How to create more space in your kitchen

-Designate an area in your house to act as secondary storage for your kitchen.  A shelving unit at the bottom of the basement stairs, a shelving unit in the garage, shelves in your pantry or even an extra closet are great options.

-Determine what items you rarely use but still need for certain occasions.  Bread machines, lobster pots, large roasting pans, Christmas molds and special serving dishes and utensils are only a few of the candidates for the secondary storage area.  Anything you use about once a month or perhaps every couple of weeks could go in this area.

-This space is perfect for bulk food purchases that need to be stored until you are ready to bring the food into the pantry or kitchen cabinets for use.  If possible buy some shallow baskets to store small, similar food items to help categorize and organize the food shelf.  If you have a lot of canned goods small stacking shelves on your existing shelves can take advantage of the vertical space often wasted by a row of canned goods.

It is important to assess the items in your kitchen and make sure they are active and used regularly.  Anything else should move to another storage area.  This practice will create more useful space on your counters and also prevent your cabinets from being stuffed with non-essential kitchen items. 

Keeping appliances dust free

Do you remember those plastic zippered bags that comforters and sheets often come in from the manufacturer?  I have never liked them much, mostly because in many clients’ houses I run across extensive collections of these bags!  People are always keeping them hoping they will come in handy during some organizing project.  The occasion almost never arrives and we end up recycling the bags.  However, a couple weeks ago I can honestly say that a client and I discovered a great use for these bags. 

She had a small fan we wanted to store in the basement but we did not want it to accumulate dust.  So we popped it into one of the old comforter bags.  The bag zipped up easily, the fan is in a transparent “container” and the fan will not be covered in dust when she is ready to use it again.  These bags can also be used to store small appliances or other items in a dusty area so they are clean and ready to use.  Try this super easy and inexpensive idea at home!