Organizing your Countertop Applicances
By: Peggy G.
The kitchen is a place where people spend a lot of time. It is also the place where there never seems to be enough space. Our cabinets are overflowing with dishes, pots and pans. Our counters are covered with every new appliance we can find. We like our gadgets, but they interfere with the other things we need to do in this room. So lets get organized.
We are going to start by separating our countertop appliances into three groups. First, look at each small appliance you have and ask yourself, "How often do I use this?". If the answer is very seldom or never, place it in a pile to be disposed of. More on that later... If you answered "sometimes" than we are going to keep those items, but find a better place for them. You should now be left with only those items that you use "often" or everyday. If this group has more than 5 or 6 items, then place only those used every day in this group and the rest in the "sometimes" group.
Remember that egg poacher you got from Aunt Carol at your house warming party? Took it out, used it once, and found you really don't like poached eggs. Now you spend more time cleaning around it then using it. Well it is time to break from your gathering ways!
There are many options to dispose of these types of appliances. Anything unsafe to use should be disposed of in the trash. You might consider cutting the electric cord off so it cannot be used again. Any item that is in good working order has many options. Think about donating it to a local church or second hand store. It could be tax deductible and I am sure someone will benefit greatly by your act. If you are into making a little money with the items then place them in a garage sale or better yet consider selling it on Ebay or craigslist. It is really not hard to do, and once you learn how, you will be selling all of your unused stuff for extra cash.
Now making bread in the bread maker is something the girls and you do together at Thanksgiving and Christmas. But here it is March and it is still sitting on the counter. Those "sometimes" used appliances need to find a place to be stored. The simple answer is to put them on a shelf, above the cabinets, or somewhere in a cabinet. But what we want is not to simply hide those items but to store them in an organized place. A specific place where we know it will be the next time we need them. Of course the less used items are moved to the back and the more common near the front, but our cabinets never seem to work efficiently. Here's where a trip to your local home improvement store will help. They offer a number of under the counter and pantry storage items. Some that you can customize every two inches in size. Then snap together to make a cubby for each appliance. A place for everything and everything in its place -- Reverend C. A. Goodrich .
For those items that are to be left on the counter consider where you use them and what is items are used with them. In most cases you can use common sense. You place the coffee grinder next to or in the cabinet near the coffee or espresso machine. The coffee machine should not be too far away from a water supply or the refrigerator where you are storing the coffee. What needs to be done is to just think about if the process can be improved on any.
Remember... An organized kitchen is a happy kitchen!
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