For most of us, the kitchen is the center of our home. It’s where we spend the majority of our time (except of course, when we are sleeping in our bedroom). It’s also the room that everyone sees. At least in most homes, you can not just close the door to the kitchen and hide it.

So why is it that the kitchen is one of the places that we get the most complaints about? The answer is twofold: 1. Too much stuff; and 2. Stuff that does not belong in a kitchen. Over the many years of organizing, I have found that almost everyone has the same items in their kitchen that are taking up way too much counter and cabinet space. Here is a list of items that you should consider limiting to clear some space in your kitchen:

1. Plastic Containers

Get rid of bottoms without lids and lids without bottoms. Purge the “yucky” ones. You know – the ones with food stains and the partially melted ones. If you still have too many, keep in mind that rectangular containers use space more efficiently than round ones.

2. Coffee Mugs

Mugs are a popular souvenir and gift, but how many do you really need? If you are not using them all, but cannot bear to part with them, at least put them somewhere else to free up valuable kitchen cupboard space.

3. Bags

This includes all kinds of bags: plastic, paper, reusable totes. Again, how many do you need? I recommend purchasing a wall mounted bag holder, like the one below {Amazon affiliate link}. Once it’s full, you have enough bags. As for reusable totes, only keep a few if you have specific purposes for them.

4. Water bottles

Two per person should be enough. Use one, wash one. Period.

5.  Vases

Keep one bud vase and one bouquet vase. If you entertain occasionally and need more, store them somewhere else and only bring them out when you need them.

6. Cookbooks

This is where you need to be honest with yourself. How many times do you really reference each book? Do you only actually use one or two recipes? If so, copy the pages that you use and donate the book. Another idea I heard about is to have the binding cut off of the book and have it digitally scanned. Now the entire book can be accessed on your computer.

7.  Eating Utensils and Condiments from Take-Out Dinners

I’ve seen entire drawers devoted to plastic spoons, chopsticks, straws, and salt and pepper packets. They seem to multiply on their own. No one uses them, but you just keep saving them. Just think how nice it would be to free up a drawer to make room for kitchen utensils you actually use.

So what do you think? Does your kitchen have some or all of these items? Do you think you can purge some of these items? If so, don’t think you have to do this all at once. Take 15 minutes, once a day, or every other day and tackle just one of these items at a time. Within two weeks, you will have more space in your kitchen, making it more functional and more fun to be in.