Kitchen worktops - clutter or essential items?

[notlisteningwithmother]

What items do you leave on your kitchen worktops permanently?

We have a kettle, toaster, microwave which are in daily use, but also (based on a grumpy cleaning-related tally last night):

Water filter jug
Food processor/mixer
Two mug trees (and more mugs in the cupboard!)
Fruit bowl
Bread bin
Coffee grinder and bag of beans (DH)
Jar of utensils (hefty stoneware thing that belonged to my gran)
Herb racks
Scales
Small wooden box of useful bits (library cards, coins for supermarket trolley etc)
DHs pile of who knows what but woe betide anyone who touches it!
Kitchen roll on a stick
Tissues
Egg box (wooden thing, not the supermarket packaging)
Knife block
Mug of pens
Blackboard (for reminders, shopping list)

No wonder it always feels cluttered / messy. I can feel a weekend project coming on, although that might need to start with clearing out cupboards. How harsh should I be?

Water filter jug - fridge
Food processor/mixer - in a press
Two mug trees (and more mugs in the cupboard!) - how many mugs do you need? Donate! Or store some in the attic if you need large numbers for random large gathering
Fruit bowl - not really another option unless the table
Bread bin - so long as the bread is actaully in the bread bin - unlike one house I know where the bread sits on top of the bread bin.
Coffee grinder and bag of beans (DH) - in a food press or where the rest of the tea & coffee and mugs live
Jar of utensils (hefty stoneware thing that belonged to my gran) - the stoneware jars sound fab - leave the essential items but don't have them crammed. The rest goes in a press
Herb racks - in a press
Scales - in a press. Is it massive? replace with small flat one?
Small wooden box of useful bits (library cards, coins for supermarket trolley etc)
DHs pile of who knows what but woe betide anyone who touches it! - Bin!! Or his bedside locker
Kitchen roll on a stick - get a wall attached or under an upper cabinet attachment
Tissues
Egg box (wooden thing, not the supermarket packaging)
Knife block - my knives are in a drawer
Mug of pens - keep one or two and bin
Blackboard (for reminders, shopping list) - mounted on the wall? Off the counter

On my kitchen surface I have
kettle
coffee maker
toaster
bowl for crap like pens, keys etc

What is this press that you keep mentioning?

Is it slang for cupboards or a pantry?

3.5m worktop run: Food processor - clear space - range cooker - clear space - small radio & TV in corner.

2x2 cupboard corner space: small food waste bin, toaster, kettle, wooden chopping board in corner, sink & draining board.

Utility room has a purple plastic box for recycling at one end and a smaller plastic basket for bits of washing at the other.

My kitchen surfaces have very little on them. Coffee maker, phone and lamp

I have a utility room where all the shite is stored.

Press is an old Scottish word for cupboard. I think it might have Gaelic origins.

Be brutal. Very brutal.

Kettle is thee only thing I leave out (but would leave toaster out if used daily, microwave is integrated).

Water filter jug - fridge
Food processor/mixer - cupboard
Two mug trees (and more mugs in the cupboard!) - one, mx, if you really really need instant access to your mugs. Then cull the rest of your mugs. Brutally.
Fruit bowl - OK, ill allow that
Bread bin - cupboard
Coffee grinder and bag of beans (DH) - not a big coffee drinker so I'll allow this but beans away
Jar of utensils (hefty stoneware thing that belonged to my gran) - drawer
Herb racks - they go off if left in sunlight, cupvoard
Scales - unless very ornamental then cupboard
Small wooden box of useful bits (library cards, coins for supermarket trolley etc) - drawer of doom
DHs pile of who knows what but woe betide anyone who touches it! - drawer of doon
Kitchen roll on a stick - cupboard
Tissues - get rid of completely, no need.
Egg box (wooden thing, not the supermarket packaging) - keep if you must kalthough my eggs live in the fridge)
Knife block - drawer
Mug of pens - chuck the crap ones out, spare in the drawer
Blackboard (for reminders, shopping list) glue this to the inside of a cupboard door.

Kettle
Toaster
Airfryer
Jug full of kitchen utensils
Spice rack
two Victorian cake stands that I have fruit on
Bean to cup coffee maker
TV control

I have six blue and white jugs on my kitchen windowsill for purely ornamental reasons

What is this press that you keep mentioning?
Is it slang for cupboards or a pantry?

In the context it is written - what do you think it might mean?
It's a cupboard.

Unnecessarily knobish answer 🙄

We just have a kettle, toaster and salt/pepper mills out! Everything else is either in cupboards, the pantry or in the utility

I would have a meltdown with all that on the sides OP.

I have kettle, toaster, blender and knife block. And that's too much for me haha.

I’ve never heard of a press either! I keep the surfaces as clear as possible as don’t want the cleaner to have to waste time moving things about. We have a kettle, toaster, utensil pot, steel oil pourer, knife block, mini food processor (I use it a lot!). We do have a separate side board which has a coffee machine on. Fruit bowl is on the table.

Kettle. Toaster. Pot of pens and pot for cooking utensils. Fruit bowl. Hate clutter.

I was wondering WTF is press as well?

Nothing on mine.

I have my kettle, toaster and coffee maker inside a press a bit like this one

Just to clarify I wasn’t saying the question about the press was knobbish I didn’t know what it was either. Just realised quoting a person responding to a quote can be confusing!

Yeah this would give me the rage.

One corner next to range air fryer, plant, decorative plate for keys / phones etc. 1m surface

Utensils and salt pig right next to range

Opposite corner next to range - tray with microwave, kettle, coffee machine. Toaster on top of microwave. Clear 2.8m surface

Island - fruit bowl and flower jug

Knife rack is magnetic and on the wall

Mugs, coffee, cleaning stuff, bread, herbs etc etc all in cupboards. I was putting the air fryer away but it gets used so often it's pointless.

I do have a big kitchen plus a small walk in pantry though so more storage to hide clutter. Love that, @Trivester

I also didn't know what a press was. I thought maybe it was a pantry or a dresser? I just had no idea there was another word for kitchen cupboards.

A press is a cupboard. Not sure about Scottish but certainly in Ireland. In Ireland we have kitchen presses and a hot press which is an airing cupboard.

Jar of utensils next to hob
instant pot
kettle
stand mixer
toaster
microwave
knife block
bread bin
glass jars of of pulses/grains
mug tree
And on the windowsill we have a radio and tea canisters. I find it weird when there’s nothing out, it looks too sterile and seems annoying to have to keep moving appliances in and out of cupboards all the time.

We have:

Kettle
toaster
fruit bowl
bread maker (I might put this away in a cupboard in future but not sure where exactly it would fit at the moment)
soda stream - in constant use
3 jars but these are decorative

on the windowsill there are 2 plants.

We have a lot of work surface space so it looks fairly clear.

Utensil jar, egg bowl, tray with DH coffee grinder and Aeropress, microwave. Everything else put away. I need clear surfaces!

It's hard because I really think it depends on the size of your kitchen.

In my current house, I'm lucky to have a lot more space than I used to have, so not much out on the worktops (toaster, kettle, butter dish, salt pig, fruit bowl, some recipe books).

In the old house space was much more limited so there was a lot more out.

It depends on size of kitchen and style to some extent.
Ours is small and we are short on cupboards, so we've had to sacrifice a corner to water bottles and medicine boxes.
Otherwise it's utensils, kettle, toaster and breadbin. And the chopping board and granite board. I couldn't be doing with all those little doodads like herb racks, mug trees, egg storage. Have you even space to make a cup of tea?

There's a balance between having some interesting accessories and useful-but decorative things and just clutter.

Be harsh I'd say!