The Kitchen - the Heart of the Home, Part 1

“In the childhood memories of every good cook, there's a large kitchen, a warm stove, a simmering pot and a mom. "
-Barbara Costikyan

One of my very earliest memories involves the story of me, my dog Bridie, and the pudding.  Now, this is one of those family stories that has been told and retold, so that you have to wonder whether I actually remember the event, or just being told it at an early age.  But, I have this mental picture of a dawn kitchen, lights still out except the bulb in the fridge, in front of which I sat around the age of 3, on the floor with a large bowl of pudding my mom had prepared the night before.  My dog is on the floor right next to me, keeping me company.  Now, it turns out, in my parents retelling, the pudding was being eaten with one bite for me, and one bite for my partner in crime (eww!), they didn't even yell at me ("I mean, you were such a good kid in general, what was the big deal?"), and the story repeats itself at some point down the road with me, Bridie, and a bag full of Oreos!

But, really, our kitchens are the places of family meals, late night snacks, early morning cups of coffee.  The work of meal planning can be the bane of our existence, but the feeling of serving a hot, healthy meal of comfort food on a cool evening as everyone gathers around hungry, enjoying the delicious smells, is one to cherish.

Kitchens have so much happening in them, it can be hard to keep up.  But, in most kitchens, overflowing drawers and cabinets are doing us NO favors.  Counters cluttered with kitchen appliances make meal prep and clean up even harder, and outside items are just in the way.  So, here are categories you can organize in your kitchen today!

1.  "Junk" Drawers:
I just reduced from THREE kitchen junk drawers down to two and it feels great!  (See, organizers don't judge!!)  The old junk drawer became the home for my caddy of herbal teas - it looks great in the drawer, just below our electric tea pot, and it is wonderful to have it off the counter!!  All of my junk drawers have desk organizers and each contain their own general category, but they are still "catch-alls" for items that probably don't warrant the "high rent" space of my kitchen's top drawers.  Junk drawer #2, I'm gunning for you next!  How about you, do you have a drawer that should be in YOUR crosshairs?

2.  Things that just don't belong in the kitchen:
Junk mail, laundry baskets, soccer balls, craft projects - sometimes our kitchen counters are the easy drop off point for all sorts of crazy stuff.  Take a few weeks to get consistent with your family (AND YOURSELF!) and reinforce a new rule that outside items can't land in the kitchen!!

3.  Rarely used kitchen items that aren't earning their high rent:
When you are cooking and cleaning, the important items need to be easy to grab - you don't have time to dig through overflowing drawers and cabinets. 

The first question to ask is whether you really NEED these items if you haven't pulled them out in 1 year, 2 years, 5 years.  If your friend borrowed this and lost it, would you be running to Amazon to replace this at full price?  Or could you live without it??  If you would just live without it, is it really worth having to move it out of the way every time you need your favorite pot?  Let these items GO - and if they are in good shape, let them find a new home where they will be used and enjoyed!!

But, there's a second category that we often find not earning high rent - the once or twice a year items.  Maybe in the summer you make homemade popsicles with your kids, or ice cream, or fruit pies.  Maybe each Christmas it is worth having 5 cookie sheets and cooling racks for a marathon session.  Maybe you have a "birthday season" like we do here, and during those weeks cake decorating tips, cupcake carriers, and cake stands get used regularly.  But maybe these seasonal items sit unused the other 45 weeks of the year.  Don't give them prime cabinet space!!  Put them in the basement, garage, the tippy top shelf of a closet that requires a chair to access.  It's okay that they are hard to get to next season - enjoy having them out of the way while they aren't earning their keep!!

4.  Items that seem to "reproduce":
Here are the top 3 in my kitchen: linen items, knives, and spoons/spatulas.  These are the items in our home that need replaced most often I think... but when the new ones come in, the old ones get justified because, "You can always use an extra [knife, dishrag, wooden spoon]. 

For me, linen items includes washcloths, cute kitchen towels, potholders and aprons.  I love these items fresh and new, but they each have their space and they can't exceed their limits.  So, I'm getting pretty good at following the one in, one out rule and rotating my dish towels seasonally.

Knives - another organizer confession - I have TWO woodblocks on my counter right now.  One was a wedding gift, but likely no longer contains ANY of the original knives (which I loved!) just a nice mix of individual replacements. The second was an attempt at a full replacement.  I tried Chicago Cutlery and I HATE this set.  Others in my family use it, but the first is still my go to when I am grabbing something for chopping.  Putting on my organizer hat, there are easy solutions - I'm going to implement one in the next month and only keep the ones that "bring me joy"!

Spoons/spatulas/scrapers - this category's problem is a mix of both - either we keep because "you can't have too many" OR because we just still like the old one better... even if the old spatula has a little tear in the silicone.  But, again, get clear on the space allotted, and stay well within it!

What are your chronic reproducers?  What limits can you set?

5.  Food items:
I recommend a good system for those edible items that need to circulate.  Maybe you like to give a mouse a cookie, so you go to the grocery store to shop for cookies.  At the grocery store, you find a great sale, so you buy a WHOLE BUNCH of cookies.  You bring the cookies home and try to put them away in your pantry.  But your pantry is already full, because the grocery store had a great sale last month, too, and you also stocked up then.  Because you really like giving cookies to mice.  Your child is helping to put away groceries, so he stuffs them all into the front of the cabinet... Confusion, disorder, and food waste ensue!  Don't be tempted to use your pantry as a grocery store - just buy what you need!  For now, get things in order by date, and get rid of the expired items.  Consider donating perishables you have too many of to a food bank - don't just let them sit in your cupboard going out of date!!  And commit to not buying more until you open the next-to-last package of each item and it is actually on your grocery list!

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Help your kitchen work for you!  Streamline it - don't stuff it to the gills!  Give yourself room to maneuver and enjoy your kitchen again!