Kitchen Layout Tips

Whether you’ve moved into a new home, or your reorganizing your kitchen, you may need to organize around the layout of the kitchen.  Unfortunately, unless you’re remodeling the space, appliances, countertops and cabinets cannot be moved.  This sometimes makes creating a well organized kitchen a challenge, but here are some tips for working with your kitchen’s design to become more organized.

Create Zones in Your Kitchen

No matter what size your kitchen is, you can create zones for the things you store in the kitchen and the activities that take place in there.  Create a zone (or cabinet or drawer) for categories of items such as bakeware, plasticware, utensils, plates, glasses, pots and pans.

Store Food Together

Have designated areas for storing food.  A pantry is ideal, but it you don’t have a pantry, set aside one or two cabinets for food storage.  It is often helpful to store all spices together in a drawer or cabinet near where you prepare food.

Create a Morning Coffee Station

Mornings are often hectic, so creating a coffee station in a section of your kitchen can save you a little time each day.  This is one area where you store the coffee maker, coffee mugs and tea cups, with tea bags, coffee beans, coffee grounds or K-cups nearby.

Designate a Food Prep Area

Choose one counter or area of a counter where you will prepare food, such as mixing ingredients or chopping vegetables.  Keep this area clear except when you are making meals.

Gather All Paper Together

Paperwork and mail can quickly clutter up kitchen counters.  Choose one area of your kitchen to collect all of this paperwork.  You may want to hang a mail sorter on the wall, or designate one cabinet to hold papers in your kitchen.

Streamline Dishwashing

Think about the number of steps it takes for you to get items from your sink or dishwasher area to the drawer or cabinet where you store dishes, glasses and utensils.  To save yourself time emptying the sink or dishwasher, relocate all regularly used silverware and dishes to cabinets and drawers as close as possible to the sink or dishwasher.