Spring cleaning rush has come and gone, but keeping kitchens tidy and organised is an everyday challenge. There are probably no shortcuts when it comes to emptying your dishwasher, but there are certain life-hacks that can make our daily post- (or pre- for that matter) cooking activities a little bit faster, if not more effective.

Today we bring you a set of tips on taming the beast our cooking preparations can turn our kitchens into, especially if we are using it as a hub for a family life. These should help us make spend more time using our kitchens than cleaning them or looking for that one pan that we need right now!

1. Frequency of use organises your storage

Get inspired by superstores. High street retailers organise products on their shelves so that items with shorter sell-by date are put in front of those with longer shelf life.

This is a great way of organising our fridges, but this lesson can be applied to kitchen equipment as well. Review the contents of your cupboards, those containing sets of pans and pots and ask yourself how often do you use that turkey roasting pan? If the answers is ‘once, twice a year’, you can confidently put it in the back of the cupboard.

Same thing applies to all dishes with seasonal patterns. Keep your everyday items and Sunday-best within reach, but perhaps you can take the super special ones out of the kitchen? Is there a possibility of putting them in a cardboard box and stacking them safely away from the usual utensils – if there is, it will give you more space and reduce the risk of chipping any of the items for special occasions. Keeping them nicely wrapped also means less dusting.

2. Listen to a Lazy Suzy

If it’s sticky or prone to spilling, put it on a revolving tray aka Lazy Susan. It’s easy to clean and a great idea to save space, particularly if you can find a double tier one, which is great for all your jams, honeys, speciality oils and vinegars, to name a few.

3. Hang on

Can’t find space for all your utensils, because every nook and cranny is already overflowing with stuff, hang them! Not only kitchen towels and aprons, but pans and utensils as well. How about a few hooks above the window? Or on the inside of the cabinet door? or the on the side of the cabinet? Items that are not in use so often can be hanged higher or further away from the prep counter. You may be tempted to put a few hooks just above the stove, but we would advise against that, as this is would mean putting more items in the heating/splash zone of the cooker, and the whole point of this list is to make the kitchen maintenance easier and faster.

4. Spotless stainless steel

A quick tip on how to keep your stainless steel surfaces fingerprint-free: use olive oil. A drop on a dry cloth will do the trick and help you keep it clean for longer.

5. Define zones in your kitchen

Creating designated areas will help organise the space: just like in a restaurant they have stations for each stage of the meal, you can have them in your home kitchen. You are the chef, so think about where are you most likely to do the prep – wash the produce, peel and slice. You will want to have all the necessary tools handy: knives, chopping boards, bowls… What do you do more often – cook or bake? Think about where do you want to have all the ingredients and tools, to streamline the whole process. What’s more, this will make it easier to focus on the actual art of cooking, rather than looking for the pan that used to be somewhere near the blue pot… And it will make it easier to navigate any guests around your kitchen.

6. Plastic fantastic

Plastic containers are great for freezing leftover food and they more eco, as they are reusable, than cling film. There are two schools of storing them: keeping the lids and the containers locked together, so they are ready to use whenever you need them; or stacking the boxes together and lids together, so that both are in the same drawer. The first method is faster to use, but takes up more space and the second saves space, but you will have to dedicate a few seconds to locating a lid that fits your chosen box. Ultimately, it depends on the size of the storage available.

7. Finding the right lid

Loosing time and patience over a lid is a frustration no one needs in their life. A wooden or aluminium pod lid rack or organiser is an easy, efficient way of having them in order. Problem: solved.

8. A tisket, a tasket, get yourself a basket

Rattan baskets may not be suitable for kitchen of every style, bit there is a variety of boxes and carriers out there and they can be of great use in your kitchen:
– Declutter open shelves by keeping loose items, such as spices, in check
– Keeping shakers and grinders in a basket makes kitchen tops easier to clean
– Great for storing and presenting cutlery or kitchen towels
– Can double up as a kitchen book holder and presenter, keeping them safely away from damp and grease
– You can label them on the outside or colour-code them to make it easier to remember what’s what
See-through baskets are great for storing items in hard to reach places, as they are easy to grab. So choose the basket with a role and destination in mind.

9. Keep what you need, toss what you don’t

If you haven’t used something for the past three years, chances are you have enough equipment that will do the same job; if you haven’t used something for so long, try taking it out of the kitchen and into the garage for a year. If you still haven’t used it once, it’s time to donate it, sell it, get rid of it and make more space for what’s actually useful.