Create the Minimalist Kitchen of Your Dreams

The internet is chock-full of blogs about creating the perfect home organization system. Pinterest gives tip after tip about labeling, organizing, storing, and so on. If you're anything like us, you've probably thought to yourself, "I could do that," when in fact, you get 10 minutes into sorting your closet and give up. We get it.

Thankfully, we've recently come across some helpful advice that focuses on the real problem that other minimalist blogs don't discuss-- clutter. You see, the problem with "going minimal" is that it can be hard to know what you actually need to hold on to and what you should part ways with. We especially find this to be an issue in the kitchen. Remember that glass cake stand you swore should be on your wedding registry, but now it's collecting dust? Yeah, us too. Let's talk about what to get rid of, what to replace, and how to showcase your kitchen in a way that's functional yet stylish.

Get Down to the Essentials

Aside from the obvious decluttering strategies like throwing expired food, old receipts you've saved (for whatever reason) in your junk drawers, and so on, there are plenty of kitchen gadgets that are better off gone than in your cabinets.

Kitchen Aid Mixer. Ok, hear us out. As beautiful as these mixers look sitting in our cabinets, waiting for us to bake all the goodies we promised we would, standing mixers take up so much space. If you actively cook in large quantities, then, by all means, keep it, but if not, handheld mixers work just as well and take up little to no space.

Rice Cooker. Most crockpots and instapots have the option to steam rice as well. No need to have multiple devices that can do the same thing!

Excessive Coffee Mugs. We will admit that this one is hard, especially if you're an "I went on vacation to this one place, so I MUST get a souvenir coffee cup" type of person, like us. Even if you have a few in the dishwasher and a few available for any guests that you may serve, you don't need more than 8-10 mugs. (The same rule applies for wine glasses, regular cups, etc.)

Toaster Oven. Simply use the toaster or the oven for the rare occasion that you need this bulky kitchen device.

If you only use it once a year or you can use a different appliance to get the same results, gift it, toss it, or sell it. That includes rarer items such as:

• Panini Press
• Grilled Cheese Maker
• Quesadilla Maker
• Juicer
• Wok
• Bread Maker
• Espresso Machine

Once you've paired down to only the appliances you need, let's talk small items and organization.

Keep It Clean

Kitchens are often some of the messiest parts of the house and the hardest to keep clean. Random items seem to make their way into drawers, gifted appliances get shoved to the back of cabinets, and online ads will convince you that you NEED the hottest (fill in the blank) of (fill in the year).

So, to help keep your kitchen a happy, clean, and breathable space, try the following steps.

1. Store only what belongs.

You may be thinking, "Everything in my kitchen goes here." However, if you don't need to use it in the kitchen, it doesn't need to be there. For example, large party platters, junk drawers, fruit bowls, etc. are kitchen items that you probably don't regularly access during cooking. These items can be stored elsewhere and brought in when needed.

2. Keep the counters clear.

Once you start bringing items out of the cabinets and storing them on counters, clutter begins to fit in, and crumbs are harder to see. Keeping the coffee pot on the counter is fine, but the ten coffee mugs, sugar, creamer, etc. can stay elsewhere.

3. Purge your fridge and pantry often.

Your food storage spaces can quickly become the most cluttered areas in your kitchen. Cleaning out old, spoiled items or pairing down on pantry staples can create more space for the things that you want.

Owning a home opens the door of possibilities for your kitchen! Connect with a Mortgage Advisor today to start your journey to homeownership.