{Read all the way down for the real secret to keeping counters reasonably cleaned off, as well as a reminder about the linky party tomorrow!}
Other posts in the Reasonably Clean Kitchen series:
1. Rules for the kids -- unload the dishwasher and everyone clears his place!
2. Think about flow!
The one time I lived (very temporarily) in a development house with a standard large wrap-around kitchen with lots of counters and cupboards, my counters were always piled high with a bunch of junk.
Now I have an oddball kitchen with five doorways, a sliding door, two windows, another doorway for the back stairs, and a fireplace that takes up one wall, and I use the word wall loosely. All my walls are abbreviated vertical surfaces for linking openings, but that is another story.
My point is I have only a little counter space (I mean, not compared to some apartments, but for a 5600 sq. ft. house and family of 10).
And I am definitely a clutter-y person who prefers to have everything in view and takes the short-term view on storage, as in, life is short, why don't I put this down right here?
On the other hand, I have convinced myself that things aren't temporary any more (and I think I would have been happier overall in the past if I had resisted feeling so temporary about everything and just committed to making where I was pretty).
So I've trained myself in a few things that might help you if you share some or all of these characteristics with me. I think I can say that for the most part things are fairly neat and tidy in these parts even taking into consideration the shortcomings of my personality and surroundings.
I'll never win any awards because I lose concentration at the last minute.
You probably look at my pictures (and I took them this morning pretty much as I found them) and think, "Well, I could do that!"
Well, then, do!
Start by clearing every single thing off the counter you are working on.
Every single thing. (Click on the above link to understand how important this method of cleaning is!)
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| Have a neat and tidy drawer for tools and useful stuff. If you want to see how I organize my (few) drawers, go to my drawer organization post. Plastic containers that have lost their tops are pure gold for this purpose! |
Pile them on the floor, another counter, or, preferably, the kitchen table.
Scrub the counter so that at the end, you could roll out a pie pastry on that thing with a clear conscience. (One of my girls once complimented me on having counters I could plop bread dough onto! She felt that this operation couldn't work in many places she'd visited. She was about ten, which goes to show you!)
Now put things back with two thoughts in mind:
1. Is this pretty or really useful enough to be out in view?
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| This is the view to the left of the sink. I'm clearly not OCD about clutter! Sorry about the dirty glasses, but they prove to you that I am not always on top of every little thing, nor do I really care! You will note many cutting boards. This is because the Chief is on a mission to provide me with the kind I like, which is made of one solid piece of wood, yet doesn't warp. Also note the dish soap dispenser. Putting your dish soap in a pump dispenser is genius, I will modestly point out. You can get soap out with one hand. And getting that dumb dish soap bottle off your sink is worth a lot in overall aesthetics. |
2. Do I need this here or is there a better, more efficient, and more appropriate place for it? How about the cabinet above? Below?
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| This is the view to the right. Note how awkward the placement of the stove and that last counter are -- right in the path of incoming guests and indeed anyone who wants to go anywhere. Those cupboards are almost useless. |
Here's what I anticipate your big question to be:
But, Auntie Leila, where do I put the STUFF that keeps coming in?
And here's the secret to clean counter tops:
Put the stuff on the kitchen table!
Yes! The very thing you feel guilty about doing!
I mean it!
Why do I say that?
Because by the time you have put the mail in the mail sorter that's by the door, and your bag and choir binder in its spot (or hook for the bag), and magazines in the bathroom or magazine holder, and gloves and hats in bins by the door...
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| My bag never comes further in than the mudroom. Those buckets hold dog, cat, and bird food. That's an old coffeetable, by the way, that I spray painted about 28 years ago, and it looks it! Empty milk bottles, outgoing clothes, you name it, it's out here, not on my kitchen counters. |
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| This mail sorting bin is in the mudroom. Need to replace the name tags, I guess :) Don't let the mail lie around in random spots! Once you have kids applying to colleges, you simply must have a bin for their mail, because I guarantee you that they will not deal with what comes to them, ever. |
...the stuff that comes in the kitchen really does belong somewhere else.
Before you can eat or do school or homework, everyone has to take a minute to put things where they belong!
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| Finding a place for magazines is key in this household. Hopefully you can't see dog hair in this photo. It tends to collect right there. |
It's all going somewhere else, right? Things you've bought -- clothes, bathroom supplies -- things that belong in bedrooms -- anything that doesn't belong in the kitchen, because if it belonged there, it would already be put away -- put them on the kitchen table.
If they can eat or do homework right away, because all those things have been shoved on the counters, the STUFF will never find its place!
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| When possible, put things on the walls. This dish rack folds flat and sits on nails until I need it, which is seldom. Just below that counter there, out of sight, hangs a fly swatter! It's pretty much behind the recycling bin, so you don't see it. When you live in the country, you need a fly swatter handy, but it's terrible when it's just out, and truly stomach turning when it's on a counter! Those things on the edge of the counter are to be taken out to the garage. |
Keep your counters clutter free and your table where you put the clutter. The table doesn't let you get away with it for long! (Just don't allow yourself or anyone else to move something from the table to the counter!)
Talking about a real family with real stuff here.
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| While you are at the counter-cleaning thing, how about the top of the fridge? This big basket/tray thing is here for a reason. First, it makes the top of the fridge look tidy. But it's too big to store and I use it to carry dishes for meals for families with new babies or other needs. So when it's not in use, it keeps tins and bread baskets stored, but when I need it, those things are pretty enough on their own to stay on top of the fridge. The cabinet behind it is inaccessible enough so that I put things I use only once a year in there, like the Christmas cookie press. I don't even know what's in there. If I haven't seen it in a while, I know it's up there! |
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| This dish rack looks like it's for show, but I use all those things! I had nowhere to store them! |
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| Ditto this shelf. Right now it has too many little pitchers and miscellany that I've accumulated. But might as well display them and be able to grab what I need! |
This kitchen-table thing so contrary to what you might think that you have to ponder it for a while.
Keep the clutter off the counters and if it must exist, on the table. That way, it has to be put away before you can use the table.
Always schedule in a few minutes before meals or studying to put things away.
{Now, don't forget tomorrow's linky party! Get at least one nice photo of your area above your sink to show off to the rest of us! Before and afters welcome!
If you don't have a blog, upload your photo to Flickr or a public Picasa web album or whatever photo sharing you use!}
