Time to declutter the kitchen

Are your kitchen cupboards bursting with Tupperware which is long past its sell-by date and are you struggling to find the pans that you really need underneath the mountain of lids tumbling out along with them? Then, now is the time to have a good declutter and reorganisation of your kitchen before the mayhem of the ‘back to school’ season starts. The professional house cleaning experts at MOLLY MAID, recommend that you follow the below tips to get you on your way to a tidy and decluttered kitchen.

1. Sell-by dates

Have a good look through your cupboards and check that all your dry, tinned or jarred foods are still within the sell-by dates. If they are not, and if they are just recently passed their ‘good’ dates, take them to a local shelter or charity where the homeless may appreciate them.

2. Cutlery Drawer

Over the past year, you will find that your cutlery drawer is harbouring a few bent or blunt knives, teaspoons that are just passed it and far too cheap chopsticks accumulated after take-aways! Try emptying the drawer onto the kitchen counter and go through the items meticulously and wipe out the drawer. Make sure you are strict with yourself and assign unwanted items to the bin.

3. Tuppaware

By this stage of the year, tuppaware tends to look a little grubby having had casseroles, stews, pic-nic salads and various other foods stored in them. Tomato and curry-based sauces tend to play havoc with the colour too. Firstly, go through your tuppaware and ensure that every piece has a matching lid. Be realistic about how many pieces of tuppaware you really need. Secondly, if those items are badly stained, soak them for at least three minutes in white wine vinegar and rinse with soap and water. This should do the trick.

4. Cleaning cloths

Do you have spare dusters, dishcloths and sponges cluttering up the area under your sink? Try hanging a pocket organiser on the inside of one of your kitchen cupboard doors to store your cleaning cloths in to free up space.

5. Pots and Pans

If you have an awkward corner cupboard which you feel isn’t being used to its full potential for storage purpose, affix screw hooks in the top and space them out appropriately so that you can hang as many pans as realistically practical from them. This way you will prevent scratching the surface of the pan, which so often happens when stacking them.

No matter how useful pan lids are when cooking, they do tend to drive you to distraction as they come tumbling out of the cupboard along with your pan! Try organising the lids either with your own customised pot lid holders, which could be larger plastic hooks one on each side stuck to the inside of a cupboard door, or simply buy a small stationery rack and place inside the cupboard using one slot per lid. The same theory works for trays or baking trays for example.

6. Oven gloves

To prevent them from ending up on the floor and to achieve a more un-cluttered look in your kitchen, put up hooks on the inside of a kitchen cupboard and hang them from here.

7. Cling film & aluminium foil

So often cling film, aluminium foil, baking paper and rolls of bin bags become entangled in a drawer with a packet ending up squashed. Think about stacking these vertically on the inside of a cupboard in a light magazine holder for example. This way you free up the drawer for something else.

8. Cork Boards

If you don’t mind screwing some fairly thick cork board onto the inside of your cupboard not only would you maximise space by being able to hang simple (and light) baking utensils or measures from it, but it could also be used as a ‘internal pin board’ for shopping lists or reminders to avoid the fridge looking cluttered.

9. Additional shelving

No doubt you have one cupboard where relatively flat serving dishes are stacked one on top of the other making it a challenge every time you want to get to the bottom. Think about buying or making another shelf with two legs to sit over the lower items to maximise and ease storage.

10. Wet sink areas

To avoid a permanently soggy area around the sink where traditionally you may have herbs growing or other items, buy a pretty over the sink shelf to act as another piece of kitchen surface. Do remember to allow enough room to be able to reach the taps without knocking the shelf every time..

These ideas should prove useful to helping you to de-clutter your kitchen, which you will find immensely satisfying. Good luck.

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