Quick Ways to Organize Your Kitchen

Get the most out of your kitchen space with these smart ideas.

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The Multi-Purpose Room

Not just the place where meals are made and sometimes eaten, the kitchen often does multiple duty as home office, family center, and hobby room. No matter how many square feet it measures, a kitchen seldom seems big enough. The challenge is to put the space you have to its best use. Smart organization of your kitchen equipment and supplies is the quickest way to make the room seem more spacious and efficient.

There's no avoiding some reaching and bending in a kitchen. To make it easier on yourself, however, try to store items that you use every day no lower than knee level and no higher than 10 inches above your head. Reserve the higher and lower shelves for things you don't need to use very often. You should put lightweight items, such as the stemware that you save for parties, on the highest shelves. Then you won't have to hold heavy things over your head as you remove them from the cupboard. Put awkward and hefty equipment, such as infrequently-used small appliances and large Dutch ovens, on the cupboard's lowest shelves.

Try to store cooking tools and utensils near the area where you normally use them. Keep pots and pans, spatulas, wooden spoons, and hot pads, for example, by the stovetop. In the same spirit, put knives, cutting boards, measuring cups and spoons, and mixing bowls near the food- preparation counter.

Not everything has to go into a drawer or a cupboard. You may find it even more convenient to take the tool that you need off a hook on pegboard or a wire rack that's mounted on a wall; off a magnetic bar designed to hold steel utensils that's fastened on the side of a cupboard; or out of a handsome wide-mouthed pottery jar or pewter mug that sits on the counter.

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“ To clean a toilet, work from the top down. Start with the tank, move to the seat, clean inside the bowl, and then clean the base. The dirtiest part of the bowl�and the last place you want your rag to touch�is the base. ”

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