Declutter Your Kitchen

Most of our kitchens are overflowing with duplicate pots, pans, serving spoons and speciality tools that rarely get used. With all this extra stuff around, it can make any kitchen (especially small kitchens) hard to organize, constantly messy, and a nightmare for cooking.

The process to simplify our kitchen tools took me about an hour. Crank some good music and take out all of your cooking utensils, pans, bowls, etcetera and set them on the kitchen table. If you have items stored else where, bring them up and unpack them. Clean all the drawers and cupboards. Then, go through the list below and put back the pots, pans, tools and utensils that you have (or need to keep for now) and remove any duplicates. This process can be trickier than it seems as I found myself wanting to keep 2 or 3 nice plastic spatulas or tongs instead of one, thinking that I might need them in the future (say for a party!) and would be annoyed that I had given them away. For items like these, I decided to put them in a plastic bin of supplies I use when we have parties.

If I haven't used them by this time next year. I'll officially get rid of them.

For everything else that you're ready to part with (I had two giant plastic tubs!) I'd recommend donating them to an organization specializing in helping people in a housing transition. If you live in MN, Bridging is a great spot. Otherwise, a quick google search should yield some other options.

Below is a detailed list of my essential kitchen supplies with a little help from a new cook book - The Food Lab. I highly recommend buying the book or borrowing it from a friend as it is chock-full of insightful information on the how's and why's of cooking, and on top of that, a hilarious read!

a couple of disclaimers.

One, this checklist is to help you de-clutter your kitchen and ensure you're buying multi-use, quality items that will last. It does not mean that you should go out and buy everything new and dump everything you already have.

Two, this checklist is not perfect for everyone. Do you make waffles every Saturday? Then you should probably keep your waffle maker. On the other hand, if you haven't used your waffle maker in a year, then perhaps its time to get rid of it. Never make rice? No rice cooker needed. Hate crockpots? Don't buy one.

For the items that you are missing from the list below, make your personal wish-list of items that make the most sense for your particular cooking habits. Maybe you can wait to add them to your kitchen until a holiday, birthday, or second-hand find comes along. Or maybe a friend has an extra they're happy to part with. These are much better alternatives than just going out and buying new. However, be sure to not buy something new/used that won't last. In most cases, it's quality, not quantity that's important.

The goal is to simplify your kitchen and your life, so you can easily make great food for you and your family without having a mini-panic attack every time you go to cook. In the list below, I've tried to include two options for every item to account for various budgets. For the most part, items tend to be a bit pricier, but the goal is that these items will be used over a lifetime or at least 10 years.

Here's to a simple, organized kitchen!