So the kitchen is clean, but the cabinets are disguising a horrible mess. What do you do about it? The cabinets are great hiding places for clutter, things that you never use, and things that you don’t want anyone to see. But they can also disguise leaks, spills, mold, bugs, and other unsavory kitchen problems. Old food gets pushed to the back of the pantry and containers and their lids may never see each other again. Your kitchen space is sacred in a way because it is usually so limited. Getting it organized will not only make your kitchen easier to use, but it will make cleaning an easier job, save you money that you might have spent replacing things that were lost, and it will make your kitchen a healthier place to cook and eat. Use these tips to get your cabinets and pantry in order.
1) First clean off all of the surfaces of the kitchen. Sometimes we store things that aren’t used very often out on the counter, just because we don’t have room in the cabinets. The less stuff that you store on the counters, the cleaner your kitchen will look. If there’s something that you would rather not store on the counter but you don’t have room for it, go ahead and move it to the table. This will start your categorizing for what will go back into the cabinets in the end.
2) Clear out the pantry and get rid of expired food. Check your canned food for expiration dates too. If things have been opened, decide if they’re still worth keeping or not. Get rid of old boxes and seal off bags by rolling them down and securing them with a rubber band wrapped all the way around the bag. This is an easy way to keep things sealed without investing in bulky plastic containers. Put the new, unopened things in the back and the things that you need to use first in the front.
3) Pull out pots and pans, containers, lids, bowls, casseroles, and small appliances. Decide what you don’t need anymore and get rid of it. Choose to keep containers that stack inside of each other to save space. If you have eighteen casserole dishes, you can probably get rid of half.
4) Invest a little in movable shelves, cabinet door racks, pan racks, and lid racks. These cheap cabinet accessories make a huge difference in kitchen cabinets by using the vertical and horizontal space that normally goes unused. When everything is clean organized and back in the cabinets, you’re done!
About the Author: Charlie Hafter is on the staff of Closet Hanger Factory, a leading online resource for clothes hangers. Get all of the closet and clothes hanger accessories you could need at http://www.closethangerfactory.com, which is recognized worldwide for their excellent quality hangers.
