Day 11: Decluttering Kitchen Cabinets

Today we’re doing a sweep through the kitchen cabinets: home to dishes, glassware, pots, pans and a random assortment of small kitchen appliances. An efficient, convenient kitchen needs to be pared down and organized with like items together so they can be easily found. The less cluttered and more organized your kitchen is, the easier and more pleasurable it will be to cook dinner every day (trust me, it's true!)

• Clear out tools, dishware and gadgets you don’t use. Go through each cabinet individually and pull out all the items you don’t use regularly. With the exception of seasonal items, items that are seldom used contribute to clutter. Get rid of the excess appliances you don’t really need. Be honest with yourself about how often you really use that yogurt maker/popcorn popper/electric griddle. A few months ago, I finally buckled down and learned how to make real iced tea – using boiling water, a pitcher and tea bags – just so I could get rid of my too-hard-to-store iced tea machine.
• Get rid of duplicates. Yes, it’s perfectly normal to have more than one cup, plate, bowl, and so on. But you don’t need 20 coffee cups or four sets of dishes. Think about how many of each item you really need, then pick your favorites and donate the rest.
• Look for double-duty items. There’s no need to keep a specialty chip-and-dip tray when a tray and bowl will do. Look for tools that can be used for more than one purpose. Before buying or keeping a specialty gadget, ask yourself, “can I accomplish the same thing with another tool I already have?” This, my friends, is how I finally gave up my “perfect brownie making pan” in favor of my workhorse baking dish.
• Pull seasonal items out and store them in high cabinets or in another room. Think carefully about which items you really use during the holidays. In my house, the cupcake stand and large roaster get regular “special occasion” use, but the adorable reindeer plates and coffee mugs have been boxed for years. Time to let them go. 
• If you can’t bring yourself to part with something, put it in temporary storage. Box up items you don’t think you use often but aren’t willing to part with yet, and put the box in the closet, garage or other out-of-the-way place. Mark the box with a date six months in the future, and see how many items you pull out of the box for use between now and then. Part with the rest with the deadline arrives.
• Organize cabinets by use. In my house, that means dishes go near the dishwasher, and pots and pans go next to the stove. The roaster goes in the back of the cabinet, while the crockpot goes in the front prime position. Group like items together, so all the baking items go in one cabinet, while glasses and coffee mugs go in another.

Tomorrow: Decluttering Your Kitchen Drawers (and the Dreaded Junk Drawer)

This post is part of the Fresh Start Series, 31 days of tips and tricks to simplify in the new year.