After identifying Activity Zones, my clutter buddy and I talked about what was functioning well in each area, and what needed to be fixed. I was overwhelmed by the mess, and initially felt that nothing at all, anywhere in my kitchen, was working. Jana pointed out that the Cat Zone was not only functional, but it looked reasonably nice too:
- The floor mat contains their water dish and food dishes; the big rubbermaid bin has food in it; and the small box on the shelf above has things like grooming supplies and cat treats.
“This area is working because you care about your cats”, Jana said. “Well, yeah,” I said. “It’s easier to take care of them than it is to take care of myself.” Jana assured me that if I could create such an organized cat zone, I could replicate that in other parts of my home.
As for the rest of the kitchen, there were all types of problems. I didn’t have any permanent place to do art, so I tended to take over the kitchen table, which meant my husband and I couldn’t use it to eat. The pantry area, and likewise the microwave, are far away from the food prep area. The cupboards in the food prep area were full to bursting, and the counter tops were cluttered. I also stored the portable dishwasher next to the sink because that’s where I used it, and for some reason I felt like I couldn’t move it back and forth to a better location.
I didn’t take pictures at the time, but below is an image I took today. It doesn’t compare to how bad the situation was when I started, but the space is cluttered because I was in the middle of cooking dinner, and the dishwasher is clearly in the way. It gives you an idea of what we were dealing with.
There's not much space between that dishwasher and the washer-dryer (which would be just beyond the edge of the right side of the image).
My clutter buddy pointed out two things in the Food Prep Zone areas that were functioning pretty well. The knife block, mounted above the stove, freed up a lot of drawer space (though the drawers were still overflowing). I had also installed a spice rack on the door to the water heater so that my spices were always at hand when I was cooking.
This wall-mount magnetic knife block was one of the best things I've ever bought. It was less than $5 from Ikea.
This spice rack was also from Ikea. There are two, and I think each of them went for $9.99.
The other zones were pretty problematic. As I’ve already mentioned, my artwork tended to take over the kitchen table, keeping us from eating there, and the pantry area was far away from the food prep area, meaning that I had to run back and forth between the two whenever I cooked anything.
We decided to begin out project with the Food Prep Zone. It’s a small area with a galley-type layout, and it’s about 4 feet by ten feet. It’s used every day, so the returns on our work would be immediate. Organizing the food prep area would take only an afternoon, and it would be easy to maintain throughout the following week.