At times, a kitchen can seem like a place of chaos–there are bubbling pots on the stove, you have three glass pans of vegetables roasting in the oven, meat waiting to be filleted, and bread rising in the sunny patch in the corner. And don’t forget about dessert! (Granted, this scenario might only take place during the holiday season or if you’re hosting a medieval-style feast.)
Even if you’re only boiling some noodles and preparing a simple marinara sauce, however, cooking is a lot more fun if your kitchen is organized. That means it’s relatively clean, your utensils/equipment are easy to access, and there’s a rhyme and reason to where you keep them. (This also helps you remember where you put that heat-proof spatula when you realize the eggs are two seconds away from burning onto the pan.)
To make my kitchen easier to manage, I keep all of my commonly-used utensils right by the stove. This includes several spatulas, an assortment of wooden utensils, my main whisk, a ladle for soups and sauces, and long-pronged spaghetti forks. That way, everything’s in plain view and takes only a second to grab. My drawers are divided into baking tools (measuring spoons, pastry scraper, mini-spatulas, attachments for the mixer, pastry cutter, etc.) and food-prep tools (peeler, garlic press, salad spoons, egg slicer, meat hammer, etc.). The cupboards are divided in a similar fashion–baking tools (mixing bowls, mixer, measuring cups, etc.) and cooking tools (frying pans, pots, loaf pans, baking dishes, etc.). Another cupboard is reserved for fun tools that I don’t get to use every day, like my fondue pot and my Belgian waffle-maker. Packaging materials (wraps, foils, baggies) get their own drawer, as do heat-protective devices like potholders, trivets, and oven gloves. (I’m not keen on reaching into hot ovens, but I don’t mind as much when I’m wearing non-slip heat protection all the way up to my elbows.)
How you organize your tools is up to you–everyone has a different way of sorting out life’s matters. Just remember that a few minutes of organizing now could avert many, many kitchen mishaps (and near-misses) along your culinary path!
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Tags: kitchen, organization, simplify, tools
