How to Organize your Kitchen Utensils

Most cooks have their favorite kitchen utensils that are time-tested, functional, and well-worn.  Whether you are an everyday cook, a week-end chef, or an every once in a while entertainer, you need efficient and organized kitchen tools.  The key to an efficient kitchen is to be able to find what you are looking for right when you need it.  Every piece of kitchen utensil should have a home, and not a drawer that has every utensil imaginable.  Here are some tips to help you organize your kitchen utensils.

• Select the kitchen tools you actually use most often by taking all the utensils out of your drawers and put them in a large clean plastic bin.  For the next month, whenever you use one of those utensils put it back in the drawer.  If after a month, some still in the plastic bin, you don’t need them.  If your utensils are still in good shape, donate them to your local church’s soup-kitchen.

• Most people need only one each of the three types of knives in the kitchen: a paring knife, an 8-inch chef’s knife, and a 10-inch serrated-edged slicing knife.  Buy top quality brands and you will have knives that will stay sharper and last longer. 

• Keep some low-tech kitchen utensils available to use during power outage.  They are manual can-opener; bottle-opener; zester (rasp) for citrus or ginger; fruit and vegetable peeler; mandoline (hand-operated slice equipment); and mortar and pestle for crushing, grinding and pounding your ingredients. 

• If you have weeded out the things you don’t use in your kitchen and have moved seldom-used items out of the way, make sure your top kitchen tools are easy to find and easy to grab up when you need them.

Regardless of how you live, your kitchen is unique among the rooms in your home.  Keep your cooking area clean, organize, and functional.  It is a recipe for a healthy living.