Client Story: Kitchen
I worked on a kitchen for my client Lottie, who is married with two young children. Having the girls quite soon after moving in left Lottie and her husband little time to organise the kitchen.
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I had an in-person consultation with Lottie, we discussed her wishes for the space and what she felt was working and what wasn't.
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I asked Lottie about about her top priorities and the biggest pain points in the kitchen. She said that these were under the sink (most people’s bugbear) and the pantry, which she felt were a jumble of items; and as nothing had a proper place, finding what they needed was difficult.
Counter space in Lottie’s kitchen is limited, and there were a number of appliances and only occasionally used items out on the side which filled the daily used prep space. As she was hosting her extended family that Christmas having space to prepare was important.
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All plates including kids’ plates and water bottles were kept up high, meaning an adult had to get any child plate down whenever they needed one.
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Their bin and recycling were kept inside one of the cupboards with the shelf removed. This wasn’t the most practical solution as the bin was small and had to be emptied regularly. Removing the shelf meant that valuable cupboard space was being lost.
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They only had a few storage solutions for the different types of items in the kitchen, meaning it was easy for the categories to blur and the cupboards to become cluttered. Some food items had sneaked into places other than the pantry, making finding exactly what they needed difficult.
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As a busy mum, Lottie had limited time to take a large amount of donations to the charity shop.
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Read on to find out about my process and the transformation.
Before
The Plan
Kitchens require a great deal of thought to use the space wisely. Every kitchen configuration is different, and the same storage solutions won’t work in every home. Therefore, I had to plan Lottie’s space carefully, considering all the things we discussed. This was my plan:
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-Create an Amazon list of storage that I thought Lottie needed to maximise the space and keep like-items together, then send this to her in good time ahead of the sessions.
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-On the day move everything out of the cupboards and group it all, making it easy for Lottie to see how much she had of each item. Then get her to go through each category individually, decide what to keep and what to get rid of and dispose of any expired food.
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-To move the bin out of the cupboard, put the shelf back and recommend a larger standalone bin with different compartments for rubbish and recycling, this would make the most out of the dead space above the bin.
-Once the cupboards were empty give them a good clean, to be able to see the space as a blank canvas.
-Create specific zones, breakfast, kids, baking etc. and put the kids’ plates at an accessible level. Keep all other like-items together using storage and consider where to place everything for maximum efficiency.
-To keep all food (except the baking and breakfast items) in the pantry and add labels to the storage, so that it is easy to find everything quickly when cooking.
-Keep all the appliances that aren’t used that often together inside a cupboard. Also to turn the microwave at an angle, doing this would free up some much-needed counter space.
-Book a free charity doorstep collection for the donations.
The Result
Using storage such as lazy Susans and plastic boxes to separate the different categories in the pantry should stop it becoming cluttered. Decanting some regularly used items into glass jars makes it easier to see how much they have, which prevents overbuying. Other storage solutions such as hooks, and drawer dividers maximise the available space.
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Moving less used appliances inside a cupboard and creating an 'occasional use' cupboard freed up the counter space. This cupboard space was created by Lottie having a good declutter and only keeping the items they actually use. Grouping items inside a cupboard such as baby bottles, formula, bottle machine and steriliser should make bleary eyed night feeds just that little bit easier.
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Every drawer/cupboard now has a dedicated use and the kitchen flows. Plates/bowls and pans are in drawers, meaning less reaching up high for heavy items, which we should all do less of for our back’s sake. Cooking aids are all together, glasses are nearer the sink and mugs and tea and coffee are in the same cupboard, because if, you want a cup of tea, you need it now!
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​​​Under the sink has been separated into one box for cleaning sprays and the other for dishwasher tablets, cloths and gloves, preventing products sneaking around (seriously do they move in the night?).
Creating defined areas will help the family know where things are, it will make preparing, cooking and unloading the dishwasher quicker and more efficient. Cooking for a large number of people should now be a joy and much less stressful.
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After
After
Lottie's thoughts about working with me:
“I can’t recommend Sophie enough! From the get-go her communication was efficient and so thorough, Sophie suggested storage solutions and was really clear/cost effective with what we needed to get, and everything was so easy to order, she was really understanding and was able to work to our budget.
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"Sophie worked like an absolute machine for a day and half to completely revamp our kitchen, shamefully we had never properly organised our kitchen after moving in 5 years ago and after having two children…it was a state! The organisation Sophie has introduced to our lives has honestly been brilliant, the solutions she has come up with have made busy family life so much easier and more efficient. Even after a busy Christmas hosting multiple times, the systems she put in place remain organised!”