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The heart of your home, where you go for sustenance for body and soul. Make your kitchen a warm and welcoming, yet functional space.
Every time we shift stations and get a new house to set up, I naturally move towards the kitchen first, then the bedrooms, my kids room and then the common living areas. Kitchen is where I need to make a mental note of how I can have everything in the right place so that it’s easy to fetch on my occasional cooking/baking days.
Today I choose to write about kitchens because it’s this place in a home which needs maximum organising skills and which results in cutting the stress out of our lives to quite an extent. I agree that organising comes naturally to some but with a little bit of effort in understanding, we can be trained to make it a part of our lives.
The basis of every design comes down to first evaluating our lifestyle habits and then finding the most suitable and practical design solution based on these habits. It gets complicated sometimes, when we don’t pay attention to the need to recycle. Just like human life, objects have expiry dates too and need to go once they have outlived their utility.
I talk about altering the lifestyle a little bit because it goes hand in hand with keeping up or maintaining the design that has been created with so much of time and effort. That is why its important that every design is worked out around the needs and personality of each individual client. Every time we wish to have homes that look like the ones in magazines or the hotels, it’s only possible with sticking to organising habits and following routines and order in the way we keep things.
Coming back to the kitchens, they are the heart of any home … responsible for filling up our palettes with lots of flavour and love, bringing families together. These following points ensure that managing my kitchen not a mammoth task.
image source: http://www.shutterstock.com
To start with, we need to start emptying the drawers and cabinets to come to my most essential point… De-clutter. Start by sorting utensils and jars with foods etc. which we don’t need or food items that have expired. Chuck it in the bin right there. Or if you think that re cycling is an option then go ahead please… re-cycle. This gives us a fresh page to start with.
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Now allot a separate section or cabinet for each of these main items.
It causes stress instantly to walk into a kitchen where the counter top is full of little things here and there and looks like it hasn’t been cleared in days. Remember to follow a strict pattern of actions by putting things back where they belong immediately after use.
One way to make this possible is to use a few counter top shelves. I bought a couple from IKEA on my last holiday and these are really handy. Alternatively, you could use cake trays to keep little everyday items like vinegar, olive oil etc. I use a similar one near my electric kettle for tea, coffee and sugar dispensers. It becomes easy to clean counters with these around as it helps move these little things together in one go.
Even inside cabinets, refrigerators, drawers etc. Further categorising things as per use helps take our eyes straight there when we need them. There are many fridge and kitchen hacks available in the home stores in most of the malls. Look out for the good ones every time you are out. A whole range of solution is available in the tupperware brand of storage boxes. I have started relying on these since they really are airtight and easy to stack and utilize the space vertically inside cabinets.
Keeping larger cooking pots inside deep drawers is quite handy. Use a small plate rack to keep the lids of containers within reach. Keep the tall cooking ladles in pretty looking flower vases. Or just use tall mason jars instead.
image stock: http://www.shutterstock.com
I have always had a problem with cleaning the kitchen with the dirtiest of cloths. I have seen enough homes with the kitchen sponge feeling so dirty that cleaning any surface with it can only lead to some kind of sickness. So being particular about changing the sponge very often, I stumbled upon some post somewhere which talked about the only effective way to clean these.
It’s bleaching powder… At least once a day make a solution of bleaching powder and soak the sponge and the kitchen cloth in this for 10 minutes and get rid of all the germs and infection causing bacteria. I have been doing this religiously and I have to say it has changed my life.
This is easy for those who love baking and indulge in it often. These leave the homes smelling so good without extra effort. But those of us who are not so lucky and even after repeated efforts only end up burning the batters in the oven, we need to work harder to get our homes smelling good. One option I like and is great to instantly leave the home smelling fresh is boil orange peal and cinnamon for some time.
I am not particular about this one but it really is important to some of us. So, go ahead and colour coordinate with all the accessories you buy. By paying a little attention to the design of the kitchen appliances and crockery etc. , we can have an attractive looking kitchen over time.
Try to put things back every time you are done using them. Never leave things to be finished later. This is an easy way to figure out in a glance if your kitchen is running out of something. This includes the refrigerator.
And remember, just because we are working in a kitchen, it does not mean that its okay to leave it soaking wet in patches. Keep the kitchen foam clean in the bleaching powder solution and don’t shy away form wiping that mess dry at the very moment it happens.
Image source: your kitchen by Shutterstock
I'm an interior designer taking blogging a bit seriously these days, with two kids and a husband and a life that ensures we travel a lot, it helps me keep in touch with my read more...
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