How to Clear Your Kitchen Counters From Clutter

INSIDE: COUNTER TOPS FULL OF CLUTTER? CHECK OUT HOW TO CLEAR YOUR KITCHEN COUNTER FROM CLUTTER FOR GOOD!

Oh kitchen, how I love you….you are the main gathering point of every home. You are also the main drop off point for all junk!

Kids papers, mail, Amazon boxes, back packs, work bags, and anything else you can think of…..it all gathers. AND makes a giant mess.

My goal for this summer is to create a less cluttered kitchen by minimizing counter top clutter and reorganize drawers and cabinets (again). I know, I know……..how many times am I going to do this? Honestly, there are a few drawers I have never fixed and I just need to neaten the rest.

See the drawer transformations in this post.

Here is where my counters start

OK – first order of business, like every organizing journey, start here –

PURGE

Have counter top appliances you don’t use? How about ones you use once every 2-3 months?

Let’s get real – do you use it at all? If you don’t, give it away, have a yard sale, or donate it to your local community kitchen. Use it rarely, hide it. Put it under a cabinet, in the pantry, or above your fridge. OR do you use it every day? If so, keep it on the counter.

CLEAN

If you are going to take away the clutter, you should probably clean the counter tops while you are at it.

Of course, use the best cleaning spray ever – Mrs. Meyers.

Since you have the supplies out, clean the appliances too.

ORGANIZE

This is where the ~~hard~~ FUN work starts.

Here are some ideas to help get your chaos in order

1 – Coffee Containment

I don’t know about you, but the coffee maker in this house is used daily. Usually more than once, therefore it is front and center.

If I’m being real, it really depends on if you use coffee grounds or Keurig on how to organize this area. Check out this post to see how we manage it.

Here are several great ideas to organize your coffee bar/area.

2 – Utensil Storage

Does it really have to be in a giant cup on the counter?

I don’t think so, find a drawer to fit these in. See this post and I would love to give you other ideas, but everything I see on Pinterest is JUST NOT realistic.

I did find this post that may help, if you are willing to remain realistic.

3 – Dish Soap Caddy

There are many different ways to corral sponges, dish soap, and produce scrubbers.

We use something similar to this

But this post has several other options.

This is the easiest way to keep the area around your kitchen sink clutter free.

Do you have another way? Let us see what you do to keep your sink clutter free.

4 – Family Command Center

Need to figure out how to make sense of all those papers? Mail, magazines, kids papers, and all sorts of other bundles of havoc? Check out this post on how we manage that.

Here are several ideas to help you along in your journey as well.

Don’t forget that your junk drawer can be apart of this command center too.

5 – Canisters

Do you use flour or sugar every day?

Obviously, some people do use sugar daily for their coffee. My suggestion for this would be get a smaller sugar bowl and put the large canister of sugar away.

I have had these metal canisters for 16 years (wedding gift) and I’m out growing them. I want clutter free more than I want to keep these visible.

My flour wouldn’t fit in anything else, so I kept the canister and moved it to the pantry. The sugar moved to a smaller glass container and found a home in the baking cabinet. The smaller canister had tea – see this post on where they were rehomed. Spaghetti canister – do NOT use…..easy, give it away now (it’s ok you can sing it)! I have updated this post to reflect the recent changes.

6 – Small Appliances

With the exception of the coffee maker, there are so many appliances that we put on the counter that we don’t need.

I’m talking about a toaster, blenders, toaster oven, popcorn maker, Soda Stream, Air Fryer, InstaPot, and Stand Mixer.

This is what I want you to think about when deciding if it needs to stay on the counter or not:

How often do I use it? If its weekly or more, keep it. If you can’t remember the last time it had electricity running through it, put it away.
Is it too heavy? Would it break your back to lift it every time you need it? Consider putting it away but not in a low spot.
Is it also a decoration? If the answer to this is yes, do some thinking. Can you keep on the counter, make it look pretty, and have it out of your way?

I relocated my InstaPot to the bottom of my pantry, I don’t use it.

There is a cabinet on my island that houses several small appliances, however my stand mixer is also there. We are going to change this. I moved some things around and was able to move 3 appliances into this cabinet by moving the stand mixer. This meant the mixer went on the counter – BUT – I was able to keep it out of the way and make it look a little decorative.

I found this stand mixer slider to make it easier to move, and use, which might mean I do more baking? We’ll see.

New counter tops

I moved several items to different sides of the counter to make it more cohesive. My cup cabinet does not fit the larger tumblers or tallest water bottles. To keep the tumblers from running the kitchen, I invested in this cool little corral.

The Soda Stream moved closer to the necessary bottles. The toaster moved next to the bread box. And the other appliances were placed out of sight, except the Air-fryer, which is used several times a week (the smallest kiddo uses it for her snacks). Ours is OLD and no longer in production – but it is similar to this one.