Move, Remove, Enhance to Simplify Your Kitchen

Cleaning the kitchen can be such a tedious chore, mostly because it needs to be done every day, often times more than once a day. As an area of the home where we can spend quite a bit of time, it is nice to keep it looking and feeling clean all day long. Especially since it can so easily become contaminated with bacteria and germs.

As always, I love to keep things simple. This especially goes for my cleaning processes. How do you make cleaning your kitchen faster, easier and less of a chore?

Simple decor

If you spend a lot of time in your kitchen, you obviously want it to look nice. But decorating a kitchen comes with a price: cleaning the decorations. With splatter, dust, grease and more that can easily make its way across all surfaces, decorations become germ-havens and add to the amount of cleaning required in your kitchen. For that reason, I recommend keeping your decorations very minimal and basic.

• When possible, consider elevating your decorations by hanging pictures or putting items on top of cabinets, rather than on the counter tops.
• Keep the few items on your counter tops simple and functional, like attractive sugar bowls, bread boxes or cutting boards.
• Make sure to steer clear of elaborate designs and surfaces that cannot be quickly wiped down.

Stash the appliances

With toasters, coffee makers, mixers, food processors and more, appliances can take up a lot of counter space and need cleaning on, under and around often. Even if it is an item you use daily, I still recommend moving most of your appliances off of your counter tops. Store them in closets, cupboards and pantries, making sure to keep the most used items in more convenient places.

This may mean purging other kitchen appliances and utensils to make extra space. I recommend boxing up the things you have not used for a while and storing them in a closet for three months. If you could live without them for three months, then it is time to toss or donate the box.

Get it out of the kitchen

If it is not an item you use in the kitchen, then it needs to move. Kitchens tend to be homes to "junk" drawers and clutter zones. Having those extra items in the kitchen not only poses a health risk due to the germs they bring in, but they also may get dirty, greasy or ruined from cooking.

Only objects that are used in the kitchen belong in the kitchen.

Consider upgrades

If it is in the budget, consider upgrading sections of your kitchen to make cleaning easier.

• Line your walls with basic tile back splashes that can easily be wiped clean.
• Simplify your cabinets and drawers so there are less crevices that can accumulate dust and crumbs.
• Switch your cabinet hardware to basic knobs that can be disinfected quickly.
• Consider fingerprint-resistant appliances so you spend less time wiping them down.
• Install high quality range hoods to help keep the air clearer.

Basically your goal is to make the kitchen as clutter-proof as possible to ensure a quick wipe down of all surfaces. If you spend all your time moving items around and cleaning them off, then you have less time to focus on cooking, cleaning other areas of your home, and most importantly, spending time with your loved ones.

So take a look at your kitchen and see what you can move, remove, enhance or simplify to make cleaning your kitchen a breeze after every meal.

For more great homemaking and frugal living tips, check out: Far Above Rubies, Growing Home, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Time-Warp Wife and 5 Minutes for Mom.