Several years ago, my family came to my house for the holidays and everyone was using the kitchen, helping with cooking and clean-up.
After they left, I had trouble finding things, like my colander. One of my sister’s had joked how it’s fun to work in other people's kitchens and put things away where you think they should go - not where the homeowner had it stored. I shared this with my mom and she remembered us doing that to her when we visited and said it was always an adventure finding things after we left.
Hopefully everyone in your house knows where things go and are able to put them away. Take time to figure out what the best place is for the things you use most. Easy to get and easy to put away is crucial for your most used items.
If you are planning a kitchen renovation, keep in mind that the kitchen layout that looks so good in the magazine, my not work for your family and lifestyle.
Before you renovate, observe how your family functions in the kitchen. How do you want the space to flow? What is working and what is not working? Is there a place where everyone gets in each other’s way? Maybe an additional ‘prep’ sink would help for people to get water or wash their hands without needed the main sink.
There’s a “work triangle” rule of functioning in a kitchen which includes the sink, stove/oven and refrigerator. Each side of the triangle should measure between 4-9 feet and there should be nothing in the way of any side. This is believed to be the most efficient way to set up a kitchen.
But not all kitchens can follow this model, especially smaller kitchens where things are much closer together.
The simplest way to store items is near to where you use them. You would not want to walk across the kitchen to get a plate for something coming out of the fridge or off the stove. Ease of use is important to consider so eye level is where the most used items should be placed.
Lower cabinets with pull outs or deep drawers are great for pot and pans, Tupperware or large bowls and small appliances.
A newer trend is designing kitchens with stations. This means having a designated area for different activities like a cooking area, prep area, food storage area, baking area, beverage center etc. All the items needed for a particular task are stored in the area the task is done. If you have a baking area, you would store the pie & cake pans, cupcake pans, mixer, measuring cups, rolling pin, flour, sugar and mixes all in that space. For the beverage center, include coffee pot and coffee, tea, soda, wine etc. along with coffee cups and drinking/wine glasses. If you have kids, maybe there is smaller table to do homework which has pencils/crayons & paper. Create a section nearby for their cups & plates, ideally a lower cabinet so they can reach it.
Stations work best in larger kitchens where you can spread things out. It cuts down on running into each other when working with others in the kitchen - and needing to get into the same cabinets.
The key to any kitchen is making the most used items easy to get at and easy to put away. This may sound obvious, but I’ve been in many kitchens where this is not the case.
For example, maybe it makes more sense to have plates in a deep-lower pull out drawer and use the upper cabinets for food items. Are there appliances taking up room on your countertop that you rarely use? Find an alternate storage space for them, or give them away.
And please, if you do a reno, have your cabinets go up to the ceiling.