The kitchen is the heart of the home. It’s where we gather, it’s where we nourish ourselves, and it’s where we cook with heart and soul… but it’s also where we tend to keep a lot of clutter.
A space that is used so much also becomes a bit of a ‘dumping’ zone. We don’t even realise the clutter that builds up in the kitchen, it just becomes part of the space.
But your kitchen can feel so much better, so much more spacious and so much more efficient if you just spend a little time decluttering these basic things.
You don’t have to go all deep dive and dig everything out. Simply go through this list and remove the items you can declutter from your kitchen and you’ll be amazed at the difference it can make.
1 – Broken Cups / Plates / Mugs
Imagine spending hours cooking a beautiful meal, that is made with love, that you’ve searched for the ingredients, prepared and cooked for your family, for those you love, or even for yourself… And then it comes time to serve it up, and you take your meal that smells amazing, and you put it on a plate… that is chipped.
You might think that’s a little over the top and dramatic, but really, even if you’re serving your meals for yourself, you deserve to eat from a plate that isn’t chipped, and drink from a glass/mug that isn’t semi-broken.
Remove all the broken cups / plates / mugs and replace them as you need. If you can’t afford new ones right now, that’s okay, maybe buy one a week (you can get beautiful crockery for less than the price of a coffee).
It might be such a simple thing, but it will make your kitchen feel much nicer and less cluttered and ‘broken’.
2 – Broken Cookware
Okay, when it comes to broken cookware, that’s bordering into the dangerous territory. If you’re cooking with a pot that has a crack in it, then you’re at risk of it breaking completely and burning yourself (the Paramedic in me is cringing right now).
The same goes for anything in your cupboards that is in good enough repair to cook safely with. Cake tins that are dented and everything sticks to, frying pans with the teflon peeling off… anything that is just not good enough.
3 – Containers Without Lids
How frustrating is it when you go to put the lid on a container and you can’t find it anywhere? I know that there’s a mystical place that has all the lost Tupperware lids, but I don’t know where that place is.
I’m an aggressive culler when it comes to containers without lids. It doesn’t mean I throw them out, it just means they no longer live in the kitchen.
If I can find somewhere else to use the container then it moves to its new location with its new purpose. Otherwise, it gets donated so someone else can get use out of it.
It’s so darn frustrating to not have a lid to a container, and you don’t need that clutter or frustration in your kitchen.
4 – Double-Ups and Excess
Let me preface this by saying that yes, in some cases, you may need double-ups, or need many versions of the same item. BUT, have you asked yourself if you really need it or if you’re just saying you need it so you don’t have to throw it out.
For example, how many lemon juicers can you actually use? Or cheese graters? Or whisks? Sure, you might need multiple mixing bowls, but do you need 6? Or would 2-3 be sufficient?
I found I was keeping hold of so many things because I convinced myself I would need it ‘just in case’ I had to whisk 5 different things at once (you know, instead of just washing the whisk and using it again…).
5 – Food That Is Out Of Date
When was the last time you really did a deep declutter of your pantry?
When we moved into our current home, I knew we were going to be keeping a whole heap of our items in storage for a while, and we couldn’t take all of our pantry items with us, so I went through and either used as much as I could or threw out what was out of date.
I was mortified to find things in the pantry that were 7+ years out of date. That means I had moved at least twice before with those out of date pantry items and STILL didn’t use them!
6 – Servingware You Never Use
Did you ever receive gifts for your 21st birthday, or engagement party/wedding that were ‘homely’ gifts – like fancy servingware, only for it to never actually leave the box?
I must admit, some of the servingware I have received I have used, however I would say about 80% of it never left the box and was always put in storage. The thing was… I felt guilty any time I wanted to give it away because I felt like I had to keep it as it was a gift…
If you’re not going to use it, then keeping it is not helping anyone! It’s perfectly okay to pass it on to someone else who might love it and use it more than you would.
7 – Rusty Items (Sieves/Strainers etc)
Rust is not something you want to add to your cooking, so you need to make sure any items with rust in them are replaced. Things like sieves, strainers, and hand mixers may have rust creeping in.
Be mindful if you do have metal items that may be prone to rust, to check the washing instructions. My mum always used to say that you could never wash a metal sieve because it would rust – but check the items you have to find out how to best clean them and save them from damage.
8 – Anything You Don’t Use / Want
It seems pretty obvious, but our kitchens are often a place where the clutter gathers.
You have one of those drawers right? Usually the third or fourth drawer down, full of random bits and pieces that you can’t find a home for anywhere else? Often filled with electrical cables, pieces of paper, clips and whatever other tidbits find their way there.
This, coupled with anything you have in your kitchen that you don’t use or don’t want, are great things to declutter to make a huge difference.
Clear the clutter and keep only things you want and need in your kitchen.
9 – Baby Items You No Longer Need
How many baby spoons do you have in your drawer? Or sippy bottles? And do you kids still use them?
It took me nearly a year and a half before I realised we had been holding onto the soft flexy baby spoons that our daughter wasn’t using anymore. I’m sure part of me kept hold of it for a little while because it’s hard to admit my baby is growing up, but a year and a half seems like a long time…
There are tons of baby gadgets we have in the kitchen that we don’t need once our kids are grown out of that baby stage. If they are in good repair, pass them onto someone who would use them, otherwise, let them go.
Not Enough Storage?
People often complain about not having enough storage space, when really, we take up the storage space we do have with things we don’t want or need, or a broken and don’t serve us.
Decluttering your kitchen is the first step to actually realising how much storage space you need. Then you can use space savers like stackable shelves and other little gadgets to help you make the most of your space.
But ask yourself, do you need all the things you have? Do you need enough dinner plates to serve 32 people? Do you need 24 mismatched coffee mugs? Or 12 mixing bowls?
Once you’ve done the first pass at decluttering, give it a week or two and go back and go through it all again.
We are often quite conservative when we first start decluttering because it makes us feel uncomfortable and unsure. But as you move through the decluttering process, you become more intuned with the reasons why you want to keep something and if that truly aligns with what you want in your home.
Start with this list of things you can declutter from your kitchen today and see how you go. You might find yourself motivated to discover other areas you want to declutter (check out these 25 things you can declutter for more inspiration) and embracing more of a minimalist life.
