When moving to a new home, one of the most important tasks to consider is moving into your kitchen. After the bedroom, the kitchen is arguably the most important room in your home. It can serve as your base of operations or a reprieve from the rest of the house, which is probably still in disarray. Getting your kitchen organized brings you one step closer to settling in, and you get to make meals out of it besides! Here are some crucial steps in moving into your kitchen.
The first step is to take stock of the kitchen space. There is a good chance that your new kitchen is laid out differently from your previous one, so get familiar with it as soon as possible. This will help you maximize space and efficiency.
Go through each area of the kitchen and figure out what items you will need most often. Dishwashing solution and hand washing soap should go near the sink for instance, and spices and herbs should go near the stove. Don’t think about being too fancy just yet. You really need only a few of the basics to knock out simple meals, which should be enough to keep you going for the first couple of weeks.
Prior to moving out, you should already have boxed up your kitchen stuff, with all the items grouped according to their use in the kitchen. Dishwashing supplies should go together for example, while condiments should go together, plates and cutlery should go together, and so on. When you get to the new house, it should be much easier to unpack everything and place them where they need to go. This should help you divide up the entire move into more manageable tasks, and prevent you from being overwhelmed by a mountain of boxes in the middle of your kitchen.
You will also need to sort through your food items and figure out what you can keep and what you could–or should–throw away. Perishables should be thrown out of course, but you don’t necessarily have to throw out everything in your fridge. If you hold off loading up your fridge on the day of the move, you should be able to keep using it until then. Any consumables that you want to take you with you can then simply be packed into a box for easy unpacking later on. This will save you the hassle and cost of having to head out to the store whilst in the midst of packing, and you are assured of something to eat when you get to your new home.
Consider taking most of your canned foods and spices with you when you move. Anything that you don’t plan on using can be given away to a food drive in your community, but you can easily take the rest with you. Keep in mind that you will probably have to buy some more of the same items when you get to your new home, so anything that you can salvage will be put to good use.