Rethinking what we keep on our kitchen counters
Up until recently, we stored our toaster, tea kettle and blender on our kitchen counter all the time. It made sense because we used these items almost everyday. So it was convenient to keep them out and ready to be used.
It wasn’t until Joshua Becker, (www.becomingminimalist.com) challenged my thinking about what we choose to keep on our kitchen counters. He suggests keeping everyday small appliances like teapots, coffee makers and toasters out of sight. We think it’s convenient to store these items on our counters when in reality, it only takes a few minutes to toast a piece of bread. Therefore, the remaining 23 hours and 57 minutes of the day, your toaster is sitting on your counter unused and just taking up space. We often think we use these items more than we really do. After thinking about his perspective, it made me want to test it out and see how I felt putting these items away.
A little experiment
We first started by putting away our blender, then our tea kettle and finally the toaster. Initially, it felt like a bit of a to-do having to take these items out and put them away, but now that i’m used to it, I really like having those small appliances stored out of sight. We were able to find space in our cupboard below the counter where they originally sat. Our counters now look cleaner and it’s definitely a lot easier and quicker to clean up now that there isn’t anything to wipe around or under. Our toaster used to create so many crumbs and a bunch would always be hiding underneath it. So it feels really good to see a clear and clean space where it once was crumby and cluttered. It’s also been interesting to notice that we haven’t used our toaster nearly as much as we used to. If we have something we want to toast, we have instead been using our top oven which has a toaster function on it. Here are some pictures of what our kitchen looked like before and after, now that we have a nice spot to store these kitchen items.
Give it a try and see how you feel
I’d like to invite you to take a closer look at what you are currently storing on your kitchen counters. Are you open to trying a little experiment as well? If so, remove an item or two and store them where you have some space. I guarantee your kitchen will feel more spacious and open with more room to breathe. You’ll even feel more motivated to keep the clutter off of your counters regularly and enjoy how fast you can wipe those counters clean!
