Sassy Mama’s Top 10 Tips to Keep an Organised Kitchen

When you have a million and one things on your to-do list and hungry family members are asking what’s for dinner, the best way to stay on top of your game, mama, is to keep organised and tidy at home! Our organisational series will help you maximise space and time spent cleaning and tidying up at home, so you can focus on what matters most: spending time with your loved ones around the dinner table vs. running around in the kitchen! Here are Sassy Mama’s Top 10 Tips for Keeping an Organised Kitchen: 

1. Lazy Susan
Instead of reaching into the back corner of your cabinet (and risking messy spills along the way!) install one of these handy-sized Lazy Susans, which is perfect for keeping your messy sauces and condiments organised and easy to reach!
Where to find: Ikea has various carousels to choose from 

2. Cookbook/iPad Stand
If you’re like us, your kitchen is the busiest room in the house! A cookbook/iPad stand will make cooking, baking, and everything else easier to manage. Reading your recipe while adding in the eggs and sugar will no longer involve sticky syrup ending up on the back of your device- happy baking, mamas!
Where to find: $430 on Etsy

3. Purchase a Hanging Rack
Your little Hong Kong apartment probably doesn’t have a lot of space for a huge kitchen, so a hanging rack is perfect to save space in your cabinets and hang your pots and pans!
Where to find: Order online at fishpond.com.hk

4. Utilise Drawer Space
Knife blocks take up a lot of space on your counter, plus they’re not aesthetically appealing! Instead, use one of your drawers for a knife tray – they’re more organised and the knives stay hidden from the kids!
Where to find: Pick from a range of trays at Ikea

5. Tea Cup Storage
A tea cup and saucer take up a lot of room in your cupboard, and you don’t want to stack them all up in case they fall and break! A safe strategy is stacking three teacups with saucers underneath each cup.

6. Make a Recipe Binder
This is an easy one! If you ever find a recipe out of a magazine that you love, don’t let it get splattered by sauce or lost in cleaning! A simple three-ring binder can solve all your problems. Slide the paper into a clear protector and add it to the binder. You’ll have your own recipe book in no time!
Where to buy: Sam & Co, 38 Stanley Street, Central, Hong Kong; Yat Fat, 2/F, Yat Fat Building (on the corner of Des Voeux Road and Li Yuen Street West), Central, Hong Kong

8. An Extra Shelf
Having 16 water glasses is great for hosting parties, but not so great for storage space! This simple trick will cut the amount of space you need in half: place a sturdy tray on top of your first row of upside down glasses. Then simply add the next row of glasses on top of the tray (upside down also)! So easy you can’t believe you didn’t think of it yourself, mama!

9. File your Containers
Searching for a lid to your Tupperware can be the most frusturating thing… it has to be in that drawer somewhere, right!? Buy a plastic divider to place inside your drawer: Tupperware goes on the left and the lids go on the right, making storing leftovers a breeze. No more digging through the drawers, mamas, an organised kitchen is here to stay!

10. Pantry Hanger
Our pantries are packed full of snacks, pastas and treats for the kids, and we bet yours is too! Make it easy to find the cookies your little one is begging for with an over-the-door organiser with see-through pockets. The hanging structure has over 20 pockets to put the items that are always a pain to find; alternatively, go for a hanger without pockets for larger items. Plus, they save room on the pantry shelves so there’s less clutter for mama!
Where to find: Ikea (it’s meant for shoes…shh!)