By Ann Springer

1.       It’s possible that instead of having too many cooks in the kitchen, you have too many cooking utensils, pieces of silverware, or dishes to be effective. If your cabinets are overflowing you’re likely in need of some healthy purging to donate the items you no longer need, the items you don’t really use, or the items that are missing pieces.

2.       Once you’ve whittled down your kitchen supplies to what you really need and use, you can begin to sort the items you have by function. Put the eating essentials, the spices and foods, and small appliances and instruments in separate groups.

3.       Assigning homes to the each grouping can be tricky because you need to keep in mind how accessible each set of items needs to be. For example, a bottom drawer is great for storing plastic re-usable cups and bowls for small children. You may also want to put the plates and cups somewhere close to the dishwasher so it’s easy to clear them out when they’re clean.

4.       Even though it may be tempted to put small appliances on the countertop, if you don’t use it every day you should considering tucking away small appliances in the cabinets. Clear countertops give you a larger surface to work on and it’s more visually appealing.

5.       Pots should be stored one inside the next with lids stacked on top of each other by size. Random kitchen tools, like egg slicers, skewers and small strainers can be placed horizontally in a drawer since they’re only used occasionally.

6.       Managing the food in your kitchen is an essential final step and should be done most frequently because it’s the only thing in the kitchen marked with an expiration date. Start with your fridge and toss any spoiled food or expired condiments. Try to limit the number of open condiments you have to the door storage and a few items on the top shelf. Keep dairy products together on a shelf. Put fruits and vegetables in a drawer to preserve them longer. Wipe everything down beginning at the top and working your way down. It’s amazing how many spills and crumbs can dirty a fridge in a short amount of time. Keep a magnetic dry erase board tacked to your fridge so you can write down what foods you need to use up so they don’t get forgotten.

7.       Finally, take a look at the pantry. First start by purging items that have expired. Then group like items together – pastas and grains, soups and sauces, snack foods and cereals, staples like flour and sugar. Wipe everything down and refill each shelf with food according to its assigned group. Consider using the bottom shelf for healthy kid snacks if you have young children.