Having a well organised kitchen is half the battle when it comes to enjoying the time you spend in it cooking, cleaning and tidying up. For many of us these are chores that we don’t always enjoy but endure, but it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s easy to get it right if you set yourself up well from the start and this is exactly what this month’s article is here to help you do.
The kitchen triangle
This is a given in the vast majority of kitchens: having the sink, cooker, and fridge positioned in the form of a triangle so that it is easy to move from one to the other. The key to efficiency in the kitchen is to reduce the number of steps you have to take between your stations and to be able to pivot between them where possible.
Stations
Which brings us on to stations… When preparing food, you want to keep your raw and cooked items separate so a prep area is useful. By creating stations, you are making it easy to flow from one to the other. This is easy if your prep station is close to the cooker. To help keep your workstations clean, have your dirty dishes station on one side of the dishwasher making it easy to scrape off scraps, rinse and load.
Cutlery and crockery
You want your cutlery to be easy to grab and quick to put away, so the ideal position will be close to your dishwasher or sink. A top drawer within pivoting distance is ideal. Cooking utensils can go into a drawer below, so that they are still easily accessible. Alternatively, you can hang them off a rack or a wall-mounted rail system close to your cooker for ease of access. If your drawers don’t come with in-built organisers, they are easy to find to help keep things separate from each other and save you the time rifling through looking for the one thing you need.
Crockery should again be within pivoting distance of your dishwasher or drying rack. If you have a kitchen island then you can store both your crockery and cutlery here, particularly if wall-mounted cabinet space is scarce; just remember to keep things as close as possible so that you are not wasting time going back and forth while you are prepping or cooking.
Pots and pans
These should be closest to your cooker. If your cooking unit has a bottom drawer, then this will be the ideal place for them. Alternatively, any larger drawers nearby or any cabinet space overhead would be a good option. If you have an island or lots of wall space you can always hang them, making them easy to reach when you need them but out of the way of everyday movement.
For help organising or building your new kitchen talk to us! Our team at Parsons Joinery has a wealth of experience when it comes to kitchens and we’re happy to advise and help when you need us. You can find us on the phone on 01273 814870 or on email at enquiries@parsonsjoinery.com when you are ready.
