We spend a lot of time talking about what you should have in your homes, but what about those cardinal sins that can ruin a perfectly curated space? How do you know what you need to avoid? By reading our articles, that's how! Today we are turning our attention to the kitchen and giving you a comprehensive list of items that should never be found in your food preparation area. Kitchen planners will be the first to agree with this list and we like to think that you'll see the logic too, so let's dive in and rectify those kitchen no-nos that you might already have in place!
They might look pretty, but unless you know you're going to eat all the fruit you have out on display, you run the risk of spoiling items smelling bad and attracting pests, such as flies and vermin, into your home. You really don't want that!
A kitchen island is meant to be a practical addition that extends the amount of workspace you have to use, not a pretty floral display area! There is a very real danger of you knocking vases off, if a rogue vegetable slice goes astray.
Recipe books are a handy reference material, but if you start hoarding tomes that you never use, you'll quickly loose large portions of cupboard and worktop space. Just keep the ones you use the most handy and archive the rest!
Bread makers, panini grills and stand mixers are all wonderfully handy, but don't leave them out on show unless you use them every day! They will simply swallow up your entire worktop and make it impossible to carry out basic food prep!
If it doesn't directly contribute to a pleasant and easy kitchen experience then it shouldn't be in there! That's the golden rule. Little cute ornaments are wonderful, but we've yet to find a viable excuse for having them in the kitchen.
If you bought some exotic ingredients on a whim but have never used them and know that you never will, throw them out and don't replace them! There's no harm in sticking to what you know and like and you'll reclaim a lot of shelf space!
If you have some fancy silverware, lucky you, but don't keep it out on display! Silver quickly tarnishes and needs re-polishing and even something as simple as pungent cooking odours could necessitate a spruce!
Plants are beautiful and many varieties really thrive in a kitchen environment, but don't go too overboard! It might be best to limit yourself to a few useful herbs to start with as they'll stick look amazing, but also serve a function.
We all have our favourite saucepans and cooking pots and we rarely use any others, so let's just accept that and start storing the remainder of the rest elsewhere! It's good to have spares on hand, but if you don't ever seem to need them, then put them out of sight!
Your kitchen is a room that requires your full attention, otherwise accidents can and will happen, so try not to have reading material laying around. If you get distracted and have an accident, you know you'll have nobody else to blame!
If you have collected a wealth of baskets, jugs and other 'handy' kitchen items, it might be time to have a clear out. Take whatever you don't use regularly to a charity shop or recycle it and enjoy having some extra storage space back!
They might look lovely, but carpets are not only a trip hazard, they are also a fabric accessory that will draw odours into the fibres and keep them there for all eternity! If you don't want a smelly, stain-covered accident waiting to happen in your kitchen, ditch the carpets!
We all have kitchen knives, but just for safety purposes, we really think they should live in a drawer, as apposed to out on display. This is doubly important if yours is a family home with inquisitive youngsters, as you can add safety measures to your drawers that make them impossible for little hands to open.
For more decorating advice, take a look at this Ideabook: What NOT to do when decorating your small bathroom.