How To Make Your Kitchen Low Maintenance
As it is commonly known, houses take a lot of upkeep. Kitchens are especially hard to keep tidy and organised, considering how often they are used – on a daily basis.
So, it is useful to know a few ways in which this maintenance can be simplified to make life that little bit easier. This article will give you a number of tips which you can act upon and start implementing today, so that you will have a clean and organised kitchen in no time…
Get smart with your storage!
One of the best ways to keep your kitchen organised is to think about different storage options which will help make your life easier.
For example, you may want to install a roll-out drawer to store your pots and pans. This will make it a lot easier to store different sized pots and their lids, as you won’t have to reach to the back of a cupboard in order to select the pot or pan you wish to use. Pull-out units are also great and work in the same way for things such as tins or herbs and spices.
You may also want to purchase an island for the centre of the kitchen, which can come with storage capabilities. The extra space to store items will mean that you won’t have to keep anything on your kitchen tops, which means less clutter and more space to prepare meals or use for other purposes.
Opt for durable worktop materials
If you want to keep your kitchen as low maintenance as possible, then it is definitely worth your while to make sure you purchase a highly-durable worktop. One of the best materials to go for is granite, as it can endure extremely high temperatures without spoiling.
Granite is also scratch-resistant and although it is very coarse in its natural state, it can be polished up to a nice shine so that it looks pleasing to the eye. Easily cleaned too, it only needs to be wiped down with warm water and a mild detergent to make sure that it is ready for its next use.
Purchase some easy-clean pans
It is highly likely that you will be cooking regularly in your kitchen. However, with cooking comes washing up! This means that the type of pans you choose with determine how long you have to spend with the fairy liquid after preparing your meal.
One of the most popular materials is non-stick pans. These are great because they won’t allow food to stick to the bottom of the pan. They are also great for cooking low-fat dishes as they heat up quickly and require hardly any fat when cooking. The only downside to non-stick material is that it is generally not dishwasher safe, so you will have to wash it by hand or face your pans getting ruined more quickly.
If you want pans that can go in the dishwasher, try stainless steel. However, be aware that these can be heavy and not great conductors of heat.
Carefully consider your flooring
Different types of flooring will require different levels of upkeep. If you want to keep things easy, then it’s best to opt for a type of flooring which only requires damp mopping and make sure that it doesn’t have any grout lines.
Ideal materials to try for a simple upkeep include marmoleum, linoleum or sheet vinyl. Large format tiles are also a great option because they have less grout lines, which means that they won’t need to be scrubbed as much. They are also waterproof, so won’t ruin if something is spilt on them.
Think about the layout
When you are thinking about keeping your kitchen as organised as possible, it is important to carefully consider the layout.
For example, make sure that your sink is right next to the dishwasher, so you can easily give plates a quick rinse down before putting them into the dishwasher. Why not try having open shelves above the dishwasher too, so you can directly add some of your cups and plates onto them.
Make sure that the dishes and cups you do put on these shelves get used often, however, otherwise they may get dusty.
Invest in specially-adapted kitchen paint
Compared to normal paint, specially-adapted kitchen paint is water-resistant, which means there is much less chance of mildew build-up as well as peeling of the paint. This is important as kitchens usually get quite steamy during cooking. Kitchen paints will also usually uphold during scrubbing, which will mean you will be able to clean the walls if anything dirties them.
Once these measures are put into place, you are sure to have a kitchen that’s clean and tidy and stays that way too.