Zoning your kitchen is one of the most important things you can do to make things easier to do in that room. Today we’re talking about some of the stigmas and “rules” you might be following that aren’t helping you in your kitchen.
This episode was inspired by my post on kitchen organization
Big thanks to our sponsor The Organized Home — stop following “rules” that aren’t helping you! Get ideas on how to zone your room, ideas of things that might work and then GET GOING!
Other things that might interest you
My episode on decluttering your kitchen.
Answering your organization questions
Producer: Drew Erickson
Transcript
[00:00:00.190] – Hilary Erickson
Hey, guys. Welcome to the Pulling Curls Podcast. Today on episode 154, we are going back to one of our most popular topics: organizing your kitchen. Let’s untangle it.
[00:00:20.010] – Hilary Erickson
Hi. I’m Hilary Erickson, the curly head behind the Pulling Curls Podcast: pregnancy and parenting untangled. There’s no right answer for every family, but on this show, we hope to give you some ideas to make life simpler at your house. Life’s tangled, just like my hair.
[00:00:41.890] – Hilary Erickson
The kitchen. I feel like it’s such a strong representation about what we’re using in our lives because we’re in there all the time, right? I don’t know if your family congregates in our kitchen. Our kitchen is actually kind of closed off the way that our houses but people just, and especially teenagers, come right to the kitchen. Okay, but the kitchen has nice big surfaces for projects, right?
[00:01:02.990] – Hilary Erickson
Like when I’m getting out my cricket, which is rare, I like to get in the kitchen and put it out on my big counter. It has chairs, easy places to play games. It’s just a great place for people to gather. And I feel like in new houses, it’s even more that way. People just love to be in the kitchen, but I think a lot of times people think they only need to keep cooking type things in the kitchen, and that’s not true.
[00:01:23.790] – Hilary Erickson
I think we need to get over these quote unquote rules. I hope you saw my air quotes while I did. That how we’re supposed to use specific rooms. So some people may not think that that is not the right way to do it if you’re keeping other things in your kitchen, but who cares what you’re keeping in your kitchen?
[00:01:41.290] – Hilary Erickson
Do you ever just feel like it’s unfair that some people can have company over at a moment’s notice? Their house is just super easy to clean up and they can relax on the couch with Netflix, where you feel like you always have things to do around your house that can totally be you. Organized Home is here to help you simplify organizing. We’re talking about decluttering zones, organization, systems that actually work. We’ve got assignments and challenges. I hope you’ll join us. You can use coupon code UNTANGLED. Look for the Organized Home link in the show notes.
[00:02:11.170] – Hilary Erickson
First off, I want to say that there is no right way to use your kitchen. The drawers and things like that, it’s just what works best for you. And every single person uses their kitchen differently.
[00:02:21.930] – Hilary Erickson
Yes, we’re all in there popping popcorn or whatever, like we’re all cooking, but every person uses it differently. And when I hear these people who have these ginormous kitchens who don’t cook very much, I hope that they are putting the other things in their life that they love in those drawers rather than feeling like they need to fill them up with serving dishes and things like that. So the other thing I want to address is the fact that zones sometimes change. In the beginning when we moved into this house, we had a homework zone right, where we kept some things that kids frequently used for homework. And we use that for quite a long time.
[00:02:52.840] – Hilary Erickson
But my kids no longer do homework in the kitchen. They do it up in their rooms. And so that is an area that I can use for something else. So I think it is really important to be mindful of how you’re using your zones. If you had a sewing zone but you’re not sewing anymore, that’s 100% fine.
[00:03:07.900] – Hilary Erickson
You don’t need to feel all the guilt of not sewing anymore. Just move that stuff to a less used area of your house and put something that you are doing more frequently in the kitchen in that spot. Same for other things, like if you’re doing a diet, like say you’re doing keto and you don’t have any chips or crackers in your pantry, but then suddenly you decide you’re not doing keto anymore and you need to move in those things, adjust your zones to fit the life that you’re living right now. Okay, so today I wanted to give you just a few zone ideas and I’m going to actually go through my zones in my kitchen to give you an idea. So the first one is a junk zone.
[00:03:39.710] – Hilary Erickson
I’m not even going to lie. It has like batteries. There is a scotch tape in there. It’s just stuff I might randomly use in the kitchen. It is a junk zone.
[00:03:47.410] – Hilary Erickson
It is mildly organized, obviously not that great, but it’s there. I’m not going to lie to you. And it works for me because I know the things that are in there and I can grab them easily. Then we have spices. We have a bakeware zone.
[00:03:57.680] – Hilary Erickson
We have cookware. We have a garbage and compost area. That’s right. I compost, guys. I hope you guys are all suitably impressed.
[00:04:05.510] – Hilary Erickson
We have an appliance area, a baking area. We have a pantry area. And actually our pantry area is split between like we have one area for boxes and things that are open. And then we have a separate area for just like straight up storage. So sometimes I’m not sure that that’s my best choice, but it’s how my house is right now and it’s how my kids want it.
[00:04:23.700] – Hilary Erickson
So I’m like, okay, whatever. We have an oil and sauces area. We have a cutting board area. We have a place for towels and dish rags. We have eating items.
[00:04:31.150] – Hilary Erickson
So plates, cups, forks, knives, and then we have a bag and foil area. But there are other zones that you can keep in your kitchen. Because my dining room is right off of my kitchen. A lot of times I keep these other things over there because we don’t dine in our dining room very often. You could have a homework zone.
[00:04:45.730] – Hilary Erickson
You could have a craft zone. I know a lot of people who could have a craft zone in their kitchen and honestly should maybe they don’t have room because obviously you want to keep your instant Pot in your kitchen rather than downstairs. But honestly, if you’re bringing your sewing machine up more than you use your instant pot, then maybe shouldn’t the sewing machine be in there and the instant pot can go downstairs? There’s nothing wrong with that. Just because it’s called the kitchen doesn’t mean you have to keep every cooking appliance in there.
[00:05:08.860] – Hilary Erickson
And I actually had a baby toy zone. I had a drawer that had baby toys in it because when my little one would be hanging out with me in the kitchen, she knew she could go over there and pull out some toys to hang out while we were cooking together. So I just want you guys to not feel so pegged into one spot. Your kitchen is for you. In fact, your whole house is for you.
[00:05:28.050] – Hilary Erickson
So if your bedroom should have a sewing area in it, that’s fine, too. Obviously, you need to discuss that kind of thing with your spouse, but make your house work for you. I just keep seeing people on Instagram telling me the rules of organizing, and I’m like, who made up these rules? Where are the risks and the benefits of this? Where are the studies that show I can’t keep my sewing machine in my kitchen?
[00:05:51.470] – Hilary Erickson
Or the one I really want to know why I need to decant everything. I’m just not a decanter. That’s not how Hilary is. God bless all the people that love to decant and love those pretty things in their kitchen. I’m just not that person.
[00:06:03.220] – Hilary Erickson
I would much rather just shut a door that is not glass and just see the door and then just pull out my cereal from the box. So you do you that’s the most important part of our organizing area. Get ideas, see what works for other people 100%. Do that and then do what works for you, what works for your budget, what works for your lifestyle, what works for your family. You.
[00:06:22.850] – Hilary Erickson
Do you think that’s the most important thing we need to learn about in the kitchen? So what I want you guys to do is I’ll have a post over on Instagram at Pulling Curls. Tell me what kind of zones you have in your kitchen. Maybe they’re different than the ones that I mentioned. I’d love to hear about them.
[00:06:36.500] – Hilary Erickson
Thanks so much for joining us. We got some induction information coming up. We’re going to be talking about college admissions, so stay tuned for more pregnancy and parenting untangled.
[00:06:43.770] – Hilary Erickson
Thanks so much for joining us on today’s episode. The Pulling Curls Podcast grows when you share us on social media or leave a review. If you do, please tag us so that we can share and send you a virtual hug, which, frankly, is my favorite kind of hugging. Until next time, we hope you have a tangle free day.
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