Spring cleaning gives your home a fresh start for the new season ahead. Not only does it rejuvenate your home, but cleaning also reduces stress and increases positive self-evaluation.2
The kitchen is the focal point of many homes, so it’s no surprise it can become a storage hub for all members of the household.
With spring cleaning well under way, your kitchen is a room in your home in need of attention. With this in mind, Wren Kitchens have teamed up with Sarah Mueller, founder of Decluttering Club3, to share 7 ways to declutter your kitchen.
1. Create a checklist
Decluttering your kitchen is a mammoth task. With each cupboard and drawer filled with utensils and food items, it’s essential to have a plan before you begin. Create and follow a personal checklist which targets the entirety of your kitchen, split up as priority and secondary. As a rule of thumb, the checklist should include the following:
Priority:
- An oven deep clean
- Cleaning your oven hood and extractor
- Clearing, cleaning, and re-stocking your pantry
- Clearing, cleaning, and re-stocking your fridge and freezer
- A dishwasher deep clean
- Cleaning your sink and taps
- Emptying all bins and cleaning them
Secondary:
- Cleaning all worktop appliances
- Wiping down all worktops, walls, and the splashback
- Cleaning the interior and exterior of kitchen cabinets, cupboards, and draws
- Cleaning the windows and curtains/blinds
- Dust everywhere
- Mop the floor (if non-carpet)
2. Work on one task at a time
“There isn’t one correct process which works for everyone”, says Sarah Mueller. “However, it’s advised to break your kitchen into zones, such as all the kitchen drawers, and work on them from start to finish before moving to the next area”.
Working on too many tasks at the same time might be overwhelming and puts pressure on you to finish everything in one session.
3. Deep clean your fridge/freezer
Your fridge/freezer is a breeding ground for germs if it’s not cleaned on a regular basis. After decluttering the contents, use soapy water to clean the exterior of a fridge and freezer. For the inside, you should use warm water mixed with baking soda and vinegar. Avoid any cleaning materials that could be toxic to your food and thoroughly rinse it with fresh water when finished.
“Clean out all your expired food and empty boxes to remove any chance of bacteria growing. Remove the whole contents of the fridge and freezer, including drawers and stands, before you put food items back in”, advises Sarah.
4. Begin with the dirtiest areas first
There is no order in which you should declutter your kitchen, but it is preferable to target the dirtiest areas first. For example, if you start by decluttering your worktops, they’ll become dirty again once you clean your oven. By tackling the tricky tasks first, you’ll have more space to reorganise your cupboards and clean down big appliances.
5. Start again with your cupboards and drawers
Be as brutal as you can when deciding what to remove from your kitchen cabinets. If there are utensils and crockery you barely use, or are slightly broken, consider if it can be donated or upcycled before throwing them away. You might even find that you don’t even need to replace them if they’re not essential to your daily tasks.
“After decluttering your drawers, it is wise to make your kitchen more user friendly. Place similar items together and near to where they will be used. For example, place the pots and pans in the cupboard near the cooker and the teabags near the mugs. The most convenient cabinets are the most valuable ones”, says Sarah.
6. Remove duplicates
In a household of 5, you could find as many as 15 coffee mugs! Mugs are easy to accumulate, either having purchased them yourself, or if you’ve been gifted one. You might only have a select few which are your favourites, so the rest are building up dust. Declutter the cupboard and donate the mugs you don’t need to improve the efficiency of your daily kitchen activities.
7. Have less on display
There is nothing wrong with having essential appliances on display, such as your toaster, oven and air fryer. However, for anything else, such as cereal boxes and biscuit tins, hide away in your cupboards. This will not only make cleaning easier but reduces the clutter you or others see when you walk into your kitchen.
Darren Watts, Showroom Development and Design Director at Wren Kitchens says: “Having a decluttered kitchen makes cooking and socialising more enjoyable. When your kitchen table is no longer the dumping ground for everyone in the house, you’ll find yourself spending more in the room enjoying a family meal or a cup of coffee before work. Once you declutter, make it your mission to stay on top of the order each day.”