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?

I wish I had as many cupboards as most of you seem to have! I have out kettle, toaster, coffee grinder, 3 stone jars of utensils, large ceramic bread bin, 2 spice racks, knife block, scales, bread machine, stand mixer and food processor. Nowhere else to put any of them.

We have

Kettle
Herb/spice rack
Utensil holder thing
Knife block
Microwave
Blender - done use this that much but it's tall and inconvenient for the cupboard
Coffee machine
Coffee bean pot
Small container that holds the reusable wipes I use instead of kitchen roll
Oil/salt/pepper next to the hob
An Alexa
A small bowl where I store onion and garlic - like a fruit bowl but not fruit.

We have a fruit bowl on a sideboard in the living room.

We have

Fruit bowl
Utensil / sponge holder next to sink
Pile of misc paperwork
Coffee machine (retro style, mainly decorative tbh as it only makes espresso)

That’s it.

I have some.serious kitchen envy now!
You've told me what I needed to hear (and see) I think, and there are some excellent suggestions here. No point in fiddling around with one corner - time for a major rethink.
I'm going in to start by clearing out cupboards in the hope that this makes space for the 'keeps' that are worth having to hand but could be tucked away. And then time to be harsh on the quantity. Mugs have just accumulated over time but when will we ever provide tea for 26 people?!
DD is up for the challenge. She spent the first days of the holiday clearing out her room ready for painting it, and realised how much space she actually had in there.
Accountability thread now - I'm out of excuses.

Permanently we have:

Kettle
Coffee Machine
Wooden free standing paper towel holder

I am a minimalist though.

Before I had my kitchen refitted I had very little work surface space and what I did have was always cluttered.

I had a huge clear out, everything now fits in the cupboards and I just have a kettle/toaster/bread bin/mixer and fruit bowl out permanently. It feels so lovely especially as the remodel gave me much more work surface too.

Permanently out we have the kettle and coffee machine. On the Island there is a Bluetooth speaker and a couple of plants.

Everything else is in cupboards. Although I appreciate having the space to do this!

Couple of potential ideas.

We put an extra shelf in the cupboard with the mugs in so I could fit 2 layers - we don't need them all but I like them all 🤣. Did the same in the cupboard with tins in.

Also put my microwave and bread machine into the larder cupboard with an electric socket.
There is enough room to lift the lid on the bread machine, so we don't have to move it out to use it.

Microwave would ideally be a smidgen lower, but we are all tall so it's fine - and I can actually see into it which you can't on the counter.

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

I’m pretty sure it is English in origin but has just fallen out of use in most of the rest of the UK.

Google tells me it's used in Ireland too. And my heads just been blown by Cup-board a place for holding cups!

OP, if it's any consolation, I am looking at my worktop now. It houses:

a broken tap (the bits of which might come in useful one day)
a sandwich toaster
oven gloves
microwave
various bottles of olive oil, vinegar etc
A wire rack of unknown origin
kettle
toaster
jars which might come in handy for making jam
pot of pens
various 'can't decide' bottles
some books
some magazines
A mountain of random paper (mine)
a fruit bowl filled with random crap that isn't fruit
a straw hat
a pair of socks which aren't actually a pair
a long-armed stapler
a dustpan
four pots of paint and some brushes

Is your kitchen very much the hub of the home, open plan?

Things like tissues, fruit bowl, I put in my dining room. Also you could put other non-cooing things there like shopping list, mug of pens, 'nifty bits' and DH's pile of crap.

How much wall space (or sides of cupboards) do you have? Mounted spice rack? Kitchen roll on the wall or could you put it on one of those under-sink nifty cupboard storage things?

Totally essential. Less to clean.

Coffee maker, toaster, tea and sugar caddies, salt and pepper, hand wash. I bought a stove top kettle so that was off the counter top too.

Knife block (drawers ruin sharp knives)
Kitchen roll rod + kitchen roll
Bluetooth speaker
Fruit bowl (keeping one on the table is against the law)
Hand soap dispenser

Everything else pack away in the todana (old Japanese word for cupboard, in case anyone was wondering why I couldn't just call it that).

I have:

Tons of plants
Kettle
toaster
mug tree
fruit bowl
microwave
Water filter jug
laundry stuff
Tray with oils on it

I have a teeny kitchen but I don't consider these things clutter as they're functional uses of the kitchen (apart from the plants!). The piles of recycling I have in the corner are though.

Would love to move microwave, but nowhere else for it go.

Kettle; tea, coffee and sugar jars; medication; jug of juice (all in one corner to left of sink).
Toaster; toastie maker (should be in a cupboard); pod style coffee machine (not used in ages - should give away or at least put away); blender and mini food processor; biscuit tin (rarely used as biscuits are usually in the cupboard!); scales; assorted Tupperware and utensil pots (all in one corner).
Microwave; most regularly used bottles of oil, etc; chopping board (although I do have a home for them there is usually one out); kitchen roll (all in one section, on the back half of the counter so the front is useable).
Then the top of the fridge and freezer is covered as well, although this is legit storage I think as there’s no worktop there so it’s not otherwise useable.
I think I also need a clear out!!

coffee machine
kettle
toaster
tea, coffee, sugar all in containers
butter dish

this is already pushing it for me.
I hate clutter

Coffee machine, kettle, bread bin, microwave, air fryer, decorative utensil pots x 2, kitchen roll holder and fruit bowl.

Small kitchen with terrible layout. Currently saving for a new one!

I have kitchen roll holder, coffee machine, supplements in a dish, sink caddy, cooking utensil caddy, knife block and air fryer down one side. Then the other I have a cook book rest, mixer, blender, toaster and fruit bowl. I have a MASSIVE kitchen though so loads of space. I also have ADHD and if something is out of sight it's out of mind and I forget I have it, and will buy another/struggle on without the gadget

It’s in Chaucer.

kettle, toaster , Nespresso on a pullout drawer with the capsules : used every day. Magimix because it is too heavy to lift in and out of cupboards. Steel bowl with onions and shallots and garlic as they go manky in the fridge. Glass pan rests either side of the hob, large wooden chopping board, but that’s really part of the work surface. Steel bowl for small rubbish, peelings etc which saves miles of traipsing to the bin.

oil jars and salt grinder on windowsill beside work top.

Space savers: You can buy blackboard paint or blackboard sticky back plastic. I have it on the back of the kitchen door, chalk on a chain holder. Hook and rail under all cupboards hold every form of tool known to woman, including the lemon zester and the melon baller, even the scales and the discs for the magimix hang up, thus freeing drawer space.

I can’t stop the other kitchen user having two massive bottles of mineral water on the island, though.

I try to be strict with the worktops because I hate cleaning its so much easier to keep them clean if you're not moving things in order to wipe.

We have:
Kettle
Coffee maker
tea/coffee
Filter jug (jumbo one which will fill the coffee maker in one go but is therefore too big for fridge)
Bread bin
Fruit bowl
Kitchen roll (we do have a wall mount but often too lazy to put it on there)
Microwave
Compost caddy

Can I just say that this thread has totally inspired me to declutter my kitchen counters?!
Re press.. I always had it in my head as a freestanding unit or sideboard.. didn’t realise it could be used for a built in cupboard.

I used to have cluttered worktops, but earlier this year, we had a kitchen installed after more than ten years with just a table, cupboard and sink. I have been ruthless in getting rid of stuff, so that everything fits in the cupboards and drawers without Jenga stacking. I do have an open shelf under a cupboard that houses the microwave and a Quooker tap, so no kettle.

I would love all worktops to be empty, but am determined to limit to airfryer, salt and one pot of spatulas etc near cooker. Breadmaker (used daily and too tall for a low cupboard) and coffee machine in corner. One small 'tray' was washing up liquid and scourer.

Four mugs on hooks. Rest in cupboard. Oils, spices etc in cupboard on a Lazy Susan near cooker. Bread bin on shelf (also has butter in it) that has the mug hooks underneath. Eggs in fridge (just get out ahead of cooking) Fruit bowl in different room. Magnetic board on fridge. Ideal world, I'd have it all out of sight now.

Airfryer
Big wooden chopping board
toaster
Large jug of implements - spud masher, cooking spoons, fish slice, ladle etc
Kettle
Coffee maker
Milk frother
Coffee, tea, sugar jars
Butter dish.
Would like less but it's not too bad.