Are you looking to declutter your kitchen cabinets without knowing where to start?
Kitchen cabinets and drawers can be a tricky area to declutter because of the items they house. There is plenty of stuff to deal with – utensils, tools, appliances, cutlery and such. It’s easy to find yourself stuck trying to fight the clutter residing in these cabinets because they are already overflowing and it’s tough to decide what stays and what goes.
You need to declutter kitchen cabinets in a way that makes your kitchen easy to clean. You want to make sure that every cabinet is decluttered and organized in a way that makes it easier to access the items you need for cooking. You don’t want those cabinets to throw out stuff on your face every time you open them.
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Kitchen decluttering isn’t the easiest task to accomplish. You need to first visualize how you want it to look and operate by creating a plan that works for you. Mostly, this plan follows a simple rule of creating work zones in a way that the items that are used more often stay in the cabinet closest to you and the ones that are used the least stay in a far-off cupboard.
If you are feeling overwhelmed by the idea of kitchen decluttering or you are unsure about where to start, here is a list of some ways to declutter your kitchen cabinets within 2 hours:
1. Kitchen Appliances Cabinet
Let’s start with your appliances cabinet because this space has many items that you probably haven’t used in a while. While appliances like food processor and hand blender are needed very often, there may be duplicates of these items that haven’t been used in ages. Even though it’s good to have duplicates of important appliances, you need to take into consideration the space available in your kitchen to decide whether to keep or let go of them.
Sort through the cabinet to find appliances that you haven’t used in the last one year. You may have bought an electric kettle many years ago but didn’t end up using it more than once. Ask yourself if you intend to use it again. If yes, do it now. If no, donate.
2. Utensils And Plates Cupboard
It’s very common for people to hoard more plates, bowls and spoons than they’ll ever need. You’re adding up to clutter by having 2 dozen of plates, 3 dozen of bowls and 4 dozen of spoons and knives for your family of 4. It’s important to assess the needs of your family before deciding how many utensils you actually need.
Ideally, the number of eating utensils you keep should be no more than thrice the number of members in your family. This number is what works perfectly for my family but you can surely keep more if your home gets frequent guest visits or is a party hotspot for you and your friends. Any extra utensils is clutter and should straight away be tossed into the donation box or given away to a charity.
3. Kitchen Tools Drawer
If you have 4 ladles, 3 sets of measuring spoons and cups, 3 whiskers and 4 spatulas cluttering up your kitchen tools drawer, then maybe it’s time to reassess the duplicates to decide how much is too much. Since kitchen tools form a very important part of cooking, make sure that you don’t keep more than one duplicate of any item.
If you have 4 ladles, keep only 2 and get rid of the rest. Do the same for measuring cups and spoons, spatulas, whiskers and other tools. I recently gave away a lot of these duplicates to close friends & family and my kitchen feels so much lighter now.
4. Bakeware Cupboard
The idea of baking excites us all at some point of time, and this is exactly when we end up buying a lot of bakeware ranging from cake pans, loaf pans, muffin tins and baking dishes. But the fact is that most of us don’t even start or last beyond a couple of baking sessions.
Bakeware, even after you’ve given up baking, ends up occupying a lot of space in your kitchen cabinets and it’s hard to get rid of them because you think that you’ll use them some day. But the fact is that you most likely won’t.
It’s time to be honest with yourself. If you don’t see yourself baking muffins or a banana loaf tomorrow, get rid of your bakeware as soon as possible. The vacated space in your bakeware cabinet can actually be put to a better use by storing appliances and tools that are actually used regularly.
5. Cups And Mugs Drawer
There was a time when I owned 6 mugs, 2 sets of teacups and a dozen glasses of water. While most of the mugs came as gifts, I bought the teacups and glasses for my family and guests. Last week, I realized that I hadn’t used 5 of the six mugs I owned in the past year. And half of the cups and glasses kept in the drawer were collecting dust because they never got used.
After thinking for a while, I managed to get rid of the excess items. It’s hard to get rid of the extra glasses and cups because you fear the old ones might break. You also want enough kitchenware for any surprise guest visits. But a couple of extra cups and glasses is all you need to keep over and above the regular ones. The rest of them can either be donated, given away or packed in the under-bed storage.
Kitchen cabinets are meant to be a home to all your kitchen supplies rather than being a place that makes you feel stifled every time you enter your kitchen. I hope these tips for decluttering your kitchen cabinets turn out to be as helpful for you as they have been to me. And don’t forget to clean your kitchen on a regular basis to keep it hygienic and wholesome.