Kitchen Conversations – Keep in Step with the Spirit

Kitchen counters talk, former procrastinators. They welcome us to space, functionality, and availability. Or they chide us with complaints of overload, confusion, and lack of availability.  Their story reveals that cabinets and drawers are the same.

(When I say they “talk” I’m using ye old English class personification – not confusing this with the Holy Spirit’s voice.)

Kitchen counter space is an everyday need.  So is access to items stored in drawers and cabinets.  To enjoy our kitchens and maximize the use of them, this week, let’s recognize and deal with interferences to kitchen function.

Move seldom-used items out of your everyday path.  Seldom-used appliances occupied valuable real estate our family needed daily.  I moved the bread machine to a storeroom in the basement.  It sat on top of a four-drawer file cabinet where it worked just fine.  In this  house it’s still on the file.

It helps enormously to find another place to use items or to store those you do not use often.  Maybe the basement, laundry room, garage.  Cover them to keep out dust and place them in an easily accessible place.  (You may have to shift some things around.) 

Taking extra steps occasionally is a small price to pay for clear counter space you need daily.

There’s too much on the counters mostly because there’s too much in the drawers and cabinets.  When these are over-stuffed, what would go in there hangs out on the counter.

Seldom-used or never-used items in cabinets and drawers are excess.   Recognize them as obstacles to simpler functioning.  (Lord, help us see clearly what gets in our way in the kitchen.  Give us courage to make decisions and take action.) If we have to press things down to close a drawer, it’s too full.  If we have to rummage to find something, pare down.

Dawn at Minimal Mom suggests using a trash bag, a box marked “Donations” and a box marked “Time will tell.”  The last one is for those items you hesitate about.  If you’re just not sure, stash them away and check the box in three to six months.  If you haven’t wanted those items, donate them. 

Again, move seldom-used items out of your everyday path.  They may be as large as a mixer or as small as a pastry brush. Only items I use repeatedly get to reside in the kitchen.  All others are stored elsewhere – or leave.

Imagine walking into your kitchen and hearing it “sing.”  Clear counters ready for use. Cabinets and drawers ready to reveal their easy-to-reach contents.  This is about your ability to serve your family and others.

Do your counters, cabinets and drawers tell a tale of frustrating excess or enjoyment?

When will you spend ten minutes removing kitchen obstacles?