Does Your Clean Kitchen Look Like a Hot Mess? Here Are the 6 Little Missteps You Might Be Making
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Your rooms might never look as gorgeously appointed and perfectly spiffed up as some spaces do in decor magazines. But if you’re like us, you can usually tidy up well enough before you open the door to guests for a party.
Yet maybe sometimes, when you put the cleaning products away, something still looks off.
Here’s why. Despite our best efforts, there are still a few mistakes that lots of folks tend to make when it comes to tidying and streamlining their kitchens. Granted, this is a tough room to keep pristine. But if you focus on a few hot spots, you’ll achieve a space that’s darn near perfect.
So check out the common missteps you’re likely making in the kitchen that contribute to the visual disorder, even after you’ve scoured every surface.
1. Crammed counters and surfaces
Photo by Rachel Loewen Photography
You knew we’d bring up counter organization! And sadly, it’s because many homeowners can’t help but display all of their small appliances and utensil crocks in the kitchen. (No, you don’t need three jars of spatulas!)
Allowing too many items to line up in a row is visual clutter, and you know you’re probably not using all of them every day.
“Crammed counters and disheveled open shelving communicate disorder, no matter how much cleaning you do here,” says Jen Dallas, an interior designer with the eponymous firm.
So say bye-bye to the standing mixer, toaster oven, and blender unless you’re a die-hard daily smoothie drinker.
Dallas advises you to assess your kitchen storage and then decide what you can eliminate from your counters. Your goal is to keep as much as possible out of sight and your kitchen clutter-free.
2. Too many kitchen towels
Photo by NEAT Method Santa Barbara
Sure, a dedicated towel drawer would be lovely to have, but most of us jam them into a spot with a bunch of other utensils.
But the fundamental error here is letting too many towels hang loosely all over the place, as on each drawer pull, looped over the fridge door handle, and along the edge of the sink. So, invariably, they look messy, wrinkled, and probably also smell a bit damp. Ugh!
A better bet is to reduce your towel display by about 85%, which means you can have two—not eight—out at once.
3. The dog has taken over
Photo by Echelon Builders, Inc.
Aww! We love our furry babies.
But their dishes, food, snack containers, and even toys threaten to migrate into your newly cleaned kitchen. Dogs need access to water for much of the day, but their kibble is kind of icky to look at and smell.
Unless you have a nifty drawer you can close to hide your pet’s paraphernalia, figure out a better place to feed your pup and keep the pet area clean. Perhaps the entryway or the laundry room has a corner for pet dishes, and you can store the toys in a basket in a hallway.
4. Snarled cords
Photo by TrueSource Home Specialties
Truth: You want your kids’ phones out of their rooms where you can see ’em, and the logical spot to store electronics is in the kitchen.
But dangling cords, some of which are attached to laptops (because many of us work from home in this room), are unsightly and add to the clutter in the cooking space.
For the neatest look, ditch random chargers on the counters and house them in the home office if you have one. If not, dedicate one kitchen area to cord control with one streamlined powerstrip (instead of chargers plugged into every outlet.)
Alternatively, you might find a decorative box to place atop (and hide) your messy tech life.
5. Less-than-fresh fruit
“Fresh ingredients like fruits and vegetables always look colorful in a bowl on the counter,” suggests Pamela O’Brien, the decor mind at Pamela Hope Designs.
But when the fruit isn’t genuinely flawless, it’ll add a note of chaos to your cleaned-up kitchen. Be sure nothing you have out is turning brown or getting soft. (Fruit flies are never a good look either!)
An easy way to enjoy a color pop like this on your counters is to display hardy items like lemons or mandarins. When in doubt, skip the fruit altogether and add an easy-care air plant or succulents.
6. Dishes that dry forever
Photo by Rose City Carpentry and Remodeling
Yay, you washed all the dishes!
But leaving them out to dry on a towel or a rack for the day—and the next day—tanks the streamlined appearance you’re striving to achieve.
Speed the drying process with another towel on top of your pile, and then take 90 seconds to put these items away the next time you pass by the kitchen.
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