At Christmas time, the kitchen is the busiest room in the home, as it is throughout the year. We bake more and entertain friends and family so it’s understandable that this room can be challenging to keep well-functional, calm and clutter-free. You need to think smart to be ready for hosting, so we have put together a handy blog on creating a perfectly organised kitchen all year round not just for the magical season ahead.
Let’s look at some of The Handmade Kitchen Company’s organisation tips and tricks to help you have the best multi-functional family kitchen, glide smoothly through Christmas and start the New Year with a fresh, orderly space.
Decluttering Your Kitchen this Christmas & Having a Deep Clean
Have a seasonal clear-out in the kitchen by decluttering and reordering. This task is essential to help you know what’s exactly in your kitchen cupboards. We all love food bargains and beautiful kitchenware, but it can lead to wastage in the long run and the cabinets being overfilled.
When you hear the words ‘clearing out’ it sounds like a dreaded task. To make things easier look at one space at a time, identify the key problems and make a task list by ticking as you go.
Create a place for everything and clean as you go. Decide on what you use regularly and which items you occasionally use. How about storing those items that are used less on high shelves and everyday essentials at waist height?
Plan Around Your Lifestyle
We will help you turn a chaotic family kitchen into an organised hub where everything will have a place and is easy to find. Work out what’s important to you at the designing stage – if you’re a keen cook, plan storage around the three main working areas (cooker, sink, fridge), if you love entertaining think about a beautiful bespoke dresser with glass-fronted cabinets to store glasses and become an eye-catching feature.
Stick to the Minimalist Design
Keep the worksurfaces as clear as possible for food prep. Make additional space for countertop appliances such as a coffee machine, kettle and toaster. If you are lucky enough to have a large space, incorporate a bi-fold pantry into the design to hide away those small appliances and create a breakfast pantry, and if your budget allows, opt for an instant boiling water tap from Quooker.
Make a little space on the worktops for a beautiful fruit bowl or a statement vase with fresh flowers.
The Breakfast Pantry
The breakfast pantry is a great solution to store your entire morning in one convenient kitchen cupboard. Open it up and you will find bulky cereal boxes, tea bags, coffee pods, a collection of mugs, everyday crockery and small appliances. The best thing about this feature is that once you’ve had enough it can be closed up, concealing all the items you don’t want on show.
For the festive season, add extras like cinnamon sticks, flavoured syrups, and marshmallows to spice up your hot drinks.
Put the Storage Containers to Good Use
Decant dried goods into containers to store in glass-fronted cabinets or on open shelving. Storing ingredients this way allows you to throw away the packaging, freeing up cabinet space and showing what you have on hand at a glance. Label everything so you know what foods they are.
Arrange pantry items by category and place Christmas ingredients at the front.
Open Shelving
Many homeowners shy away from open shelving because they think it will make the kitchen look untidy, but if done well, it helps open up the kitchen and create a sense of space. Don’t put too much on the shelf, choose a statement piece to add impact by picking your favourite item to display alone. Or create a shelf that has glass jars stored in a row with the essential ingredients.
Kitchen Island Storage Solutions
Storage underneath the seating area can be a great place to store large pans, baking trays, reserve candle collection, Christmas treats and small appliances that aren’t used regularly.
Design Intelligent Cabinets
Design cabinets with racks for oils, spices and other everyday ingredients. Creating these shelves at varying heights can keep the items you use every day tidy and easy to locate within your handmade kitchen.
Kitchen Recycling Bins
Do you like your kitchen design to be streamlined and organised? A simple solution and something we design a lot for our clients, is making an internal bin for recycling and everyday waste. We have many internal bin configurations expertly concealed in your island or cabinetry.
Bespoke Bench Seating & Comfy Seating Areas
Offer somewhere comfy to sit with extra storage amongst the kitchen layout. Get creative as you design a seating arrangement to rest those tired feet from days of entertaining. Use these seating spots as a place to gather and eat with friends and family, or a little nook to indulge in the latest fictional story with the company of yourself.
The Handmade Kitchen Company designs many different seating options to add to your layout from bar stools on kitchen islands to extended lower comfy dining seating known as banquettes.
We elevated our client’s entertaining game with this circular pedestal table, part of the central island and a social spot to bring the cook and guests together to create memories.
We bring together entertainment and relaxation in this room’s core feature. We designed and handcrafted a booth seat that flows from the island to produce a comfy seating area for the whole family.
Something a little different for our beautiful country project in Stebbing is a solid oak table we designed and handcrafted to sit at one end of the kitchen. With an oiled finish and 2m in length, this sturdy H-frame solid oak base brings a chunky dining table for our client to enjoy with friends and family. You can imagine a beautiful Christmas tablescape that goes the full length.
If you like to know more about our bespoke kitchen designs that fit into your available space contact us today – we look forward to hearing from you.
