Struggling to make your favorite culinary dishes in a cluttered kitchen? At Stonegate Builders, we work closely with our clients to help them plan, design, and build their dream homes. We find that for many homeowners, a bigger kitchen with a more functional layout is at the top of their wish list.
Sometimes though, extra space doesn’t always equal more organization. In fact, if you’re not taking advantage of your current storage areas or cabinets, you may discover that more room may lead to more clutter. The trick is to review your current kitchen storage situation and find creative ways to organize your tools, glassware, pots, and other essentials. Once you’ve mastered how to do it in your current space, you’ll be a pro in a much larger space.
If you find yourself daydreaming of cooking new recipes in an organized kitchen, here are a few design ideas to try in your home.
Installing extra shelving is a quick, easy way to create more organization in your kitchen. Kitchen racks, for example, can be placed above your sink area or side wall to hold more commonly used items, such as plates, coffee cups, salad bowls, and other everyday essentials.
You may also decide to build new shelving to store pots and pans, herbs and spices, and other items you wish were within arm’s reach and less of an arm workout to retrieve.
The best part: When you build more shelving, you can choose the type of materials and colors you desire to give your home more of a personal touch. Just be sure the material is durable and installed correctly. You certainly don’t want more of a mess on your hands.
Are you a baker? You might have bags of flour, sugar, confectioner’s sugar, baking soda, and other baking ingredients stored in a cabinet––all laying on top of one another. It’s not a great look, and it can make your cabinets look chaotic.
The solution? Using clear storage containers is a great way to display your ingredients and create simplicity. This also means no more leaking bags of sugar or flour residue on display. Just remember to label your containers so you don’t accidentally confuse sugar with salt.
There are certain items in our kitchens that we only use on special occasions. That Crockpot cooks great chili in the winter, but in the summer, it’s time to bring out the grill. And though you love your KitchenAid mixer, do you really plan on making cookies every week?
If you can start identifying the items you use only occasionally, and the ones you use daily, you’ll have a better time organizing your kitchen to be more functional. Check to see if certain things you use every day––like pots and pans––are within reach and that the bigger kitchen equipment you use sparingly is stored somewhere out of sight.
This is also true if you have special Christmas or holiday dishes that get brought out only once a year.
Many homeowners designate the space under your kitchen sink to store cleaning and disinfectant products. It’s actually a great idea, as you would never want to keep your dishwasher soap next to your baked goods. Even though this is a commonly used area for cleaning supplies, it doesn’t mean you should just crowd the space with bottles, scrubbers and cleaning tools––which you eventually need to rummage through anyway.
We recommend removing everything first and adding containers within the space for easier organization. This will allow you to store your sponges and dish washing gloves separately from other products rather than leaving them on the bottom of the cabinet. As this is a place to keep your cleaning products, you want to try to ensure this space stays clean, too!
If you don’t have a kitchen island, consider a rolling cart. These are small, yet sturdy storage solutions that keep your kitchen organized. And because they don’t take up much room and are mobile, you can move them around to suit the occasion. Most rolling carts come with their own cabinets or shelving, but you can also add containers or extra bins to suit your style and needs.
Decluttering your kitchen can help you find some much needed space and keep you organized. But if your kitchen is outdated like the rest of your home, you might be considering a new home build.
At Stonegate Builders, it’s our number one priority to provide exceptional experiences and deliver superior customer service, quality craftsmanship, and attention-to-detail from start to finish.
If you’re interested in learning how we can help you design and build your dream home, contact us today to learn more.