A Helpful Guide to a Clutter-Free Counter

It’s that time of year again. No, not that time of year where March 2020 never ended, and we are all stuck in Groundhog Day – COVID edition. It’s spring, well almost. So, let’s get a head start on spring cleaning and start with our kitchen counter – the place that accumulates mail, mittens, wrappers, mask and leftovers not to mention small kitchen appliances, knickknacks, kitchen utensils and more.

Let’s face it – there is something entirely refreshing and life-giving about a clean, uncluttered kitchen counter. In fact, it is one of my favorite benefits of a clean kitchen – for about five minutes. It communicates calm and order, it promotes opportunity and possibility, it saves time and promotes cleanliness. And really, who enjoys cooking in a cluttered kitchen?

Yet kitchen counter organization is one of the most difficult things to get started with. There are, of course, several reasons maintaining a clean and minimalist kitchen is so hard:

The kitchen is hard-wired as a natural gathering place for the family.

The kitchen is physically located in a high traffic area of the home.

The purpose of the room requires messes to be made during its use.

The kitchen is often used as a collection area for various odds and ends (mail, masks, mittens, etc.).

While kitchen counter organization is difficult, it is completely achievable, and you can accomplish it in yours as well.

Decluttering Tips for Keeping Your Kitchen Counter Organized:

1. Remove the unnecessary.

One of the biggest causes of clutter in our homes is our tendency to put too much stuff in too little of a space. When we do, it becomes difficult to store things, find things, and access them. As a result, we dread putting things away and it becomes convenient to leave things on the counter. Typically, the kitchen is full of this clutter. We have cupboards and shelves and drawers full of cooking utensils, gadgets, things we thought we needed, and items we purchased for one-time use. If keeping your kitchen counters uncluttered is a problem in your home, this is the most important step you can take. Remove completely any item you no longer use. And store items used less than 3 times/year elsewhere.

2. Relocate anything that does not belong.

Kitchens are notorious for becoming collection areas for all various odds and ends. Unintentionally, they become the storing place for many of them: mail, kids’ homework, purses, keys, almost everything in your junk drawer. Identify a new proper home for each. Then, change the culture in your home that allows them to stay there. Mail goes into a nice container, homework goes into a pouch within easy reach in the morning, purses on a hook – you get the idea. Think of your kitchen as a department store customer service area – items may enter there, but rarely stay. You can also extend this thinking to items you already store in your kitchen: televisions, radios, iPads, laptops, etc.

3. Give every item a proper home.

One of the most essential steps in organizing and keeping a home clutter-free is to find a proper home for every item. Designate drawers for silverware and cookware; cupboards for plates, containers, and small appliances; and closets/shelves for food and larger, less-used appliances. After taking steps #1 and #2, you’ll find this easier than you think.

4. Store daily use appliances out of sight.

If your counters are routinely cluttered, there is a good chance you are storing many daily-use items there (toasters, coffee makers, teapots, can openers, spice racks, etc.).They are often stored on countertops for convenience’s sake. But in reality, these items spend far more time as clutter than they do as needed instruments for food preparation. For example, if you make toast every morning for breakfast, it’ll take roughly 3 minutes to toast your bread. After that, the toaster will sit unused for the next 23 hours and 57 minutes. You use it far less than you think you do. Rather than allowing these appliances to take up counter space and cause distraction, find a home in an easily accessed area. If you have the space, store the toaster, coffeemaker, and teapot in a cupboard right next to the outlet.

5. Change your “counter is convenient” mentality.

The fallacy of convenience is a big reason our kitchen counters stay cluttered. We tend to keep things in plain sight because we believe it makes our kitchen more convenient. As a result, our counters fill up with baking ingredients, knife racks, cutting boards, and coffee mugs. And while it may be more convenient to readily grab those items when needed, we rarely notice the other conveniences we are sacrificing by storing them there. We move them every time we wipe the counters. We sacrifice precious prep space when we cook. And they fight for our attention whenever we enter the room.

6. Finish unfinished jobs completely.

When a counter is clear and tidy, it becomes a motivation to put things away, but a cluttered counter attracts clutter and unfinished jobs are a clutter. Granted, some projects take more time than others, but many kitchen jobs (washing the dishes, wiping the counters, returning used items, etc.) can be completed right away before ever leaving the kitchen in the first place. For best results, if a job can be finished in less than 2 minutes, do it. Finishing tasks will do wonders for your attitude the next time you walk in.

7. Reset each evening.

If you are lucky, your kitchen gets used every day. And any room that gets used daily will need to be reset daily. That’s why putting this on your evening checklist makes sense. We live our lives and often get too used to how things are and not how you really want them to be. As a result, we get used to our cluttered kitchen counters and don’t realize how freeing it can be to keep them clear. We may be reminded when we walk into a friend’s house or see a photo of a simple kitchen, but we’ve become so accustomed to the current state of ours we forget we can change.

You don’t need to live with a cluttered kitchen countertop. The solution to your kitchen’s countertop organization is indeed simpler than you think.