Kitchen Magicians as Professional Organizers
Buckle up. It’s going to be wild ride. Whereas the garage is our organizing Everest the kitchen is our Mecca. And we must complete the Haj at least once in our lives. Probably several times, if we’re devoted to harmonious living.
The kitchen is a reverent space. We enter the kitchen with respect, aware of the dangers lurking inside every drawer and the monstrosities hiding behind some cabinet doors.
We’re going to be spending a hard day or two organizing the kitchen so we must love its bones and caress its untamed exuberance into quivering obedience.
Whew! I need a cigarette.
Kitchen Magicians Invest Many Hours
The kitchen is one of the most used rooms in a home. A lot of the hours in the bedroom don’t really count because we’re asleep. Right?
Those who love to cook will spend three to six hours a day in the kitchen. A disorganized, messy kitchen is one of the great frustrations of culinary epicures. A disorganized kitchen is as troublesome to a cook as an unglued bathing suit in a beauty pageant.
We can also cause problems with an over-organized kitchen. We’ve all been in those kitchens where shiny copper pots gleam from every surface. Stainless steel abounds. Amazing architectural elements hold lids at the ready. But ready for what? Ready to be photographed by Architectural Digest, but impossible to extract from that wrought iron hanger when the spaghetti sauce starts bubbling over.
Organizing Goo — Egad!
There is a tendency to festoon the kitchen with organizing goo, elaborate container systems, and custom shelving. These are fantastic tools—in moderation. Choose wisely and sparingly. At some point clients will wonder why they’re spending so much time pouring ingredients out of one package into another. Beauty is an objective, but don’t lose functionality.
Remember, in professional organizing, kitchen magicians insist functionality is the underpinning of beauty. The aesthetic is layered on top of a solid foundation, not pasted over an inefficient arrangement like too much lipstick on that fabled pig. We’ve all bought that sofa that looked fabulous in the store display and is completely unusable for something more conventional—like sitting.
Prepare your approach to the kitchen by thinking of workflow first. Make the kitchen easy to cook in. Provide plenty of prep space and easy access to the sink. The knife holder must be intuitive and at the ready along with a copious variety of ladles and spatulas.
A kitchen is very personal and a professional organizer must interview their clients about a few specifics before the kitchen makes sense. One person’s beautiful kitchen is another person’s intrusive torture chamber.
I am disgusted by a kitchen that is “beautified” by hiding the heavy machinery. The last thing I want to do is crawl around under the counter to dig out the food processor when the chickpeas are crying out to be falafaled. And don’t get me started on those who insist on hiding the knife sharpener. I know I only use it once a month. But I WANT IT AT MY DAMN FINGERTIPS. When the tomatoes aren’t gliding paper-thin off my blade. I want that sharpener now.
Other cooks will happily exile their food scale or hide their can opener to gain a beautiful vast expanse of granite for kneading. They’re willing to trade expediency for grandeur. So be it.
Functional and Beautiful Organizing
Once your kitchen is functional then layer on the aesthetic appeal. There are myriad container solutions that elegantly hide the disjointed essentials that inhabit your spice cabinet.
You will need to decide if you want your kitchen to give the appearance of being organized or if you want its soul to be organized. Closed cabinet doors and drawers can hide a lot of sins. Does your client want all the spoons to spoon or are they willing to save some time and let the utensils fall where they may? The right solution is the one that resonates within each person.
You can put the oatmeal and raisins on display in fabulous glass containers or you can hide the packages in the pantry and pray your fastidious neighbor doesn’t damn you with faint praise. “Original packages? That’s so you.”
Would You Like a Pickle?
When a kitchen magician conjures an organized kitchen it is a wonderful space. We’ll go into a lot more detail with copious examples and photographs later in these posts. Hopefully this brief introduction will leave you hungry for more. Now, get into that beautiful kitchen and make yourself a sandwich. You’ve earned it.
