When it comes to kitchen arrangement, the most common mistake that many people make is how they store their clean dishes. Properly storing your dishes not only keeps your kitchen looking tidy but also helps maintain longevity and cleanliness of your dishware. Here, we’ll look into the best ways you can store your clean dishes and why it is important.
Why Proper dish storage Matters?
Storing your dishes correctly is about more than just aesthetics. Here are some reasons why it’s important:
Hygiene: Appropriate storage prevents dust and other contaminants from accumulating on your clean dishes.
Longevity: Correctly stored dishes are less likely to chip, crack or damage.
Efficiency: A well-ordered kitchen speeds up meal preparation and cleanup processes.
Common Mistakes in Dish Storage
Before we look at the best practices, let’s consider some common mistakes that people do when storing their clean dishes:
Stacking Wet Dishes: If one stacks wet dishes there will be water spots, mildew, and bad smell hence possible airborne infections.
Overloading Drying Racks: When you overfill a drying rack for plates, you end up with a lot of broken glasses in addition to plates unable to dry properly.
Improper Shelving: When done without liners or unstable shelving these can lead to slipping and falling off of plates respectively.
Best Practices for Storing Clean Dishes
To avoid these mistakes, follow these best practices for storing your clean dishes:
1. Allow Dishes to Dry Completely
See to it that all the utensils are absolutely dry prior to storing them away. Use a drying rack with enough spaces between each plate or dish or use towels in order to dry them using hands one by one as soon as you remove them from the dishwasher. Alternatively, you may allow for a drying cycle if using a dishwasher or leave the door slightly open to let them dry.
2. Use dish racks and Mats
Buy a high-quality dish rack and drying mat. dish racks with multiple levels can maximize space and prevent overcrowding. Drying mats are also good for delicate items not suitable to be put in racks.
3. Organize by Category
Have dishes arranged according to their types so that they can be easy to locate without any chances of getting damaged. For instance, serving dishes together, putting bowls separately, and keeping glasses apart from cups.
4. Use Shelf Liners
Ensure that your dishes do not slip through by making use of non-slip shelf liners on shelves but this also makes it easier for one to clean up and protects your shelves too.
5. Store at Eye Level
Arrange your most frequently used dishes so that they can be accessed without straining at eye level whereas those less frequently used ones can go either higher or lower in the shelves.
6. Avoid Overstacking
Don’t stack many plates on top of each other since this may lead to cracking or chipping due to excessive weight exerted on the bottom plates.
Additional Tips
Cupboards and Cabinets: Ensure that cupboards and cabinets remain tidy as well as dry always possible by considering glass-front cabinets which keep dust off while maintaining visibility of crockery.
Dish Drawers: You should have some deep drawers; with dish peg boards, the dishes will stand uprightly hence making no noise even though they may shake sometimes.
Vertical Storage: In small kitchens, hanging racks or wall-mounted shelves can help with storage solutions that aren’t normally found in these rooms such as vertical placement options.
Hygienic and efficient kitchens depend on proper storage of clean dishes. Dishware will remain intact and your kitchen will be orderly by avoiding mistakes that are common in this area as well as observing the best practices. Apply these words into action now, see how differently some things can work.
Complying with these principles, a more organized, clean and efficient kitchen space can be achieved. Proper dish storage enhances both external beauty of your kitchen and its durability hence keeping it clean.
