Before the year ends, many of us try to throw out all the unwanted items around the house to make way for new ones. Many such just consume space and we never really use them – or perhaps only once or twice a year. However, you do not necessarily need to throw out your unwanted items, but simply rearrange them so they don’t take up so much of your kitchen space. Here are some tips to organise your kitchen better.
Whenever you clean something, think about how you use it. Put it aside if you don’t really need it anymore. If you think, you will still need it, place it at a reachable place. If you have lots of things, perhaps a kitchen renovation might be the answer to create more storage. The advantage of this is that you can start again and tell your kitchen designers to fit exactly the amount of space you need.
Below is a list of must-haves in a kitchen.
Cutting items
You should have three knives: a chef’s blade, a paring knife and a bread cutter. Also keep scissors, biscuit cutters and sharpening steel.
Keep a selection of cutting boards in the kitchen: one for meat, one for veggies, and a tiny one for smaller things like cheese.
Measuring items
You should keep a ruler and a measuring cup or jug, for example to measure the amount of water in a pan or how thick you have rolled something. Alternatively, use a digital scale, if you can afford one, and if you want to measure things more accurately for baking, for example..
Bowls
It’s good to have various sizes of bowls to mix things in. For preparation bowls, pick heavy glass containers to prevent them breaking too quickly. You can keep them in fridge and they are easy to clean and durable as well.
Pans
Keep a set of pots and pans. Have an iron frying pan to hand, but be careful if you have a ceramic topped stove. Baking pans in various sizes are also useful, including 9×9 square, 9×13, a loaf pan, muffin tin and cookie sheets
Utensils
Keep wooden spoons readily available, as well as spatulas, slotted spoon, tongs, ladle, masher, ice cream scoop, whisks and a juicer.
Gadgets
Keep a wine bottle opener, can opener, meat thermometer, cheese grater and microplane.
Other important things
Have your colander stored somewhere easily accessible, as well as your salad spinner wire cooling rack, oven-proof casserole dishes, oven mitts and an apron.
Occasional Items
This category varies from person to person, but normally you will want to have a pancake skillet, a canner and other accessories. Keep these things in cupboards, but if you have not used them in the last two years then it might be better to throw them away.
Throw away dull knives, warped cutting boards and chipped or cracked glassware.