Hook
your dish towels up with some good holders
09.02.05
Dear
Kathi,
I need to find a new system for organizing my kitchen dishtowels.
What should we do with slightly dirty dishtowels still in
use so that family members will not use them for hands or
drying clean dishes? They are not dirty enough to throw in
the wash but too dirty to use for clean dishes.
Peter, Leucadia
Peter,
Hang two hooks. Use one for the soiled tasking towel and one
for the super clean towel for dishes and hands. Educate your
family members to think in the pattern of clean hook, dirty
hook. Smaller children, and everyone, will benefit from a
visual cue.
Hang a sign by each hook in the beginning of this re-education
process to help everyone remember which hook to use. Label
one hook clean, one hook dirty. You probably only need to
post this sign for the first thirty to forty days. This is
typically the time that it takes to develop a new habit.
Once everyone automatically knows which hook is clean or dirty,
they will hang the proper towel on each hook. Make sure they
are aware that the clean hook towel is the only option for
drying dishes and hands.
Another option is to use a different color of towel for each
activity. Keep only two colors of towels in your kitchen.
White is the obvious choice for the clean hand-drying towel.
Use an alternative color for the towel that supplements the
cleaning process.
You could also keep the cleaning towel under the sink on it’s
own hook next to the cleaning supplies. This method provides
visual hints that each type of towel has a different purpose
based on where it lives.
Your family will automatically reach for the convenient visible
towel for everyday drying hands and dishes. They will also
learn that they should reach for the towel by the adjacent
cleaning supplies to begin a clean-up job.
Some people prefer to use a towel for drying and a sponge
for wiping up messes. To each his own, there is no perfect
way. The key is to find the solution that you will use consistently
over time with the least effort.
Dear Kathi,
I live in a small cottage and don’t have enough drawer
space for my silverware and knives. I need more storage space
in my kitchen. What strategies can you suggest to optimize
my small kitchen?
Liana,
Liana,
Try to use whatever wall space you might have available. Most
kitchen walls are not optimized to their full potential and
are a great place to create more storage space.
Consider using a magnetic strip attached to the wall to hold
your knife collection. These strips are available at IKEA
and other kitchen stores. They are easy to hang and will easily
hold over 10 knives. Additionally, they are very functional
and keep your knives at hands reach. Mount this magnetic strip
above the area where you typically cut your food.
You could also use a knife block if you have ample counter
space. Knife blocks often take up too much real estate in
small kitchens with limited counter area.
For your everyday silverware, there are containers with sections
that will mount on your wall or sit on your counter. Try to
find one that has five sections so your soupspoons, coffee
spoons, salad forks, dinner forks and knives have their own
respective homes.
More often than not, these containers are metal or plastic.
I use a stainless steel basket that sits on the counter. It
takes only 2x7 inches of counter space. After a lifetime of
using an entire drawer for flatware it is amazing to see what
little space is really necessary to contain my everyday silver!
If there is a large wall by your stove or your ceilings are
high enough, hang a grid with hooks for your pots and pans.
Having your pots and pans at arms reach is really convenient
and you benefit with extra space to store the items that can’t
be hung; blenders, crock pots etc.
