Organizing dish towels, Organizing a small kitchen

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Dear Kathi,

I need to find a new system for organizing my kitchen dishtowels. What should we do with slightly dirty dishtowels still in use so that family members will not use them for hands or drying clean dishes? They are not dirty enough to throw in the wash but too dirty to use for clean dishes.

Peter, Leucadia

Peter,

Hang two hooks. Use one for the soiled tasking towel and one for the super clean towel for dishes and hands. Educate your family members to think in the pattern of clean hook, dirty hook. Smaller children, and everyone, will benefit from a visual cue.

Hang a sign by each hook in the beginning of this re-education process to help everyone remember which hook to use. Label one hook clean, one hook dirty. You probably only need to post this sign for the first thirty to forty days. This is typically the time that it takes to develop a new habit.

Once everyone automatically knows which hook is clean or dirty, they will hang the proper towel on each hook. Make sure they are aware that the clean hook towel is the only option for drying dishes and hands.

Another option is to use a different color of towel for each activity. Keep only two colors of towels in your kitchen. White is the obvious choice for the clean hand-drying towel. Use an alternative color for the towel that supplements the cleaning process.

You could also keep the cleaning towel under the sink on it’s own hook next to the cleaning supplies. This method provides visual hints that each type of towel has a different purpose based on where it lives.

Your family will automatically reach for the convenient visible towel for everyday drying hands and dishes. They will also learn that they should reach for the towel by the adjacent cleaning supplies to begin a clean-up job.

Some people prefer to use a towel for drying and a sponge for wiping up messes. To each his own, there is no perfect way. The key is to find the solution that you will use consistently over time with the least effort.

Dear Kathi,

I live in a small cottage and don’t have enough drawer space for my silverware and knives. I need more storage space in my kitchen. What strategies can you suggest to optimize my small kitchen?

Liana,

Liana,

Try to use whatever wall space you might have available. Most kitchen walls are not optimized to their full potential and are a great place to create more storage space.

Consider using a magnetic strip attached to the wall to hold your knife collection. These strips are available at IKEA and other kitchen stores. They are easy to hang and will easily hold over 10 knives. Additionally, they are very functional and keep your knives at hands reach. Mount this magnetic strip above the area where you typically cut your food.

You could also use a knife block if you have ample counter space. Knife blocks often take up too much real estate in small kitchens with limited counter area.

For your everyday silverware, there are containers with sections that will mount on your wall or sit on your counter. Try to find one that has five sections so your soupspoons, coffee spoons, salad forks, dinner forks and knives have their own respective homes.

More often than not, these containers are metal or plastic. I use a stainless steel basket that sits on the counter. It takes only 2×7 inches of counter space. After a lifetime of using an entire drawer for flatware it is amazing to see what little space is really necessary to contain my everyday silver!

If there is a large wall by your stove or your ceilings are high enough, hang a grid with hooks for your pots and pans. Having your pots and pans at arms reach is really convenient and you benefit with extra space to store the items that can’t be hung; blenders, crock pots etc.

Please submit your questions to: advice@addspacetoyourlife.com
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San Diego Professional Organizer

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