Living Simply: Decluttering the Kitchen

Our kitchen was renovated right before we moved in. It’s a smaller kitchen. I store my canning supplies, bulk food items and less used kitchen things, like the punch bowl, in the basement. Notice how the counters are cleared off. I took this picture after bottling the wine so everything had been moved off the counters. A 180 degree turn to show you the dining table would reveal where it all went.

My Father-in-Law built us a shelf to hang up the pots and pans and this freed up some cupboard space.

I spend a great deal of time in the kitchen. I enjoy to cook, bake and preserve food so I’ve accumulated a variety of tools and food items to help me with these tasks. But, some things are getting out of control… especially my spice cupboard!

Over the last year I’ve been slowly getting rid of plastics and teflon coated cookware for health and environmental reasons. As I go through my kitchen this week I plan to reduce these items even further, hopefully to none, as well as get rid of things that I don’t use. I will also get rid of stuff that I use but don’t need and items that only have one use, like our popcorn machine.

As I get rid of items in the kitchen I will sort them into three piles: 1) for the thrift store 2) for my younger siblings 3) to sell on Kijiji or Craig’s list. I’m not sure how successful I’ll be at selling some items, but it’s worth a try.

A few significant problem areas include the container drawer, “random” drawer, under the sink and utensil drawer. There is also a constant battle for counter space in the kitchen. The compost bin, food processor, drying rack, fruit bowl, knife stand, salt and pepper, utensil pot, toaster, snack jars and stand mixer seem to have a permanent spot on the counter. My space for cooking and cleaning are limited to two spots, to the right of the stove and by the stand mixer. I don’t know if increasing counter space is possible but I’d like to hear your ideas and suggestions.