Counter Culture

How many appliances do I need on my counter? This is one of those questions that can only be answered by getting to know each client individually. If you’re the type of person who only bakes a cake when it’s your child’s birthday, then maybe you don’t need the mixer cluttering up the space where you could be eating a nightly slice of store-bought cake.

The first question to ask yourself about which appliances to keep out and which to store in your precious cabinet space is how often do I use it? If the answer is anything less than twice a week, store it away. Assuming that your kitchen doesn’t have a Narnia-like portal to endless cabinet storage, then you might want to consider having a place in another room — say, a garage or shed — where you can have a specific shelving unit for appliances that you use once a month or less. I would love to say that I whip up homemade ice cream on the regs, but the fact is, I don’t. The ice cream maker is in my shed (I don’t have a garage)

There’s nothing wrong with being a person who gets a store-bought cake for your kid’s birthday. It’s important to be honest with yourself, though. If you’d like to be a person who needs their mixer at a moment’s notice to whip up shortbread cookies every time the doorbell rings, then that’s a separate aspiration from simply figuring out how to declutter and calm your space.