Three Easy Steps to Make Your Kitchen Function
If you want to read this blog for great tips and tricks for baking or cooking, you’ve come to the wrong blog, I’m not your girl. However, if you are here for a “how to” on creating a functional kitchen, you are in the right place!
A Working Home has recently completed several kitchen projects and I wanted to share some insights from both. So, read on and maybe you will find something that is applicable to your kitchen… if not, I hope to razzle dazzle you with my witty banter.
Step One: What am I Doing Here?
Let’s answer the question, “What am I doing in here?” How do you do that? First and foremost, think about how you use your kitchen; are you a “Carrie,” and you use your oven for storage, or are you a “Joanna,” and you have $60k oven? Are you a “Duff,” and love to bake? Maybe you want to “Beat Bobby Flay,” and you concentrate on making meals…
If you are me, you like to sit in the kitchen and watch someone else make the food, sweet or savory. I need to know where only a few things are in my kitchen: the wine glasses, the coffee mugs and the fluid that goes in each.
Step Two: Do Whatever it is, Efficiently.
Ok, now that you know what you are using your kitchen for, take everything out of your cabinets and put everything back in the right spot. What’s the right spot?
For me, I have a coffee station, pictured above, everything I need is right there. But, let’s say that your coffee pot is on your kitchen counter. In order to make life easier on you, especially in the wee hours of the morning, use the cabinet above your coffee pot for your essentials: filters (if you use them), coffee and mugs. No sense in running from one side of the kitchen to the other for a silly cup of coffee.
For others, it is more serious in the kitchen. Consider your pots and pans in relation to the stove, you want them nearby, they are big and cumbersome, so moving them across the kitchen doesn’t make sense. Cutting boards, we like to have ours near the sink, so we can wash whatever we are about to cut and go seamlessly from one action to the next. We also keep our spices in the same cabinet for quick seasoning.
Are you into making that dough? You can use one of your upper cabinets for the goodies needed to whip up a yummy batter! For my client, we used items from Amazon for this and that and the other thing. With your mixing bowls and cookie sheets, choose a base cabinet directly below. In an effort to save space and increase functionality, I like these mixing bowls, they stack well and the lids are easy to store with your cookie sheets… especially if you use this to store your cookie sheets.
A client with a “Duff,” in the making – in this home, baking is an important family sport.
Step Three: For Heaven’s Sake, clean up.
Want to know my best-kept secret when it comes to being in the kitchen? Cleaning as I go. On the rare occasion that I am the chef behind the stove, the last thing that I want is to clean on a full belly. I don’t think I need to go into the step-by-step process of what cleaning entails, but for clarity, I’ll enlighten you.
There is a recipe when cooking, typically it entails cutting and chopping, then combining, then cooking. So, when you are done cutting and chopping, clean the cutting boards and knives – loading the dishwasher counts. After you are done mixing, assuming you are using a mixing bowl, wash or load the bowl. Or if you are transferring from a pan to a pot, clean the pan (after it cools a bit, of course). Wipe down your surfaces while the juices of your meal are coming together in that perfectly delicious way. Pour yourself your beverage of choice and wait for your efforts to become food in your belly.
Of course, my husband’s method is to make the biggest mess possible and then peace out of the kitchen after mealtime…. because if you cook, you don’t clean….
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