So you?ve moved to Spain to live the simple life, the problem is you?ve got so many things that su casa is beginning to look a little cluttered and nowhere more so than the kitchen.
Don?t panic; follow our 5 easy steps to obtaining a clean, tidy and simpler way of managing everything in your Spanish kitchen.
1.?????? Store your things where you use them
The most basic way to make a kitchen simpler is to arrange equipment such as whisks and blenders so that everything is stored close to where you use them. For example, store dishes next to the dishwasher and pots and pans next to the stove. This will make your daily life in the kitchen much more relaxed as well as making it easier for you to identify the things you?re not using on a daily basis, they may even be things you may not need at all and therefore you can think about storing them elsewhere.
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2.?????? Design storage from the inside out
To make your kitchen work more efficiently, you need to pay special attention to the inside of your storage cabinets and drawers, particularly if you have no intentions of gutting your kitchen and instead settling for a simple, low budget upgrade. ?Consider each storage unit in terms of what goes inside and how you?ll need to access it then think about adjustable or roll out shelves, draw dividers and tray divers for things like pastry cutters.
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3.?????? Think drawers, not cabinets
Cabinets can too deep which often means you?ll have a lot of wasted space and crawling around on your hands and knees to look for things stored at the furthest end can put strain on your back so consider replacing your cabinets with pullout shelves or drawers instead. This is a perfect way to store heavy pots, pans and mixing bowls.
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4.?????? Create a message centre
If your kitchen is big enough, create a space for communication. So instead of throwing your car keys on one of the kitchen worktops, why not make pegs to hang the keys on? And instead of writing notes to your other half when they?re out and leaving them around the kitchen (looking untidy) put up a wipe-clean memo board so you can also write down things you need to remember or even recipes.
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5.?????? Feng shui your kitchen
Incorporating each of the five elements somewhere in the kitchen is said to generate harmony and balance. Between the sink and the cooker, water and fire are already covered. Stained wood cabinets or wooden beams on the ceiling can take care of the wood element and if you?re missing metal, consider something as inexpensive and basic as a stainless steel container on one of the work surfaces. If you?re stuck for ?earth? ideas, a ceramic bowl would work, especially if you have a typically Spanish styled kitchen.