I’ve always dreamed of having specialty cabinets with glass inserts throughout my kitchen. Then, I open my wood ones and reality sets in. For starters, I don’t own pretty china and I would have to seriously overhaul my methods of organization (or lack thereof) given that all my house guests would be able to see the guts of my cabinets if I had the glass inserts installed.
Cleaning and organizing kitchen cabinets is no easy task, especially if you have collected a number of dishes and accessories over the years. If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to make your kitchen as functional as possible, then start with de-cluttering your cabinets.
Start by purging any duplicate items. For example, now that your kids are grow and out of the house, you may not need four gravy boats and six sets of goblets. Next, go through the remaining items and organize them according to purpose. For example, you might want to keep all of your plates on one shelf and all of your bowls on another.
Once you are done organizing the dishes, move on to your pots and pans. If you have cabinets located next to your stove and range, you should store pots and pans in this easy to reach area. Cookware should be stored in cabinets that are in close proximity to your stove and oven. Likewise, spices should also be stored in cabinet space that is located near cooktops.
Before placing your items back into the cabinets, be sure to wipe them down with soap and water. For wood cabinets, consider using Pledge Multi-Surface Spray to remove any dust or sticky residue. When stacking pots, pans or plates, be sure to maximize available shelf space, but don’t arrange your cookware so that the pans you use frequently are hiding under ones you don’t use as much. Finally, place lids within easy reach of pans, and don’t let your plastic storage containers eat up all of your cabinet space. Reorganize the area where they are stored, so that you are only storing the containers you use on a regular basis.