Holidays are the best time to spend time with family and friends. During this time, there is a lot of activity in your kitchen, and it can be stressful to organize your kitchen. You have to think about cooking, managing children, entertaining guests, and many more activities.
Instead of stressing too much, why not get organized? Because your kitchen will be the central activity hub, it is best to clean everything up and organize your kitchen to ensure it is accessible.
No matter what holiday you are preparing for, there are different things you can do to ensure your kitchen is more efficient and ready. Some of them include:
9 Ways to Get Your Kitchen Ready for the Holiday Cooking
No matter what holiday you are preparing for, there are different things you can do to ensure your kitchen is more efficient and ready. Some of them include:
1. Declutter
When your kitchen is messy, it becomes hard to do chores. You’ll have to keep your guests waiting as you get everything ready. With a clutter-free kitchen, meal preparation will be enjoyable, and you won’t spend much time.
You can start by decluttering the countertops. The less items you have on your countertop, the more space you will have. Also, you have to declutter spaces like the pantry and your fridge. If you have time, don’t forget to declutter other kitchen appliances and gadgets so they can be easy to access.
Ensure your kitchen is streamlined as much as possible so you can find easily everything you need for holiday cooking. To ensure you declutter your kitchen thoroughly and get things done quickly, work on one area at a time. Avoid tackling too many areas at a time.
2. Organize Kitchen Drawers
Kitchen drawers are crucial for organization. Organizing the drawers increases efficiency in your kitchen. They make it easy to find what you need without having to disorganize everywhere.
If your kitchen has old or broken drawers that need to be replaced, it is best to contact a professional to replace them with drawers that suit your needs.
Other than improved efficiency, organizing the drawers increases safety. You can reduce the risk of accidents by storing sharp items in a safely dedicated compartment.
In addition, well-organized drawers give you a more attractive and neater kitchen. You will always remain confident any time a family member or guest steps into your kitchen.
3. Sharpen the Knives
Sharpening your knives is another crucial way to prepare for holiday cooking. Most homeowners take this task lightly, but it is very important. Preparing food with blunt knives is time consuming and frustrating at times. Before you get set for holiday cooking activities, ensure all your knives and sharp tools are well-sharpened. To avoid injuring yourself when doing this task, follow all the safety guidelines. 
4. Use Labels
When organizing things in your kitchen, using labels is one way to do it. Labels enable you to organize and identify items, making it easier and timesaving to find what you need. Still, the labels can help your friends and family members know where items should be stored, keeping your kitchen neat.
Labeling items in your kitchen can be a good way to maximize efficiency in the kitchen, especially if you have other people in the kitchen who haven’t worked in your kitchen before. Using labels is more helpful when you have many shelves or have a pantry with bins. It is easy for people to forget what is in the containers if they don’t have labels, forcing you to buy more duplicate items.
Therefore, to make operations in your kitchen more efficient, ensure all the essential items are well labeled. By having all your items labeled, there will be easy identification of items, better organization, reduced food waste, meal planning, and best of all, keep your kitchen visitor-friendly.
5. Create Zones
Another perfect way to make your kitchen ready for the holidays (and every day!) is creating zones for various needs. When your kitchen is organized into specific zones, there will be streamlined workflow, more efficiency, and cooking becomes more enjoyable. Creating zones in the kitchen is helpful especially if you will be having many hands in the kitchen, who may not be familiar with the kitchen.
Keep similar items together, ensure appliances are near where they need to go when in application. In addition, use your best judgement to create zones that will enhance smooth workflow in the kitchen. The goal of creating different zones is to have a well-organized space that supports different tasks involved in holiday cooking.
6. Hang Supplies
Hanging the most essential kitchen supplies in plain view will help anyone visiting your kitchen find anything they need with ease. Hanging your pans, pots, cooking utensils, and other kitchen tools helps you utilize all the available space.
When most of your kitchen essentials are stuffed in the drawers or stored in the oven, it will be hard for someone to find something, especially if they are new in your kitchen. This leads to time wasting and disorganization.
Before you implement a hanging system, factor in the available wall space, the weight capacity of the racks or hooks, and aesthetics that match your kitchen décor.
7. Look for a Spice Rack
When preparing your kitchen for holiday cooking, don’t forget to add a spice rack. A spice rack ensures there is better accessibility, organization, and a touch of culinary inspiration. A spice rack saves you the frustration of wasting time trying to find the necessary spices for your meal. It can be stressful when you don’t have what you need or can’t seem to find it.
Throughout your holiday meal preparation, you will need different spices. Even though keeping things in the cabinet or pantry might be a good idea, you will still need a spice rack to keep everything in its place.
There are different types of spice racks you can try, from DIY-style ones to the premade racks, that are easy to install. Add a spice rack in your kitchen, and you will enjoy more organization and save time when cooking.
After getting the spice rack, label all the spice containers to avoid confusion and make it easy for your visitors to find what they need. Still, organize the spices by type or use. In addition, rotate and check the expiration dates to ensure the spices are fresh.
8. Eliminate All the Bulky, Unused Appliances
Removing all the bulky, unused appliances in the kitchen is an important strategy for creating a functional and visually appealing cooking environment during the holidays.
You can hold onto the small appliances, for example, the microwave and the toaster if they don’t take up much space. However, if you have appliances like the pasta maker or air fryer that are only used once in a whole, it is good to remove them. Removing unused appliances will prevent valuable space from being wasted.
If there is an appliance you don’t use often, eliminate it and only bring it in when needed. Therefore, decide which are the most important appliances for your kitchen and remove the ones that are taking up space for no reason.
9. Double-Check the Safety Mechanisms
During the holidays, your kitchen will experience a lot of traffic. To ensure it is safe for everyone visiting it, you need to have safety measures in place. If you will be having many children coming in and out of the kitchen, ensure everything is childproof to prevent unnecessary accidents. You can set aside an area outside the kitchen for children and pets to play in. All the plugs in the kitchen should be covered and take glass items away from table edges.
Moreover, look at the first-aid kit and replace all the missing materials. It is better to be ready because you never know when an accident will happen. Ensure the fire extinguisher, CO2 detector, and smoke detector are all in good condition.
