Monthly Organizing Series| February Week 1: KITCHEN

               

               

               Today is the first day of my monthly organizing series on clearing out clutter and organizing the entire home. This month we will start in the kitchen, the heart of our home. First, we need to plan our kitchen so that we know how we can strategically place things and to make our kitchen more functional. I admit, when my family moved in to our new home three years ago I absolutely had no strategy for organization. My cooking utensils were in a cupboard neatly placed, but it was on the opposite side of the kitchen away from stove! They appeared to have just put in a cupboard with no thoughts (kaloka!).

               To begin the process, I like to think of my kitchen as being divided into stations, like taking a cue from restaurant kitchen were there is assigned station for all the task to do (prepping, cooking, cleaning, putting food away, storage) so that there's as little unnecessary movement as possible. Using "station" strategy prevent you from having to retrieve items from all over your kitchen during meal preparation. 

So here is the basic plan of how I have “stationed” my kitchen (we are going to tackle the pantry on the second week of the month).

               As you can see in the picture my meal prep area is beside the stove and my kitchen utensils is just right above for easy access. In my coffee station: mugs, coffee, sugar, creamer, cinnamon, cocoa and teaspoons are all together. Of course dish drying area is beside the sink. Try to keep in mind some of the planning strategies to see which ones apply to your situation.

               Here is another angle of our kitchen. Oils, soy sauce, fish sauce, vinegar, onion, garlic, and ginger stay on the counter! Easy access. The other side is for my dry plates, drinking glasses, bowls, food storage, etc. all in one place too.

               Once you are finished planning out your designated station in your kitchen, its time to put on your comfy clothes, tie your hair up, and turn on the music. Clear all the clutter and lets get organized!!! 

WEEK ONE TASK/TO-DO'S

Every space should be emptied out (cabinet, cupboard, drawer, fridge) so that we can see it clearly what we have. 

CHECK LIST:

✓Clear out and wipe all cabinet, drawer, cupboard, and counter top

✓Purge everything that is not used, what you don't need, expired, and things that are just collecting dust

✓Clean out the refrigerator

✓Clean the stove (under & behind), oven, and exhaust filter (they need some TLC too)

✓Clean and organize under the kitchen sink

✓ mop the floor

               Once everything is cleaned, sort all items into "categories" and put it back in an organized manner. The items that you use and need on a daily basis should be put onto the counter top. Take note of the word I use "you only use and need on a daily basis" we don't want to over-crowd our working area.

ORGANIZED SPACES IN MY KITCHEN

✓ Dish placement

✓ Plastic storage

✓ Rarely used things

✓ Spices & condiments cabinet

✓ Pots & pan cabinet

✓ Kitchen utensils cabinet

✓ Coffee station

✓ Under the sink

               Stacking plates, bowls, and glasses doubles up your cabinet space!!! These stack-able shelves are from Hypermarket (I believe Shopwise have one). I transfer my food containers to this space where i used to place my kitchen utensils (I use color coded system for my food container. I already made a post on this one. Link here). Water bottles and dishes that I only use once in a while for entertaining are on the top shelf out of the way since these don’t get used every day.

SPICES & CONDIMENTS CABINET

Here in my spice cabinet I put news paper over the liner so it can easily replace once a week or as needed. Bottled spices and refills are stored in an easy to pull container.

Chopping/Cutting board was supposed to be placed vertically for easy pull out, but since my cabinet is not deep and high enough I just put it horizontally (it works for me since I don't have anything up there).

For my white and brown rice, I store it in fita containers and put labels on it (gotta work what I have and think out of the box) .

               *My kitchen won’t be “magazine worthy”, nor did it have granite counter-tops or beautiful cupboards but hey, who cares??? As long as my kitchen function well, clean, and organized I am extremely happy, thankful and grateful for it!!! =)

Now its TIME for you to get busy organizing your kitchen!

Share the process of how you can organize yours. You can take as long as you need, and once you are finished organizing your space, come back here to this post and link up your blog (with pictures) to share with all of us. Good luck and see you back here soon!

Intro FEB Week 1 | KITCHEN FEB Week 2 | Pantry FEB Week 3 | Meal Planning FEB Week 4 | Organizing your fridge

InLinkz.com