Tip #1- Optimize ANY Kitchen Series

Photo and interior design- Regan Baker. Kitchen design- Onyx Pietersen

TIP #1:

If you feel like you don't have enough space in your kitchen, the first thing to do is take absolutely everything not related to cooking and food storage out of it.

Examples of these things are: mementos, mail, backpacks, pills and medications, old cooking books you don’t use, children’s sculptures, serving dishes used once a year, house tools, old papers… etc. If you can put your junk drawer near the kitchen but not in it, all the better.

**Make a NEW dedicated space for each of those things**.

This is a big step because you need to clear out other spaces in closets, drawers and/or the garage to put these things in. It’s going to feel like a huge job (and it might be) but it’s really important. Don’t worry about what you are going to do with that new space yet. We’ll get to that soon. If you’re mad at me later, you can bring things back ;-)

Why do this? With my next tips you might be inspired to move things around in your kitchen. It’s important to have as much space as possible to choose where to move those things. If you do nothing else, at least you have less clutter.

I will have a post that addresses good places to keep your mementos, don’t worry, I know those can lower stress too.

Image and kitchen design by Onyx Pietersen

Note: My client’s chief complaint about their kitchen is usually that they don’t have enough space. Most people think that if they get rid of some of their cooking stuff, that should solve the problem. From studying people for 20 years and remodeling kitchens for 10 years, my observation is that usually doesn’t happen, or if it does, and you don’t change the space, it goes back to the original state sooner than later. Design changes are a tool that can be used to circumvent our habits that don’t serve us anymore. About 65% of my job is changing people's spaces so they can use it in a new way that serves them better, 25% is offering support through the difficulties of change, and 10% is making it look better (the easy part).

If you've missed any of my tips, go to my blog to get up to date on the series. Please, as with any field, follow the advice of experts in the field, not bloggers trying to sell you things that you don't need. I will not make money from anything I recommend to you in this series. My inspiration is to be of service right now.