Kitchen Organization Part I: Define Your Vision
If you want to eat healthier and cook more at home, , then the kitchen needs to be your happy place. But… I’m guessing yours probably has one or more of the following:
A pantry filled with cans, boxes and bottles of food that expired a year or more ago.
Lots of processed food items that are easy to cook but not too healthy.
Appliances you never use but that you like to keep on hand, “just in case”.
Crowded cabinets that make it hard for you to find what you need, when you need it.
Enough dishes, glasses and flatware to feed your entire neighborhood block, many of which you rarely use.
If none of this describes you, if you are 100% happy with your kitchen and dining room and are filled with joy each time you step into it to cook, eat or socialize, then I am certifiably jealous!
But if any of the above points resonate with you, even a little, then I want you to know that the kitchen you dream of is within your grasp, if you’re willing to do the work.
Now, a disclaimer: you know all those beautiful, bright white kitchens you see on Pinterest and Instagram? Yeah, I’d like one of those too. Here’s the thing: I can’t guarantee you that shiny white kitchen, or teach you how to DIY new kitchen cabinets. However, no matter what you’re working with, you can have a clean and orderly kitchen, stocked with the foods you love, that brings you happiness and helps you fulfill your cooking and eating goals. I’m going to give you a blueprint for figuring this out, and I’ll also be working alongside you in the process!
*Note: this is part 1 of a 3-part series.
Marie Kondo Your Way To Your Dream Plant-Based Kitchen
A few years ago, I picked up Marie Kondo’s book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, while on a layover in the Chicago airport. In many ways, that little book was transformative because it made me consider how my living space was impacting how I lived my life on a daily basis and even how I felt about my life. If you haven’t read her book, I highly recommend it!
Kondo is a Japanese woman who has had an affinity for home organization since childhood. Over the years she honed in on a method that has helped countless people around the world in their efforts to tidy up their homes. Google her and you’ll see a lot of articles telling you how to fold your clothes and shelve your books.
However, the real Marie Kondo method isn’t just about organization bins and cleaning supplies. It’s about mindset. Kondo herself will tell you that no amount of bins, baskets, or new shelves will bring you a beautiful home if you haven’t first engaged in some deep internal reflection and identified your true ‘why.’
At its core, the Kondo method requires seriously considering the type of life you want to live and how the physical space you reside in- your apartment, your home, even the garage or storage shed- will help you achieve that life. Her method also requires you to closely examine your relationship with the physical objects that you own in your home, and ask yourself whether those objects- be they clothes, kitchen appliances, or even old photographs- are helping or hindering you from living the life you want for yourself.
Decluttering, organizing, and cleaning your home will ultimately require a reckoning with every object you possess.
Look Deep Inside: What “Sparks Joy” for you?
Why is this introspection so important? Because if you want to really have a clean and organized kitchen, you’re likely going to need to get rid of some things. And deciding which things you’ll keep and which you’ll discard will completely depend on how you feel about those things.
Kondo tells us to ask ourselves if an object “sparks joy”, in order to determine whether or not to keep it. She suggests that you’ll just know whether you feel joy when you pick up an item and feel it in your hand. With some objects it’ll be easy, but others, not so much.
For me, being able to really know whether an item “sparks joy” meant that I needed to first answer the question: What does “sparking joy” even mean?
The answer is completely dependent on you: what you deem valuable in life, what gives you happiness, and what kind of life and therefore living space you want for yourself. If you don’t get clear on what sparks joy for you, you’ll never be able to really clean and organize your kitchen (or your home). And if you do manage to organize and clean your kitchen, you will have a hard time maintaining it that way in the long run because you won’t have a solid basis for making future decisions on keeping, discarding, and allowing new items to enter into your home.
So that’s step one: get clear on your “why”. Why would you want to have a more organized and tidy kitchen? How will that transform your life?
What’s Your Vision for Your Home and Kitchen?
Before I began the process of tidying up my home, I put pen to paper and wrote down what my ideal lifestyle would look like, so that I could create a living space that would help me achieve it. This was a few years ago, but here’s what I wrote then:
Keywords and Phrases that describe my ideal home
Airy, calm, serene, beachy, surfy, global, reminds me of my travels.
Colors that I want reflected in my Home
Pastels, blues, grays, peaches, pinks, pale green, light tan, colors of the sea and nature.
What I want my Lifestyle to look like
I want to have a serene place to do yoga or mediate on a floor pillow in the morning or evening.
I want to be able to get dressed fast and easily each day, so that not too much thought has to go into dressing, but I still appear pulled together.
I want to eat clean and healthy every day.
I want to be able to quickly blend a smoothie at any time.
I want to be able to cook easily and serve others, like at dinner parties.
I want to a clean and organized office that reminds me of my desire to eat and live clean.
I want a great photo space to take photos whenever I’ve got a dish that’s photo-worthy.
I want to have cookouts in the summer and spend warm evenings with friends and family on my porch.
Recently, I decided to take things a step further and brainstorm my ideal lifestyle as it relates to my kitchen and dining room.
My kitchen will facilitate my relaxed and healthy lifestyle. It should feel airy, with lots of light and positive energy, and have very little clutter. I will feel relaxed and happy while in my kitchen. It will be easy to prepare smoothies at any time, to bake healthy items, and to create a wide variety of healthy meals using an assortment of herbs and spices. It's important that I can access all the tools I need to cook and bake, whether the dish is simple or complex. I’ll have an inviting, comfortable space to entertain my friends and family. And my kitchen will be clean and attractive enough for taking photos and videos of my food and cooking process.
Now You Try It
Here’s your homework: Before you start tackling your cupboards or the fridge, sit down for a moment with a pen and paper do some freewriting. No one has to read this. It’s just for you, to help you focus on your decluttering, cleaning and organizing process. Once you know why you’re doing what you’re doing- what outcome you’re hoping to achieve for your life- going through the process of decluttering and organizing will be easier. Use these questions to guide your writing:
What is your ideal lifestyle?
Think about when you get up in the morning: what do you want that to look like? Or, when you come home from work at the end of the day: how would that look, ideally? What would you be doing? How would you be feeling? What would your overall daily routine be like? Why is this ideal lifestyle important to you?
What does your ideal home look like?
Consider your ideal lifestyle, and think about what kind of living space would help you achieve that lifestyle. What does your home need to have and what does it need to not have?
Now get even more specific: how does your kitchen contribute to your ideal lifestyle?
What is life like in your kitchen? How do you want to feel when you are in your kitchen? What do you want to be able to do in your kitchen? Do you want to be able to cook a lot? Do you like work from home in your kitchen? Or entertain guests? Think not about what you currently do in your kitchen, but what you would like to be doing. Construct your vision.
Finally, ask yourself: what would your kitchen need to look like in order for you to achieve your ideal lifestyle?
Brainstorm some specific characteristics your ideal kitchen should have. Here’s an example: since I want to be able to cook a wide variety of plant-based meals, I need an extensive selection of herbs and spices and I need to be able to quickly and easily find the ones that I need. Therefore, for me, in my ideal kitchen the herbs and spices are in similar-sized containers that are neatly organized and easily visible on a shelf, close to my work space kitchen.
The vision you construct of your ideal lifestyle and kitchen will be something you’ll keep in the back of your mind as you move forward with a process to tidy up and re-organize your kitchen. It will be your motivation and your anchor.
This is the first in a three-part series on organizing your dream plant-based kitchen.
