How to Clean and Organize Kitchen Countertops

Having clean and organized kitchen countertops is one of the most important things if you want to maintain a clean kitchen. These tips will show you how to clean and organize kitchen countertops, which will help your kitchen become more efficient and sanitary too!

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Our countertops can easily become a dumping ground for mail, snacks, unused items, food storage, dirty dishes and so much more. When your countertops get piled up with junk, you lose a ton of workspace and it sets a bad precedence for the rest of your kitchen. Only the most used items in your kitchen should occupy your kitchen counters and those things should be sanitary.

How to Clean Your Countertops

• Start by clearing your countertops completely.
• Put any items that belong elsewhere in the place where they belong. Paper (mail, schoolwork, bills, etc. ) do not belong on your countertops. I'll talk more about that later in this post.
• Clean the countertops really well with a warm, damp cloth and a good degreaser. HERE is my Homemade Grease Cleaning Spray if you prefer a non-toxic version.

How to Organize Your Countertops

The key to organizing your countertops is to only place those items that you use the most on them. Some people prefer to keep them as sparse as possible, and honestly as much as I would love to do that, we have a very small kitchen with limited storage space, so I have to use my counters for some things. That being said, the countertop real estate in my home is very important...that means that if something makes it onto the countertop, then it is something that my family uses almost daily.

Set Up Zones on Your Countertops

What I mean by "zones" is, set up areas that function well together. For me, I try to keep my coffee items together. I have my coffee maker right beside our airfryer/toaster oven, and my coffee mugs are housed on top of that. We keep this station right under the area of our cabinets where our glassware lives. The coffee machine is also right beside the sink so that filling the reservoir is convenient too.

Around our sink, I have my paper towels, a rubber dish drying pad, my dish soap, the cleaners I use the most often in the kitchen and a hanging shelf above the sink for hanging scrub brushes. I also have a little stick on holder for my loofah scrubber.

In this corner, I added a lazy susan to house the snacks we eat the most often and our smoothie mixes. I also hung a couple of teacup hooks under the cabinets to hang my measuring cups. Closer to the stove, I have a crock filled with my most used kitchen utensils so I can easily grab what I need while cooking.

On the other side of our stove, I have a marble piece that I use to thaw meats quickly. On top of it I have my Kitchenaid mixer that I use constantly along with the oils, salt and pepper that I use when cooking daily. On the side of my refrigerator, I have a magnetic knife strip to save counter space and so I can easily pick up a knife when prepping meals.

The items that you place on your countertops will most likely be different than the items we have on ours. For example, we don't really use a toaster that often, so ours is tucked away in a cabinet. The key is to only keep the things that you need the most on your counters.

Tips for Keeping Your Countertops Clean

• Make it a habit to put things away instead of lazily sitting them on your countertops to deal with later. I know this sounds harsh, but if you can get in the habit of putting those things away for 1 week, you are more likely to stick to it. If you are really struggling with this, set a time once a day and give yourself 5 minutes to clear them.
• Review and Revise. Every once in a while, you may want to switch things up. For us, we get in smoothie phases...if I find we aren't using the smoothie maker as often, then I will tuck it away and make some more space on the counters. Sometimes you'll also find that moving things around a bit makes better use of your space.
• Make a space in your home for papers that come into your house that doesn't live on your countertops. Mail, bills and schoolwork can clutter up your countertops badly and the truth is, incoming mail is not sanitary. It really isn't something that should come in contact with the same space that you prepare food.

I hope these tips and tricks will help you get your countertops clean and keep them that way!

For hundreds more cleaning tips, check out my Home Cleaning Tips Page HERE!