Are you struggling to organise a messy kitchen? If so, you’re not alone.
Kitchens can be pretty difficult to clean regardless of how often you wipe, dust and scrub. Given the fact that the kitchen is the most important and perhaps the busiest room in any house, it’s understandable that it would be cluttered or appear messy at times.
However, if this is becoming somewhat of a problem and you feel like your kitchen always looks untidy and disorganised despite your best efforts, it’s about time you fix the mess and clean your kitchen like a professional.
How to Organise a Messy Kitchen
You need to start off by identifying the things that are making your kitchen look messier than it is. Then, you need to either get rid of them or just move them out of sight.
Here are some simple tips for cleaning a kitchen that would improve both your life and the overall look of your home.
- Don’t let the dirty dishes pile up
- Declutter kitchen countertops
- Put away small appliances to keep your kitchen tidy
- Organise your kitchen cabinets
- Don’t stick things to your fridge door
- Put away your cooking utensils
Whether your kitchen is big or small, you can easily follow these tips on organizing a messy kitchen without spending any money.
Step 1: Don’t Let the Dishes Pile Up in the Sink
It doesn’t matter how frequently your scrub your kitchen floors or wipe the countertops if your sink is always full of dirty dishes and cooking utensils.
The sight of dirty dishes is enough to make a kitchen look messy. Not to mention, it’s also extremely unhygienic and can stink up the entire room, if not the house.
Therefore, washing dishes is the first step to organise a messy kitchen. The easiest solution is to wash things right after you use them. For instance, when you’re cooking something, you can quickly wash all the dirty utensils while the food is on the stove.
Similarly, make sure you wash all the plates and spoons after every meal. This would not only prevent dishes from piling up to the point that it seems impossible to get rid of them, but it would also prevent stubborn stains from forming.
If you have a hectic schedule and cannot make time to clean your kitchen and do the dishes after every meal, make it a rule that you won’t go to bed unless all the dishes have been washed.
Step 2: Declutter Kitchen Countertops
Let’s admit it, we’ve all stood in our kitchens and thought we needed more counter space. The thing is you only need to declutter kitchen countertops to make them look cleaner. However, it can be quite tricky to figure out what to keep on kitchen counters.
If you aren’t sure how to organise your kitchen countertops to keep them functional but spacious, you need to start off by sorting out the clutter. This is the second step to organise a messy kitchen.
Here are some of the items you should consider getting rid of or putting in the storage for a clutter-free kitchen:
- Kitchen gadgets you rarely use
- Small appliances
- Disposable water bottles and cups
- Plastic shopping bags
- Food in plastic bags
- Cookbooks
- Takeout and menus
- Kitchen towels and napkins
- Tupperware
- Plastic and aluminium foil wraps
- Baking pans and sheets
Your kitchen is bound to look messy if you have any of these things lying about on your countertop. If you want to clean your kitchen like a professional and keep it that way, make sure everything in the room has a designated place.
Step 3: Put Away Small Appliances
There are certain kitchen appliances that every kitchen must have; these need to be organized in a manner so as to prevent the space from looking messy.
Putting away small appliances is the third step to organise a messy kitchen. Generally, people keep their coffee-makers, toasters, kitchen counter, microwave ovens, rice cookers, juicers and blenders etc. on their countertops so that they are easily accessible.
These appliances make your life a little easier and are indeed useful. But, they (and their cords) might also be making your kitchen look a bit messy.
To clean an untidy kitchen, you need to store at least some of these appliances once you are done using them. While things like the coffee-maker and microwave are usually used more often, it’s understandable if you don’t want to move them elsewhere. However, appliances such as rice cookers and blenders need to be cleaned properly after each use and stored safely in a shelf, cabinet or pantry.
Just remember, a tidier and organised kitchen will also make it easier to cook in.
Step 4: Organise Your Kitchen Cabinets
This might take a little bit longer to accomplish. However, it is one of the most important steps for organising a messy kitchen.
If you have open shelving in your kitchen, you need to stack them with like pieces that you use frequently. Since anyone entering your kitchen can easily peer into these shelves, make sure the items you’ve displayed are clean and in a good condition.
Meanwhile, if you have traditional décor and can’t figure out how to arrange dishes in kitchen cabinets, start off by taking everything out. The best way to organise kitchen cabinets and drawers is by getting rid of things you either don’t use or that aren’t in good shape anymore.
Then, you need to put everything back in a way that the items you require on a daily basis are easier to grab whereas things you rarely need to take out of the shelves are placed towards the back.
Organised kitchen cabinets will not only make your space look clean and organised but also make it more functional.
Step 5: Don’t Put Things on Your Fridge Door
Who doesn’t like putting a few decorative magnets or displaying their kids’ report card on the fridge door? If you are one of those people, you might want to reconsider using your fridge as a bulletin board.
Although you may not realize it, a fridge door full of old papers, drawings and other items is bound to make your kitchen look messy. Of course, you don’t have to get rid of every single thing that’s on there. But if you want to organise a messy kitchen, it’s recommended you only display a few tasteful magnets on the surface. You should move all the other items to some other place.
For instance, all of your children’s drawings and schools reports can go in a box for safekeeping. Meanwhile, all your travel photos would look much better placed in photo frames around your house.
This is one of the easiest ways to keep your kitchen clean and decluttered.
Step 6: Don’t Leave Out Your Cooking Utensils
Washing a dirty pile of dishes is one thing, but leaving them stacked high in the dish rack is another thing altogether. If you don’t put away your dishes and cooking utensils once they are clean and dry, your kitchen will continue to look messy. Moreover, you’ll also lose a lot of precious counter space by not placing your cooking utensils and dishware in the cabinets
If you have a habit of leaving the pots and pans on the rack after washing them, you need to break it immediately. After all, you can’t organise a messy kitchen if it’s cluttered.
Meanwhile, if you’re looking to renovate your kitchen and are looking for some décor ideas that wouldn’t go out of style anytime soon, here are some budget-friendly kitchen design ideas that are essentially timeless.
For more easy home decor and kitchen cleaning tips, check out Zameen Blog, one of the best lifestyle blogs in Pakistan.
