Streamlined kitchen with plastic storage baskets
Advisor on Organizing Storage and Concierge for Straightening Up
Mayumi Nakayama, inbloom, Inc.
Having appeared on programs such as Fukaii Hanashi on Nippon TV and Asaichi on NHK, Ms. Nakayama is an advisor on organizing storage who is in the spotlight right now. Featured in a great many other TV shows and magazines, Ms. Nakayama provides simple storage tips, as a storage pro, conducting storage seminars, offering suggestions on and supervision of the arrangement of rooms in apartments, and more.
Points in organizing the kitchen
Basically, you should get rid of goods that you are not using. When you use the space that you free up to store things, it is much easier to take things out and put them back, and in turn the efficiency of cooking improves dramatically. If you want to reduce the time and effort needed for housework, the key point is to narrow down the goods that you use, and for the items that you just can’t bring yourself to get rid of or that you are not sure whether to keep or get rid of, it is a wise choice to keep them in trunk room storage space.
～Do you have any of these items?～
- Food that is long past its expiration date
- Excess kitchen tools
- More than a five-year supply of plastic wrap and aluminum foil
- Pots that haven’t been used in so long that you can’t remember the last time
- Convenience goods that you bought going along with a trend
- Disposable chopsticks and plastic spoons that you think you might use one day
- Plastic tableware that you bought in bulk as a set at a big box store
Three main points in selecting plastic storage baskets
1. Choose square shaped baskets
Baskets with rounded corners or tapered bottoms create wasted space, which reduces the amount of storage space available. It is a good idea to select storage goods that are perfectly square.
2. Choose white baskets
You will store items of various colors in the baskets, so by uniformly selecting white baskets, it will be easier to see what is inside, and the appearance of the baskets will also give a clean and tidy impression.
3. Choose baskets with the proper measurements
No doubt there are surprisingly many cases when storage goods that you looked at and thought “I think this will fit,” ended up being the wrong size, and went to waste. Although it might seem like a hassle, be sure to measure the things that you want to store and the places where you want to store them, and bring a tape measure along when you go shopping for storage goods.
Key points for kitchen storage
～Pots and pans～
Do you have stacks of pots and pans piled high?
Then it must be annoying when you can’t quickly take out the ones you want to cook with.
- Carefully and sternly select only the pots and pans that you “frequently use”
While you may have an array of pots and pans, you actually use only a surprising limited number of them. If you carefully and sternly select just these few to keep in heavy rotation, it will be much easier to take them out and put them away, and you can greatly reduce the amount of time it takes to cook.
- “Standing storage” that you can take with one hand is the decisive factor
When you stand pots and pans up to store in file boxes and the like, you can take them out with one hand while you cook with your other hand, with no stress.
I used these boxes
A4 size stocker box
Stocker boxes designed for keeping files have substantial height and depth, so they are convenient for use in standing up and storing frying pans and lids, lighter pots, and the like.
These boxes are also useful for storing liquid seasonings and plastic bottles.
Various tips on closet storage
～Cutlery and kitchen tools～
There are many types of cutlery and kitchen tools, and they tend to quickly get mixed up in the drawers.
In order to make sure that they do not get lost, make hard and fast rules that these tools are clearly and properly sorted with partitions.
- Sort them properly with square baskets
Many kitchen drawers are equipped with partitions that have rounded bottoms and corners, the partitioned portions are shallow, and the storage space is limited, so the tools inside them easily get mixed up and the functionality is not good. The wise choice is to get rid of these partitions and use plastic baskets instead.
I used these baskets
Kitchen trays (slim/wide)
These are simple plastic cases that are available at 100 yen shops (equivalent to dollar stores) You can move the partition plates among slots two centimeters apart and adjust the location to fit the items that you want to store in the cases. The ease in washing these trays is another nice feature for kitchen storage, as the kitchen gets dirty easily.
～Storage in high places like wall cabinets～
It is tough to get things from and put them back into high places. If you blindly stick things into these places, they are out of your field of vision, and they tend to end up in dead storage.
The key point is how to make access easier!
It is useful to create personal sets according to the type and purpose of use, such as dried food sets, retort (boil-in-the-bag) sets, bento lunchbox sets, confection baking sets, and the like.
- Storage containers with handles that are easy to take out and put back are recommended
The key point for high places is to select storage goods that you can grasp firmly with one hand.
It would be ideal if you group things for storage and label them.
I used these containers
Wall cabinet stocker boxes
With a handle firmly attached all the way to the bottom, stocker boxes give you an excellent sense of stability when you hold them. Stocker boxes cost about 500 yen, and you can find them at places like hardware stores or home improvement centers. Stocker boxes are great for storage regardless of the location—not only in the kitchen but also in storage rooms, closets, and hallway storage—and they are excellent for storage in high places as well.
Advisor on Organizing Storage and Concierge for Straightening Up
Mayumi Nakayama, inbloom, Inc.
Director of inbloom, Inc (Director of the Operations Department for Organizing Storage Services)
After more than 30 years of living in an untidy home, Ms. Nakayama suddenly encountered an “organizing storage” concept and overcame her problem from childhood of not being able to throw away or put away things.
With inbloom, Ms. Nakayama launched an organizing storage business based on this experience, and she conducts organizing storage services and seminars for private homes and corporations as well as offers suggestions on and supervision of the arrangement of rooms in apartments. She has made numerous appearances in the media.
【Books】
Shueisha: Putting your Mind in Order through Rules for Putting Away and Rules for Discarding
Shogakukan: Tidying Techniques for Men who Add to the Collection and Women who Never Throw Things Away