Turn chaos into a cooking-friendly kitchen

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Of all the rooms in the house, we do love the kitchen. It doesn't just provide us with the means to whip up delicious food for ourselves and our families; it becomes a hub, a much-loved gathering spot and a recognised congregation area, but with that comes the potential for mess and chaos! Let's not forget that the primary function of the room is actually cooking!

Trying to tidy a kitchen can seem like an unending task; as soon as you have moved some shoes, a couple of coats and some books, more have arrived to take their place, but don't despair, as you can still reclaim your gastronomic paradise! 

Take a look at our tips for maintaining a cooking-friendly kitchen and see if you could put any of them to good use. As long as you can rustle up something delicious, you are winning! 

Get rid of non-cooking essentials

While fun accessories and happy trinkets all look very nice in a house, they can get a little overwhelming in a kitchen. Before you know it, worktops have become unofficial dumping grounds for personal belongings and you forget that you used to be able to make delicious meals from scratch in there!

We think it's time to reclaim your space and make it a cooking-friendly kitchen once more! Remove anything from the food prep area that doesn't actually help with making dinner and you will soon see that the primary purpose of the room is restored.

Empty your worktops

A cooking-friendly kitchen will always be one that has a lot of usable space, so clear your worktops of everything! This might sound drastic, but have a think about how much mess you actually make when you prepare a meal. From vegetable peelings through to empty cartons and jars, you will need to be able to spread out and work comfortably if you are going to reach new heights of culinary genius!

Of course, you will most likely want to keep utensils on the worktop, but pop them next to the cooker, so they don't get in your way and use the rest of the space however you like. If you have an island, this is a great place to work, totally uninhibited!

Though we love the vase of roses in this picture, from Forrester Architects they won't make your risotto any creamier, so pop them on the dining table and get to work!

Re-organise your cupboards

We know it can't just be us that has a half used tube of wasabi and some picked onions from years ago lingering at the back of our cupboards, but if you want to transform your space and make it easier to find culinary inspiration, we think it's time to bite the bullet and have a really good cupboard clear out!

Anything you use regularly, you can keep near the front and all the exotic items that you bought on a whim, move them to the foreground too! You never know what will take your fancy or jazz up the dinner a little bit. One thing we do know is that tidy cupboards will make your daily cooking duties a lot easier and transform your room into a cooking-friendly kitchen.

Add extra light

Whether natural or artificial, having enough light is vital in any cooking-friendly kitchen. You may be wondering why, but take a moment to really think about this. If you are following a recipe, you need to be sure you can see every instruction clearly. If you are chopping, you need to be able to see where your fingertips are and when seasoning, nothing is worse than reaching for the sugar instead of the salt!

Though natural light is always preferable, a bright artificial light will work wonders in transforming your space and who knows, you might discover some long forgotten ingredients that you're keen to try out!

Find somewhere for your cookery books

Even those of us who don't take a huge interest in cooking will have naturally acquired a hefty recipe book collection. A few relatives will pass down favourite tomes, then you get some for Christmas and all of a sudden you are inundated with hardback books and nowhere to keep them, except on your worktop. Don't fall into this trap and instead, see if you can build some storage into your cooking-friendly kitchen, to accommodate them specifically. Even if you never look at them, it will seem like you do and should the urge ever grab you, they are there, within easy reach. 

Keep your utensils in easy reach

Whether you have a specific drawer for them or a pot that you keep on a shelf, you should always look to keep your tools and utensils close to where you will be preparing food. This may sound obvious, but you'd be surprised just how many people keep the knives in the furthest drawer from the cutting board and so forth. The secret to avoiding chaos and instead enjoying a cooking-friendly kitchen is to have a place for everything and to keep everything in its place. Now move over Delia Smith, we feel inspired!

If you are always on the lookout for kitchen inspiration, take a look at this Ideabook: Ridiculously Cool Kitchens. As the title suggests, some of these are so awesome that we know you'll be planning a revamp soon!

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