Cabinet Ideas for Every Room

Cut out the clutter in the Kitchen

Stacks of newspapers, piled-up mail, clothes draped on chairs, toys in need of a "home" ... HELP! Like a fast-growing vine, clutter can quickly take over your house unless you have a daily plan and simple devices to control it.

Clutter accumulates for many reasons: Busy days are tiresome and distract you from putting things away. Some family members may have a higher tolerance for clutter than others and let things pile up too long. Or perhaps you truly think you´ll need something in that tower of papers at the last minute, instead of just sorting and recycling most of it. However, clutter makes things take longer, creates stress, and can even make some folks avoid inviting friends into their home. Whatever your reasons, take steps to get rid of clutter for good: you’ll quickly find what you need, boost your elbowroom, and enjoy a more comfortable, tranquil home!

We all have a list of household tasks that need to be done, yet we never seem to get to them. "Every day I simply focus on one task for five minutes," says Heloise, well-known household advice columnist. "Or I pick up, put away, or throw out five items from one drawer, shelf, or closet. I call it The Five Minutes or Five Things Plan!" she writes in one of her columns. Heloise´s daily "Hints from Heloise" column runs in more than 500 newspapers in 20 countries.

As part of your plan to combat clutter, you´ll also want to consider some helpful products designed especially for organizing. Here are just a few ideas for cleaning up a common clutter zone:

Kitchen Counter Clean-up

The kitchen counter is a typical place to heap everything from dirty dishes and soup cans to mail, keys, and phone books. One important anti-clutter rule is to immediately clean up spills and put dirty dishes in the dishwasher. Then you’re more able to keep the entire area organized.

Tilt-out Sink Tray
Keep your scrub brushes and scouring pads together and easy to find in a Tilt-out Sink Tray. Another handy tool to help out is Merillat’s Undersink Tote. This organizer hangs inside the base cabinet door and neatly stores basic cleaning supplies. Plus, it lifts out conveniently so you can quickly take your supplies wherever you need them, to a different part of the kitchen or elsewhere in the house.

Pull-down Message Center
Next, look at the area where you throw your mail, keys, wallet, eyeglasses, pens, notepads and other items. A handy Pull-down Message Center from Merillat will store your notepad and pens up and out of the way. The message center attaches under the wall cabinet above, and keeps those items ready when you´re in a hurry. (You´ll also want to check out similar pull-down racks from Merillat that keep items accessible but up off the counter - one for a cookbook and one for cutlery.) In addition to a message center, tray inserts built in to the drawers can help organize mail, keys and other items.

Want to get even more organized and use an area of your kitchen for home office work? Consider a built-in kitchen desk with office accessories. By including a desk with an Apron Drawer, File Drawer, Pencil Tray and Keyboard Platform, you can set up a small Part-time Home Office that blends with the rest of your kitchen. Now that’s what we call Organomics™!

Tray Dividers
You can also cut clutter and gain space in your kitchen by including a simple compartment of Tray Dividers. These dividers organize your cookie sheets, pizza pans, cutting boards and serving trays so they´re accessible without cluttering up other cabinetry. Merillat´s tray dividers come in both fixed and roll-out versions.

Appliance garage
Appliances like blenders, toasters and coffee makers can also clutter up kitchen counters. Perhaps you don´t have cabinet space for them or just want to keep them highly accessible. An Appliance Garage may be the perfect solution. These compartments are built into countertop cabinetry and attractively conceal appliances with a roll-down door. Appliance Garages create homes for your appliances and help keep dust off them while giving your kitchen a cleaner, more uniform look.

Finally, one last tip from Good Housekeeping´s Heloise: Regularly pick one shelf in the refrigerator or pantry and clean out five items that are almost empty or past their expiration date.

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