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?

Op I don’t know that you need to get rid of most of that, all sound necessary, maybe just put some away if you want- we have toaster, kettle, holder for big utensils, knife holders type thing, bread bin (and a ridiculous amount of correspondence that I can’t figure out what to do with!!)

Ps I put away the George Forman and air fryer and coffee maker

What's a press in this context?

Seriously envious of all
these clutter free kitchens. We have all kinds of crap around

as for DH’s “pile of doom” that is an almost constant presence. I just put it on his chair in his office.

Kettle. Toaster. Microwave. Small pot with a pen, hand cream and cleaning brushes. Biscuit jars. Cat bowels.

if not used daily, it gets put in a cupboard/drawer.

Most of those things just go in the cupboard. Get rid of the mug trees, nobody needs more than 12 mugs!

I only knew press as I lived in Edinburgh for a few years in my 20s. Would nae have a scooby if it wasn’t for that 😉

we have:
bread bin next to toaster one section
Coffee machine / Velvetiser (for hot milk -> coffee) on the other
water filter near the sink but in a corner
fruit bowl and radio on the island

I literally just have my kettle, tea coffee sugar pots, microwave, toaster, two pots for utensils, kitchen roll and a chopping board.

My air fryer, deep ft fryer, rice cooker, mixer, blender are all tucked away in cupboards.

I have what I call the breakfast cupboard where I store cereal, eggs bread, hot choc and squash. Then my ingredients such as seasoning, flour, oil, vinegar, sauces etc are in a cupboard no some sauces in the fridge

Nothing at all now.

new kitchen 6 months ago and I love it.

Theres a small 5m shelf running the length of the worktop instead of cabinets. That houses butter/ salt/ long fruit bowl/ herbs/ flowers/ decorative tea pot.

Built in pantry cupboard now houses toaster, microwave and kettle, so can close the door when not in use and the mess gone.

Threw away anything else that didn’t fit in new cupboards. No junk drawer.

I live how easy it is to clean now. Just one long 5m counter top with sink one end and sunken induction the other. So no grooves or edges either for crumbs.

Interesting. I lived for a decade in Scotland and never heard this. You live and learn!!

Hotel Chocolat velvetiser, toaster, kitchen Aid mixer, and a couple of orchids in the window. Everything else is away and we don't have a kettle as we had a hot tap fitted.

Since writing the embarrassingly long list upthread (which wasn’t even exhaustive!) my kettle area is now down to things I use daily.. coffee and decaf made the cut; tea, sugar and hot chocolate are now in a cupboard as only used for guests, and I’ve repurposed a small basket to keep daily meds and vitamins more neatly. The cookie jar and coffee pod machine are gone (although still in two minds whether to keep or donate), Tupperware has been tidied into a cupboard, and the knife block is next on the chopping block (pun intended!) Just need to figure out how best to store the ones I’m keeping and safely dispose of those I’m not.

This thread inspired me not only to clear more worktop space but also drawers to fit the stuff from the worktops. Still too much out, but I'm thinking of ways to reduce it. Looks so much better and much easier to wipe down.

My inner Monica would be twitching! Our worktops have
Microwave
Utensils pot
Kettle
Coffee machine
Food bin

Other side
Knife block
Chopping boards
Toaster (would LOVE it to live in a cupboard but no space!)
Kitchen roll holder
Notebook for to do list - terrible memory

Watch some Dana K white (of a slob comes clean) you tube videos.

have a rubbish bag & a donatable donate box (ie you can hand the entire thing over to the charity shop)

progress & only progress, so you don't empty drawers/cupboards onto surfaces. So that when you get interrupted/distracted. You leave an area better, not worse, than when you started.

1 get rid of trash/rubbish. Actual 'no thought' rubbish.
2 Put anything away that has a home elsewhere, take it there NOW as you go. Put it as near to where it belongs as you can, ideally removing a piece of trash to do so, or putting something away where it belongs.
3 Donate stuff in the box .

then you just do one space at a time. One work top, one drawer, one cupboard.

her 'thing' is clutter threshold. You declutter until you reach an amount of stuff you can handle. Ideally the house can be tidied in a 5 minute pick up.

her vides is are well worth watching.

personally I like clear surfaces, but I like things 'to hand' as well. Ideally my 'top space' would be shelves, not cupboards, but my house gets very dusty (too near a road!!) and in the kitchen that turns to grime on exposed surfaces like shelves.

so I have my coffee machine, coffee pads in a canister, microwave, kettle & a roll
of handy towel on the work surface, everything else goes inside a cupboard.

occasionally I get very fed up of getting out things used every meal time, so the pepper, tobacco sauce, olive oil & seeds get left on the worktop, next meal I'm happy they're all there, maybe one more, but then it gets to me & I have to put them all away & I feel happier.

I absolutely could not cope with your list of things on the worktop.

I have a kettle, TV and dish drainer on my worktops. I have a small kitchen. Everything else goes in cupboards.

Water filter jug - don't own one
Food processor/mixer - in cupboard
Two mug trees (and more mugs in the cupboard!) - unnecessary. I keep all mugs in a cupboard
Fruit bowl - fruit is in the fridge
Bread bin - don't own one. They are space thieves
Coffee grinder and bag of beans (DH) - in cupboard
Jar of utensils (hefty stoneware thing that belonged to my gran). In cupboard when not in use
Herb racks - in cupboard. They need to be kept in the dark
Scales - in a drawer
Small wooden box of useful bits (library cards, coins for supermarket trolley etc) - in the "random shit" drawer (so named by DD )
DHs pile of who knows what but woe betide anyone who touches it! - in DH's office
Kitchen roll on a stick - ditch the stick and keep it in a cupboard
Tissues - don't keep them in the kitchen
Egg box (wooden thing, not the supermarket packaging) - eggs kept in the box I buy them in and kept in the cupboard
Knife block - knives kept in a drawer. All knives have blade protectors on them
Mug of pens
Blackboard (for reminders, shopping list) - don't own one

Bare minimum here, bread bin, kettle, toaster, soda stream, speaker and coffee machine on a 10 metre run of worktop.

Things like food mixer, instant pot, bread maker come out when I use them.

I don’t eat much bread these days and am planning on making room for the bread bin in a cupboard when I have a minute.

Minimal cleaning required!

Never ever ever put decent kitchen knives in a drawer unless you purposely want to blunt them. A wall mounted magnetic strip is a perfect substitute for a knife block. Herb racks also on the wall provided you're not using glass jars.

I have liquid soap by the sink and that’s all. Toaster and coffee maker are behind a cupboard door along with phone chargers etc and no kettle as I have a boiling water tap. Microwave is built in. Bliss. So easy to clean.

@Summertimesunshineandfizz

if you wanted to you could declutter.

I bet you don't use the vast majority of those utensil in pots.

Do you use all the 'gadgets'?

if you want to declutter watch the Dana k white videos on you tube. She has books too & podcasts.

Do Dishes Daily - Do Dishes First when you don't know where to start.

Never ever ever put decent kitchen knives in a drawer unless you purposely want to blunt them.

You are right @GrumpyPanda. All of my knives have plastic blade protectors on them. We don't even put kitchen knives in the dishwasher. DH is a materials scientist and knows all about how to look after knives.
He is also the chief knife sharpener.

Kettle, toaster, microwave, coffee maker, Alexa. Then the steamer on the gas hob, and a little plastic basket next to the sink for the antibac spray bottle and a pump bottle of hand soap. Sometimes a fruit bowl on the table.

That's when it's tidy. When it's not there can be the air fryer, blender, soda stream, carrier bags, bag of bread, OH's iPad, wallet, keys, junk from his pockets. Dishes waiting to be washed, water bottles, cook books....

When we put new kitchen in, I was ruthless with worktop clutter.
Things creep out but they don't last long before being banished back to their drawer or cupboard.

Once you have a dozen things out, you don't notice when more accumulates then it's doom central

We’ve got:
Kettle
3 canisters for tea, coffee & sugar
toaster
utensil jar
fruit bowl
an echo

If I were you, I’d be looking at getting rid of:
Mug trees, nobody needs that many mugs
Mug of pens
Box of useful stuff
DH’s crap

I’d keep bread, eggs, scales and herbs in a cupboard.

I always used to think I really needed a microwave but I binned it years ago and genuinely haven’t missed it once. They take up so much space!

Tissues - get rid of completely, no need.

Absolutely not. We're a sniffy household. There's a box of tissues in every room!

With the majority on the 'press'. Every day's a school day!