How best to organise a kitchen?

moneypanicker

Can someone give me some tips on the best way to organise a kitchen. I've recently removed a cupboard ready for my new dishwasher - hooray!:j I've now removed everything from my cupboards to sort only i now don't know where to put anything. I'm left with a 60cm and double 120cm? wall cupboard, and the same floor cupboards so quite deep. I've also got a cupboard under the sink where i put all cleaning stuff etc.

Any ideas? Do i put plates and bowls with saucepans etc. I know peoples kitchens are very personal things but i'm hoping someone may be able to give me a few pointers. i don't have loads of things in my kitchen only the bare essentuals, I do have a BM but thinking that this can go in the garage as i only use it for pizza dough.

thanks
MP

KittyKate

I keep plates/side plates/bowls in the top half of 1 cupboard, and the drawer above has the cutlery. So if I want a bowl of cereal/sandwich I can pick up the tools without moving, haha! Under that I have 'dry' foods (pasta, rice, flour, cereal) as the lower half is tall for boxes. In between my 2 cupboards there is my oven, and on the other side is where I keep 'oven things' (pyrex, colander, pans) and in the drawer above that I keep my 'oven tools' and serving spoons etc. It seems to make the most sense. I have 3 appliances 'out' - food processor, smoothie maker and slow cooker. Processor lives next to the oven as I chop onions to fry in it. Smoothie maker next to the fridge as smoothie making can get messy! Slow cooker next to plenty of workspace as I chop veg and meat to go in it.
I have 2 overhead cubbys for tinned food but if I didn't have them I'd have a little butcher's block with drawers (my aunt has one and it's great for utensils, freeing up cupboard space). I also have free space on top of the (integrated) fridge, so I keep tupperware/thermos up there for work.
The only advice I can give is to make it as easy on yourself as possible!

FBThree

Hi, sounds like you have more space than me!

Re organising, I'd work out what you most often and make sure it is easy to hand. Try a "walk-through" of your kitchen morning - cup of tea, bowl of cereal, fridge position etc. Whatever is easiest to deal with the moment you get up and are half asleep!

Personally I'd have mugs/glasses/plates etc high up so I could see them easily (and mugs near the kettle points). Cereals near that so I can fix them whilst waiting for the kettle. Pots and pans in the lower cupboard closest to the oven. Smaller items like cans of food high up so I can see them. Hardly used items in the farthest away cupboard. If you have a heavy item (e.g. an old pressure cooker), make sure you can pull it out easily so you don't sprain a wrist or something.

The last thing you want to do is move things to get to other things so put common items near the front.

We updated our kitchen to IKEA ones, and put in those pull-out drawers into the base level 60cm cupboard to make it easier to see/access items. You might want to consider that.

Have fun (jealous person with one 60cm cupboard, one corner cupboard with a rotary unit, one undersink cupboard and plates on top of the freestanding fridge).

kethry

its a very personal thing but i tend to work it out via this way:

• foodstuffs (whether dry, tinned or what) gets off the floor - in other words, on shelving off the floor, or in wall cupboards - anyone who's lived with mice will do the same!
• keep things you use a lot close by to where you use them. plates and bowls, for example, are half way between the cooker and the washing up bowl, for ease of getting out and putting away.
• pots and pans and cleaning stuff.. keep low down, and if possible, as close to the cooker as possible, esp the stuff that gets used a lot.
• cutlery in a drawer, larger culinary cutlery items that don't get used a lot (e.g. tin opener, whisk, nutmeg grater, etc.) go in another drawer and things like spatulas, large serving spoons, fish slices, wooden spoons and so on that get used a great deal go in a large jar next to the sink for ease of grabbing.
• large white goods that don't get used often (e.g. food processor, juicer, mixer) get put away in a cupboard where i can cram them in, bits in an open cardboard box, but white goods i use every day (e.g. toaster, kettle) are left on the top to use. only you know which is which with those.

hope that helps!

keth
xx