Does your kitchen also serve as a part time office? workbench? school project centre? party room? When you think about it, we expect a lot from the room we call ‘kitchen’, So my question for you is this: does your kitchen serve and support your daily life, with streamlined order and touches of heart and soul, or does it need a little magic wand treatment? If it’s the latter, click here to get our Clever Kitchens guide. Clever Kitchens reveals the common issues with most kitchens that are easily overcome, the ten steps to organising your kitchen like a professional, clever kitchens techniques and routines to make your day a dream, and the details of how to put some heart and soul back into your kitchen.
I know when my kitchen is sorted my days always take off to a great start. I admit this is not every day – there are ebbs and flows in life that sometimes keep me from my usual kitchen maintenance routine – but when my kitchen is sorted, I feel like I can take on the world. It cannot be underestimated the feeling you get when you’re greeted in the morning with a fridge whose contents are visible and fresh, a pantry displaying neat rows of easily accessible produce and benches clean and clear. Implements have a logical home and you need only to think about the day ahead rather than the loose ends and unmade decisions of yesterday. In fact, it’s such a great feeling, that I had to write about it and share the secrets in my e-book Clever Kitchen Drawers. So let’s cut to the chase – if your kitchen is not serving and supporting you today, it’s time to make a change. Here are seven signs that tell you your kitchen passes the Clever Kitchens test:
- Your benches are completely clear and ready to deal with whatever you need to throw at them, be it school bags, brief case, shopping bags or tonight’s dinner
- You take less than 3 minutes to unpack the dishwasher because every item has a home in a logical place
- The cupboards and drawers are not overstuffed and their contents do not leap out and try and grab you when you go to take one of the 20% of items you actually use. Yes, did you get that? Only 20% of what you keep in your kitchen is actually used…….hmmm….(see you later pizza stone, fondue pot, bread maker, pasta machine and vegetable juicer, anything costing $19.99 on late night television)
- You have five zones in which all relevant items are located: cleaning, cooking, food preparation, food storage, food serving (oh, and the sixth: the ‘dumping’ zone!)
- Weight, size and frequency of use are taken into consideration when deciding where to store your items
- You have a place to think and plan while the pots are on the boil. Whether it be a laptop, a reference binder, a pad and pen or just the phone, you have the ability to connect to yourself and the world while you turn out culinary masterpieces.
- People feel good in your space – you feel good there. It just flows.
So if you want to know how to achieve this, we’ve done the hard work for you. You can get access to the Clever_Kitchens workbook here