Sparking joy at home: How to declutter your kitchen in 3 easy steps

As the ‘heart of the home’ for those of us who enjoy cooking, our kitchen is a place to gather with family and friends, enjoy meals and of course prepare and cook them.

Kitchens are often also the number one place for clutter in our homes, with drawers, cupboards, pantry and even the fridge quickly filling with all manner of items that make it difficult to maintain order and efficiency.

Investing some time to declutter your kitchen helps save a lot of time every day, with everything you need in easy reach, not hidden away behind a lot of items that you don’t need or use. And the more regularly you declutter, the less time it takes to keep it in good order.

At Tefal, we’re all about making your life easier in the kitchen. So, we’ve put together some handy tips to make the task of tidying your kitchen a lot less daunting.

Declutter your kitchen in 1,2,3!

Try these proven steps to make it easy to declutter your kitchen and put everything in its place.

STEP 1: Make four boxes

Grab four boxes, place them next to each other, and label as follows:

1. Rubbish – for broken or unusable items
2. Donate – for things you don’t need but someone else might
3. Recycle – for plastic and cardboard items
4. Relocate – for things you want to keep, but don’t regularly use

STEP 2: Ask yourself four questions

Work in zones or sections, one at a time to break the work into manageable parts – for example, island bench drawers, pantry and cupboard by cupboard. Take EVERYTHING out and place items on a bench. And we mean everything – mugs, glassware, dish towels, mugs, water bottles, storage containers, cleaning supplies (don’t forget to look under the sink!) and even your cookware.

Take a good look at all the items and ask yourself these questions:

1. Do I use this? (Think of the last time it saw the light of day)
2. Is this item a spare or duplicate I don’t need? (How many branded water bottles and travel mugs from old employers do you really need?)
3. Would I buy this today? (Or why did you buy it in the first place?)
4. Does this make my life easier? (Or is it just taking up valuable cupboard space?)

When you answer “No” to any of these questions, place the item into one of your four boxes. For “Yes”, put the items back where they belong, being sure to group similar items together and keeping what you use most in easy reach.

STEP 3: Keep your kitchen organised

After all that effort, think about how you can keep your kitchen tidy and functional, so it won't get as cluttered again.

Consider these simple ways to store items in and around your kitchen:

1. Utilise different-sized storage baskets to group items together
2. Use stackable, air-tight containers for pantry items such as cereals and rice that make use of vertical space
3. Use storage containers in your fridge for produce to keep it fresh longer and to reduce food waste
4. Get command hooks for inside cupboard doors to hang lightweight items
5. Invest in good quality stackable cookware with removable handle like our Ingenio Cookware Range - which takes up to 40% less space in your cupboard!

How to improve cooking performance and keep your kitchen tidy

The new generation of Ingenio by Tefal has arrived, complete with long-lasting performance and ultimate versatility. This stackable range of cookware has a removable handle, allowing the pots and pans to stack neatly and save a lot of storage space in your kitchen drawers and cupboards.

The sturdy, removable handle lets you move effortlessly from the cooktop, into the oven, to the table, into the fridge, and then the dishwasher, before neatly stacking your pots and pans away.

With the new generation of Ingenio, you get the latest advances in non-stick, scratch-resistant cookware. The iconic Tefal Thermo-Signal lets you know when it reaches optimal heat for perfect searing. Its practical, stackable and space-saving design also delivers fantastic cooking results.

If you spend a lot of time in the kitchen, it makes sense to ensure your kitchen is functional and efficient to use. Take the time to declutter, and you’ll enjoy your time in the kitchen so much more, with a place for everything and everything in its place.