Pretty much every day...
(On Tuesdays and Thursdays I share a photo and just a few words.)
...this is what my kitchen counters look like when I'm making dinner.
I always wonder if the same thing would happen in a spacious kitchen with expansive countertops. Would my mess expand to fill the available area? Or would I experience that magical thing called Empty Counter Space?
The world may never know.
Oh my...this is me too!! I don't think it would matter how big my kitchen was...I just seem to make a mess wherever I go! lol...
I think kitchen mess just expands to fill all available space! My kitchen has always looked like that, even when I had about five times the amount of kitchen space I have now!
Funny you posted this. Just last night after making dinner I was thinking to myself. Why am I such a messy cook....and then I heard about the newest trend in Kitchen design the other day...Prep Kitchens..it's totally genius...it's sorta like a walk-in pantry but you have all your prep stuff there and when you are done you can just close the door. Yes you still have to clean it later but the mess won't be out there to be seen by everyone...imagine the possibilities.
I moved three months from a place that had a completely open kitchen to my current one where the kitchen is separate. Your photo reminded me of another reason that I love my new place.
Horizontal surface-itis expands to fit the quantity of planar space provided. This is an undisputed law of domestic physics.
In my family, we call it HSSS (Horizontal Surface Stuff Syndrome).
I love this comment x a million.
I personally would then expand to use the space I would have. So for me bigger would mean still more to clean up 🙁
I have a nice sized kitchen but I too have this issue. To rectify it, I've had to make some changes.
1.) Anything that can be put away, gets put away.
2.) Hand dry my dishes to eliminate the drying mat (Bonus together time with the wife 😉 )
3.) I have a nice vintage Costco stool which makes a good makeshift place to put small stuff for a minute.
4.) Top rack of the dishwasher makes a good drying rack when the dishwasher is empty.
5.) Open drawer. Put cutting board on open drawer. Instant extra space!
I went from having 1 countertop to having 3. We filled them up. When my kids were young and at home I was constantly telling them their stuff doesn't not belong there. Now that they are gone I find that I fill them up just as easily as they did. sigh, I did not get the organization gene from my mom.
Our decently sized kitchen never had significant counter space, so we built this kitchen island from metro shelving, (which we already owned) and a piece of Ikea butcher block:
http://thenonconsumeradvocate.com/2010/11/my-island-dreams-dont-involve-balmy-breezes/
It has radically changed the functionality of our kitchen. I know your kitchen wouldn't accommodate such a big piece, but since it's on wheels, you might be able to do something similar.
Katy
P.S. My best friend Sasha has the smallest plainest kitchen of anyone I know. Her stay-at-home husband is a chef, and makes the most incredible food in that less than impressive space. I sometimes think there's an inverse relationship between the amount of space/stainless steel/granite in your kitchen and actual cooking.
Playing off Katy's idea - if a rolling island doesn't work, what about a drop-leaf counter extension? Like the drop leaf of a table, but hinged to some kitchen wall or counter.
Good idea!
Katy
If you don't count the cooker or the sink/draining board, I have about 4 linear metres of countertop. Makes no difference whatsoever. I try to tidy as I go, have a caddy for scraps to go in the composter etc but honestly the place looks like a bomb hit it most of the time.
oops, that went in the wrong place.
Ikea do a wall-mounted drop-leaf table: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80091713/
Love the inverse relationship comment!! 🙂
It's funny, we recently-ish moved from a house with a teeny kitchen and almost no counter space, to a house with a somewhat larger kitchen and twice the counter space. I'd effectively trained myself to keep all my cooking clutter confined to an area about the size of my old countertop, so I rarely spread out all over the kitchen. The one thing that is nice about having the island is that now there is a place to put my big cutting board! I used to find myself moving into the dining room to chop and slice 🙂
I have found it spreads. Or stuff piles up during the day and I find myself cleaning off the counters to make them messy for supper prep. Which is depressing. Its one of my goals, to keep them clean. Still working on that one!
Based on extensive personal experience and anecdotal information, you would not.
I have an island the size of a toddler bed, plus two counters and yet when it's time to cook, I'm wondering where ever I'm going to put all the cooking stuff. ere are some reasons why:
- island includes the sink;
- approx 1/3 of island is home to dirty dishes & roommate's computer + mail;
- kept out on counter: 2 spice racks, knife block, cookbook holder, countertop oven, rice cooker, compost crock, tier of baskets, dishsoap/sponge/scrubber holder;
- half the large island is out of reach.
This is just the permanently-ocated stuff. In addition, all surfaces are clutter-phillic, evidently manufacturing clutter if necessary, to keep itself company.
I've also taken steps to mitigate:
- before a big cooking event, do the dishes or ask roommate to do them (while he does the dishes often enough, his washing schedule isn't always coordinated with my cooking schedule);
- constantly consider what really should be kept on the counters, and where to keep them.
So happy to see I am not the only one!
What's that saying -- "nature abhors a vacuum"? I have a teeny galley kitchen and the counters look cluttered even when everything's neatly put away, but I feel deep in my heart that I could have a kitchen as wide as a football field and still have too much Stuff on the countertops. 🙂 I feel your pain!
wide as a football field! haha! Love it!
I have a lot more counter space than I used to have, and I have noticed that I fill it up pretty regularly. I seem to be getting more canisters, appliances, fruit bowl and dish rack space. And I might be letting the dirty dished accumulate more, which is the real problem. But when it's clean, it's wonderful.
P.S. Kristen, I am reading the book, Cheap, that you recommended recently and wrote this post about it: http://charlottesempire.blogspot.com/2013/09/is-low-price-really-better-price.html
in my experience..... the "work" will expand to fill the space!
I really enjoy your posts and photos, thanks for your insights and candor.
Thank you!
I live in a condo with my husband. We have a small kitchen with minimal counter space. I cook a lot, and when I need more room, stuff just gets piled elsewhere temporarily - bathroom counter, hallway, entranceway, floor, chair....I have run my ice cream maker on the bathroom counter several times and I used to brew kombucha in the living room. My previous apartment had an even smaller kitchen with no oven, so I'm pretty thankful for my current kitchen, even though it's not very large.
I share your same pain and I can tell you from experience if you had a little more room for dinner prep it would not expand to fill the space available. I have a small galley kitchen consisting of 2 8 foot runs. In this space I have a large sink (my choice), a dishwasher on one side. One the an full size fridge and stove with the counter top in between. Yes the old saying of everything in it place and an place for everything is true but there is only so much minimizing you can do. When I have holidayed at my friends they have a normal size kitchen with an island. I feel so comfortable there and no, things do not spread out and take over.
My mom has a huge amount of counter space in her kitchen. I am pretty sure it would just expand 🙂
nope magic doesn't exist, sorry. And yes you would fill every counter and every table space! :O Well, mine is that way anyway, lol. I got school work in one side, radio, toaster, coffee maker, blender, cooking oils/condiments, knives (gotta have the knives), school supplies and Bible, cook books, o and baby drying rack....need I say more?I have more space* but I use only a quarter of the room for cooking :O..............yea....pretty...tight! minus the pretty! But I'm very happy, hahaha! Sometimes I do manage to throw things in our closet when it is very* organized and cleaned out. I have a double closet I use as a pantry. I use that 🙂 But where o where to do the Bills, Bible Studying, etc besides the large dining table.........ugh. I just have to wait to get a nice huge desk. ok....Im done talking, lol
Get a good knife magnet and hang it up somewhere. I say good one, because we moved into a new home in December 2012 and went out and bought a knife magnet and well, it was not/is not a good one and we haven't replaced it yet!
Looks just like my counter when I cook! Actually mine always spreads to the kitchen table too. I'm pretty sure a larger counter for me would just mean more food prep and dishes spread out. 😉
The bigger the space - the bigger the mess (for me anyhow!) 🙂 Thank you for sharing this post!
Wow!! Thats alot of space compared to my kitchen. One wall is a door to out back next to a stove which butts up to the fridge. Opposite wall is sink in cabinet base with 16" of the only countertop space in the kitchen. And thats where the microwave sits. sideways. The only area I have is a free standing butcher block table hats 20"x20". r doing okay. Its just a rental though. It will all change when we get our own place. But prob not. LOL!!
My counter space more than doubled when we moved a year ago. At first, I did all of my cooking in one small little corner. Now, the entire kitchen is a mess while I cook dinner. I often look back fondly on how tidy I used to be when I cooked because I didn't have any space for a mess.
Every time, when I am cleaning up my messy kitchen, yet once again, and I feel as if I can not do it for one more second, I think and realize just how lucky I am just to have that kitchen. With its porcelain stove and side-by-side dual door refrigerator and dishwasher and maple cabinets and butcher block counter tops and free running hot and cold water and stainless steel pots and Le Crueset collection.....nope......my complaining stops right there and then!
How blessed I am to have that kitchen. What an honor it is I get to use and clean it up each and every day!
Ugh, this question plagues me too. My fairly small kitchen never seems to have sufficient counter space, even though we try to keep only the bare necessities. I love visiting my friend at her huge house with the huge kitchen and vast expanses of counter space. I do tend to think though, that the mess would simply expand to fill the extra space. Nature does abhor a vacuum, after all.
I love picture and post! Looks just like my kitchen and I like to think the more you cook from scratch the messier things are. At least that makes me feel better and I never feel guilty about feeding my family!
Yup. New house, big kitchen, twice the counter space of old house, twice the mess.
I try very hard to clear all surfaces after dinner. I do notice that I cook more adventerous meals now that I have room to spread out and my family approves:-)
I didn't know counters came empty 😉
After eight years of living in tiny apartments with tiny amounts of counter space, we bought a house and my husband designed us a new kitchen for it. I told him that the only thing I cared about was as much counter space as possible. So he did that- I now have a ridiculous amount of counter space. And guess what? The mess really does magically expand. There is no Empty Counter Space. It is like how goldfish grow according to the size bowl you put them in.
Empty counter space is ellusive at my house. Doesn't exist! If it does, you or someone in the family will put something there!
In my experience, if you tend towards filled counters, you will fill the available space. If you're like my sister, and really, really good about cleaning as you go, you will experience Empty Counter Space.
I know I never will, except for at the end of the day when I clean the kitchen counters off in preparation for the next day's culinary adventures!
Speaking as someone who has lived in places with 2-3 feet of counter space and others with up to 10+, and now somewhere in the middle...yes, it can spread out to fit! Lol! 😀