Essential Tips On Reorganising Home Cookware
Why Reorganise your Homeware?
Are you constantly going through an endless cycle of rummaging pans, pots and woks, reaching for required pieces, and creating clutters? With diverse types and sizes, cookware is arguably among, if not the most cumbersome kitchenware category to handle. Typically bulky but commonly and frequently used for cooking meals for the family, it requires accessible storage space. Let us share essential tips on reorganising home cookware.
Assess and Declutter The Excess
Arrange cookware according to specifications, including types, shapes, sizes, weights, usage frequency and stackability. Having an overarching visual helps determine which cookware items are needful and which ones are wasteful. Assess which items have high-frequency usage so you can keep them closer to the cooking zone. You do not need several frying pans to fry different vegetables, meat or fish for home-cooked meals. It is advisable to keep those with higher utility within reach and declutter the excess by stowing them away for future use. Next, we explore internal and external storage tips.
Internal Storage Tips
Customised Cabinetry requires more extensive planning than its conventional counterparts, but you can explore diverse designs and maximise space usage to store lesser-used cookware. The satisfaction of completing a customised storage unit that is ergonomic and elegant for long-term household usage is sweet.
Cabinet Door Rod mounted on the back of the cabinet door allows slotting pan and pot lids. Consequently, you can stack or nest cookware bodies to save space in cabinets. Align cookware lids to their corresponding bodies for easy matching and retrieval.
Cookware Organiser Rack creates segregation and thus facilitates ease in storing and retrieving cookware. This organiser rack also prevents the wares from clattering against each other when opening and closing cabinet doors and drawers. Using vertical and horizontal racks entails the opportunity to utilise cabinetry space to the best effect.
Airtight Storage Container is a viable option for storing specific but seldom used cookware, such as earthenware clay pots, steamer baskets and baking trays. You can easily store and stow them away in the kitchen or other rooms and retrieve them with minimum hassle. Unless you or a family member cooks or bakes professionally, it is wise to keep them away to save space. There is no definite rule that dictates storage areas for all kitchenware must be at or near the cooking zone.
External Storage Tips
Cooker Top is an instant way to store without cabinets, drawers, racks, organisers, or boxes. After cleaning, you can keep a few pieces on the cooker top and stoves, knowing that you will use them soon for the next meal. Keeping daily-used cookware neatly on the cooker top presents a pleasant display, eliminates unnecessary movement in storing and retrieving, and frees up storage space.
Pans and Pots Rail is a great option to arrange and hang pans, pots and woks by types, shapes and sizes within reach. It creates a neat focal point that the eyes focus on first when arriving in the cooking zone. The focal point provides the instant selection visual and thus helps plan cooking procedures wisely. Aesthetic-wise, it is pleasing to view a symphony of organised wares swivel lightly on the rack, cueing cooking inspiration.
"Frying Pans", by Santeri Viinamäki via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0. For illustrating pans and pots rail.
Kitchen Wall Pegboard has adjustable hooks or dowels that encourage storage creativity and explore limitless combinations of items to peg. Traditionally used in workshops for hanging tools such as hammers and spanners, workshop pegboards evolved to kitchen deployment. It is encouraging to apply knowledge of organising home tools on organising cookware. Similar to pans and pots rail, it provides an organised focus and pleasant display to motivate meal preparation for the family.
You may refer to this article for guidance and inspiration on installing kitchen pegboards: https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/how-to-install-a-pegboard-wall-article.
Under-sink is an area to avoid due to its grime accumulation and moisture circulation, which cause bacteria. However, with the precautions of placing moisture-absorbent mats and ensuring pipes are not leaking, under-sink provides a temporary solution. Importantly, store cookware in airtight storage containers before putting them away.
Stack Sensibly
There is no denying that stacking and nesting are valuable space savers in a space-constrained environment. Firstly, group by usage types: frying pans, saucepans, casserole dishes, stewpots, etc. Then for each usage type, start with the sturdiest ware at the bottom. Lastly, stack smaller pieces on top or nestling within larger wares.
Whether stacking in internal or external storage, do take precautions. If the cabinets have ample height space, turn the inner surface of the corresponding pan or pot outwards. With its handle facing downwards, the flatter inner surface of the lid allows resting the base of the above ware safely. In addition, use pan protectors between each pan to minimise scratching and pan risers to prevent countertops from direct heating.
“Cast Iron Pot Carbon Steel”, by Jango0526 via Pixabay, licensed under Simplified Pixabay License. For illustrating the nesting of pans or pots.
Additional Tips
- Pegboards are not limited vertically on the wall. You can explore placing pegboard liners horizontally in cabinet spaces and adjusting the dowels to separate wares.
- If you do major overhauling, invest in multiple-use or stackable sets with removable handles instead of mismatched pieces. Nothing beats an aligned cache of cookware in an ample cooking space to plan and execute food preparation.
- To achieve a more streamlined kitchen, you can review other kitchenware categories, such as dishware and drinkware. Reorganising kitchenware as a whole creates a more streamlined storage system and facilitates effective workspace continuity.