Stress-Free Kitchens

In most modern homes, the kitchen is the hive of activity day in, day out - whether that’s the mad dash for breakfast in the mornings or the clear up after a cooking bonanza at the weekends. During these busy times it’s natural for stress levels to increase, but with the right approach towards kitchen design, you can improve its functionality and style in no time.

Today, we’ll be sharing some simple kitchen design hacks you can make that will take the heart of your home from cluttered and chaotic to calm and contemporary, leaving you with a stress-free cooking space.

Banish the clutter for good

From kitchen gadgets to food storage containers and dirty pots, kitchens are prime areas for clutter. If left unchecked, this clutter can soon get out of control and become a major eye sore, not to mention a trigger for your stress levels.

In order to keep your cooking space completely ‘zen’, this clutter has to go. We’re not talking about chucking everything in the bin, but banishing non-essential items from your worktops. Instead, find a new home for them elsewhere that helps you to achieve a clear worktop policy.

If your worktops have seen better days, why not replace them with some stylish granite countertops? For one, it’s a quick way to update the entire room using just one focal feature, but it could also be the incentive you need to banish clutter once and for all. Add in granite’s low-maintenance, durability and timeless appeal and you have a winning combination.

Get savvy with storage

It’s one thing to clear your kitchen worktops of clutter, but the next challenge is to find places to store these items out of sight without impacting your kitchen’s functionality. This is where savvy storage solutions come into play.

Start by giving your kitchen cupboards a thorough clear out to free up space by getting rid of anything that’s not essential. From out of date cans (yes, we’re all likely guilty of this one) to unused crockery and kitchen gadgets, if you haven’t used it in the last 12 months, it needs to be rehomed. With more space in cupboards, you can now optimise how they’re used. From drawer dividers to pull out racks, use every inch of cupboard space wisely.

Also, don’t forget to make use of vertical space in your kitchen. This could be adding funky storage baskets above kitchen wall units to use that dead space, adding floor-to-ceiling shelves on free walls to create attractive displays for everyday cookware or using hooks to hang items like utensils rather than place them in containers on the countertop.

With everything stowed away in its rightful place, you’ll be able to find everything more quickly and enjoy a clutter-free room every day of the week.

Dedicate a space for mess

With all the best will in the world, there will be times that clutter will creep back into your calm and serene kitchen - that’s life, so don’t give yourself a hard time about it. Instead, be honest with yourself and recognise that every home needs that ‘junk drawer’ to keep those random odds and ends that accumulate over time.

Whether it’s takeaway menus, spare sets of keys, appliance user manuals or rogue batteries, in order to manage the mess, you need to accept it. This means creating a designated drawer or box for those useful items that may not have a specific place in your new, clutter-free kitchen.

Don’t let old habits slip in though. Try to have a periodic clear out of your ‘messy drawer’ and incorporate organised storage dividers and sections like you have elsewhere to make life simpler and less hassle all round.

Nowadays kitchens aren’t just a space for cooking, they’re also for socialising and relaxing (and sometimes even working), so adapting your kitchen design to create a stress-free environment can make the prospect of a family meal or entertaining guests far less daunting. With the right approach to embracing a realistic attitude towards clutter-free living as outlined above, sticking to your new regime should be much easier all round.

Author bio:

Sophie Armstrong is a content creator for granite and quartz worktop specialists Burlington Granite, who provide a full bespoke worktop solution by offering templating, cutting, polishing and fitting, all driven by 25 years of industry experience