Survey #241 results
| Name (click to view full survey response and comments) | How often are you troubled by clutter in the kitchen and/or pantry? | What sources of clutter or specific issues do you experience in the kitchen or pantry? | What organizing solutions or strategies have you tried or used in the kitchen, and how have they worked for you? | What “one-trick pony” resides in your kitchen or pantry? Why do you keep it? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allison | Infrequently or never. | Occasionally papers will accumulate on the counter but the kitchen and pantry are generally uncluttered and functional. | I use stackable metal or wire shelves in cabinets. They're great for dishes, glasses, etc. and use vertical space that would otherwise go to waste. I also use dishpans to corral items in cupboards and under the sink. For instance, all cleaning supplies are in a dishpan that is easy to pull out to grab something. | I guess a gravy bowl. I prefer multi-use items and pretty ruthlessly decluttered several years ago. Goodbye garlic press, ricer, melon baller, and waffle maker. |
| Beagle Mom | It’s an occasional problem. | DH dumps his unsorted junk on the counter near the door and never sorts or cleans it up. I like using a clean counter, he seems to view a counter as a final resting place for random items that need to find another home! | I went through my kitchenware and utensils when I retired nine years and let go of things I didn't need any more for just two people in an empty nest. I did this again last April when I had some updating done in the kitchen, because I decided that I would use the "company" dishes and got rid of the "every day" stuff, and serving platters that I hadn't used since the first cleanout. I am going to enjoy "the good stuff" now, since later it will be just "stuff". I am sure that I have enough to last even when I accidentally break things! Also, my sister and I had to clean out our parents home of sixty years, and they didn't do much sorting or downsizing, so that experience was, and is, a good motivator for me to try to be purposeful about what I hold on to and what I send on to others. | A meat slicer because I like the way it cuts salami and the like, even though we don't make salami very often. Also my waffle iron, for that holiday breakfast. |
| Lee | My kitchen usually has some clutter. | Some items are on the countertop because I haven't made space in the cupboards yet. Had done a fair amount of work on decluttering the kitchen about 2 years ago while hubby was out of town and cleared significant counterspace then, but never got back to it after his return. Am hoping I can tackle more in the kitchen during his next lengthy travel, but by then it will be time to start working in the yard, so we'll see... | Extra long and width-expandable silverware organizers for kitchen gadgets. May have gotten from Bed Bath and Beyond? 3-step rack for spices. Can see and reach all of them now. Plastic coated wire racks with legs (there is probably a name for those) that serve as additional small shelf in the cabinets. I have several. They can be turned in either direction depending on what you want to put on and under them. Have them in a pantry cupboard also where I store thermal lunch bags, thermoses, and some deli plastic containers for sending leftovers home to others. | Yogurt maker (on a high shelf, but would like to try that again). Potato ricer - used every Thanksgiving. Waffle iron - hubby would be happy it if I used it! I have the space (and the places these items are stored in are not super accessible), so I don't plan to part with any of the above. I don't consider it clutter if the kitchen is functional, and mine is. Just a few items that if I fit them in a cupboard would make it easier to wipe dust off that area of counter. |
| Lynn | It’s an occasional problem. | Things that get infrequent annual use, that I don't want to get rid of and have to buy again when needed for a cooking project. As long as I keep everything else in the kitchen within my clutter tolerance and have the empty cabinet space for it, things like canning supplies and baking equipment can stay. | For condensing and decluttering my mother's things with my own, iI set up folding tables and boxes for sorting like with like items. It helped me see what duplicates I had and choose the best, most useful one to keep. I also got rid of a lot of single-use items not needed. I have two pantry areas, one in the kitchen has daily use amounts of ingredients in appropriate container sizes. The second pantry area is off the kitchen in the laundry room. I store bulk items in buckets with gama lids, and cases of canned goods. The two locations help me keep on top of the rotation of use-by dates. I only shop to restock the bulk storage area as needed when things go on sale. It saves me quite a bit of money, cut way back on expired food waste and I only need to shop once a month to replenish things as they are in season. | Very few single use items left in my kitchen. I moved many of the seldom used appliances to my garage. Things such as canners, mixers, food savers, dehydrator, pressure cookers are all out there. They get used seasonally and don't need to take up real estate in my kitchen the rest of the year. |
| Brenda | It’s an occasional problem. | Flat counters attract various items on a continual basis | Large and seldom used appliances now have cabinet space instead of counter space | Ice maker, but hey it is Arizona! 😎🌵 |
| Becky | My kitchen is often out of control. | I absolutely hate the middle bar in the kitchen- every new house seems to think that they need a bar (with the sink) as the partition between a living room and the kitchen. So the kitchen is one of the first rooms that is seen. Wouldnt you know- that bar is where everyone places items that need to be put up. And it all tends to pile up! | Clean and reclean the bar off- just to have the next family member bring in items to place there. I really dont have a solution. | Probably some crystal and china. 40 years of using only 1-2 times |
| Katharine | My kitchen usually has some clutter. | Items left on counters & not where they belong. Other family members bringing home food items & putting them wherever. Dealing with expired items in a timely manner. | I try to give myself deadlines to clear the counters daily as dishes get done. I write items with dates in sharpie so I can notice them quickly. Throwing items in bins do not work for me. They get lost & forgotten. | A hand tool that scrapes butter into balls. It sounded fun to begin with & I never use it. I just scoop butter on a plate with a spoon or knife. |
| Anonymous user | My kitchen usually has some clutter. | Extra snacks, bread, etc in a corner. Mail on the counter Purse, keys on a portion of the counter Notes, things to do, papers, etc | Set out baskets or containers then they get full and I’ll start another basket or container Tried making more room in my small pantry then bread and desserts and water ends up on countertop | Small wand mixer |
| Linda | It’s an occasional problem. | Large items I use often take a lot of room. Mo pantry, garage or other room to store items in. | I’ve tried decluttering less used smaller items but still tight in the cupboards. | Due to space they are already gone. |
| Ellen in W Michigan | It’s an occasional problem. | I need to work out a better system for my pantry cabinet so that it is easier to see what I have. I found that my new cabinets and drawers are not as tall as the display models and I am keeping my stock pot and blender in my coat closet. | I got a spice drawer rack, and love it! All spices in alphabetical order. I put in drawer organizer bins and dividers and cut down the amounts so that things are easy to see. My problem is figuring out a system that makes sense for pantry items. I like acrylic bins and things organized by zone/purpose, but haven't found a way to make that work yet. Pantry items are so randomly shaped and ever changing depending on my meal plans. I've gone from cupboards to a pantry cupboard with roll-out shelves and I'm still trying to find my way. | I guess I have a couple, but the biggest would be my bundt pan. Pull-apart cinnamon rolls made in this pan are sort of a family holiday tradition. I have cupboards to the ceiling and seldom used items live up on the upper shelves. |
| Celina | Infrequently or never. | sometimes I buy too much tea or fruit smoothie, but otherwise it's a problemless area for me 🙂 | What has worked: realising that since I don't cook, I can give away the spices to my family members who do, before these spices expire! 🙂 | long red dessert spoons that I don't honestly use, but I like them 🙂 |
| Karen | It’s an occasional problem. | Too much food and I hate doing dishes, lol | I don’t have a pantry so my food gets stored in my upper cabinets. I have designated two cabinets side by side for food and bought organizers but they just take up more room. Each night I have to force myself to do the dishes because I am just too lazy to do them as I go. | Air fryer….I keep it because everyone I know loves theirs and think I will too once I decide to use it. |
| Name (click to view full survey response and comments) | How often are you troubled by clutter in the kitchen and/or pantry? | What sources of clutter or specific issues do you experience in the kitchen or pantry? | What organizing solutions or strategies have you tried or used in the kitchen, and how have they worked for you? | What “one-trick pony” resides in your kitchen or pantry? Why do you keep it? |
