your before and after photos!