Your kitchen is the center of family life. It is where you prepare meals, hold impromptu family meetings, and get creative with whatever's in the pantry. A truly efficient and well-designed kitchen holds exactly what you need. The spices and pans you use most frequently should always be in easy reach. Your surfaces should be clear, or hold just a few elegant canisters of often-used utensils or ingredients.
To this end, kitchen designers agree that many kitchens include things that should not be there. What should you keep out of your kitchen, according to design experts?
Here are the seven top candidates to remove from your kitchen for a better daily experience.
You want your kitchen to smell amazing all the time, but artificial fragrances are not the way to go. Air fresheners and artificial scents might smell nice in the living room or bedrooms, but the kitchen should be its own source of delicious aromas. Keep those scented candles, oil plug-ins, and spray air fresheners out of the kitchen.
Instead, use the spices and tools at your disposal to make your kitchen smell wonderful all the time. Simmer a few cloves, add cinnamon to your morning oatmeal, or soak a daily orange peel to make your kitchen smell naturally delightful every day.
Fake plants should never go in the kitchen, no matter how pretty. In fact, knickknacks and other plastic decor are always a bad idea. Why? First, cooking oils tend to settle onto plastic decor and can bond with or damage the plastic. This is why kitchen surfaces tend to be ceramic, stone, and sealed metal. Second, dust gathers on fake plants and plastic decor that is sometimes never fully cleaned away.
Lastly, it should be easy to keep a hearty natural plant alive if you want a touch of greenery. Kitchens should have plenty of natural light and plants absolutely love to be watered with a little pasta water, which is rich in extra nutrients that plants need.
Limit the risk of breakable decor, as well. Flower vases may be lovely on the island countertop, and fruit is a decent use for that crystal punch bowl, but a single fumble can bring it all crashing down. Keep your kitchen disaster-proof with elegant yet sturdy decor instead. If you want a bouquet of fresh flowers, place them in a sturdy jar or heavy vase. If you want a fruit bowl, consider a carved wooden bowl instead.
The kitchen is also no place for expensive fabrics. Pricy rugs and runners, for example, will face both the wear of heavy traffic and the risk of stains from everyday kitchen spills. Your floor should be highly washable, including any coverings you put on the floor. If you need a rug for foot comfort, we suggest a moppable fatigue mat instead.
As for hand towels, remember that no one enjoys decorative hand towels that can't be used. It's always better to choose attractive dish towels that can be used to dry hands and polish cabinets, then go through the wash again and again.
Knife blocks look really cool, but they are a hive of bacteria and always have been. Simply open a video of an old knife block cracked in half and you will never want to use a plastic or wooden knife block ever again. The mold and dirt that accumulate in knife blocks is truly horrifying. Instead, mount a magnetic knife strip to your backsplash for open-air and easy-access kitchen knife storage.
It is ecologically savvy to save jars, reusable plastic containers, and water bottles. It is not so efficient to save this clutter in your kitchen's prime storage space. Instead, set aside a shelf or a box in your pantry for your collection of storage containers that only sometimes see new use. It can be great to have a jar of just the right size when you need it, or three families worth of water bottles. But these hardly need to be junking up cabinet space that could be holding your best pans.
Lastly, move your special-occasion dishes and specialty appliances out of the kitchen. Your fine china might be more elegantly displayed in a glass-front cabinet in the dining room or packed in paper until the holiday season. As for your mini popcorn maker, fondue machine, cotton candy maker, waffle iron, and so on; if you use an appliance less than once a week, put it in deeper storage. The top or bottom shelf of your pantry or even boxed in the garage will free up space in your kitchen for more useful items - or even clear precious counter space.
The perfect kitchen is one where all your utensils, spices, and favorite appliances are elegantly placed within easy reach. Your cooking routine should be enhanced by the design and where each item is placed. From practical kitchen rugs and fatigue mats to the ideal storage solutions for every utensil, Edesia's designer-builders can help you build your kitchen into a dream. Contact us today to learn more.