The post Tips and Tricks to Avoid Kitchen Clutter appeared first on The Belden-Stratford Blog.
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Kitchen clutter takes away from the enjoyment of the heart of your home. After all, the kitchen is where you likely spend the majority of your time. In your apartments in Chicago, you’re surrounded by the best features a kitchen can offer. Why not make the most of them by avoiding kitchen clutter with these useful tips?
Keep Only Essentials on the Counter
There are certain kitchen items that you use on a daily basis. These include things like spatulas, knives, stirring spoons and spices. Keep these in a large open-mouthed jar on the kitchen counter. Store all other items in drawers and cupboards. If you have appliances that you use on a daily basis, such as a blender for breakfast smoothies or a toaster oven for late night snacks, keep these out on the counter to save time. Otherwise, store kitchen appliances away where they won’t add to kitchen clutter.
Clean Up After Each Meal
One of the most common causes of kitchen clutter is the leftover mess after making a meal. Be sure to stay on top of cleanup. Put away condiment jars after making a sandwich. Put dirty dishes into the dishwasher after a meal, or wash soiled dishes immediately. Arrange sink supplies such as cloths, soap, and scrubbers into a neat area by the faucet. The sooner you clean up kitchen messes, the easier they will be to soak up with a sponge or dishcloth.
Don’t Use the Kitchen Counter as a Desk
Finally, avoid using your kitchen counter as if it were a desk. Paper clutter from mail and junk mail can make your kitchen counter less inviting to make a meal. Instead, place a table near the front door to catch keys, mail and your purse if relevant. If you don’t like the idea of a whole table, hang a wicker basket near the front door to corral keys and mail, so they don’t end up on your kitchen counter.
These are some useful tips to avoid kitchen clutter in your Chicago apartments, although you’ll likely be able to come up with a whole lot more once you see available floor plans. For more information or to schedule a viewing, please contact us today.
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Whether you’re preparing a meal for your family in our apartments in Chicago or making food for your own enjoyment, using the right knife for the job at hand is important. Your knife toolkit should include these essential blades, which will ensure you’re able to create every dish with accuracy.
Paring Knife
The paring knife is the shortest knife on this list. Standard paring knives usually measure between 2.5 and 4 inches in length. Their short, sturdy body makes paring knives perfect for peeling fruits and vegetables, making small cuts, deveining shrimp, coring tomatoes and trimming.
Bread Knife
The bread knife has teeth with serrated edges, making it ideal for sawing through bread. It is also effective for making long slices through tomatoes without crushing this delicate fruit.
Chef’s Knife
This all-purpose duty knife is the most important tool in your kitchen. The chef’s knife typically has a wide blade, leaving plenty of space between the handle and the work surface. It is generally heavier in weight than other knives, making it perfect for crushing garlic and chopping vegetables and fruits. You can use a chef’s knife to chop, dice, mince or slice. Sizes of chef’s knives vary from between 8 to 10 inches.
Cleaver
The cleaver is a short-handled knife with the broadest blade that you will find in kitchen knives. It is heavy and large, and it is typically used to chop meat. Its sturdiness also enables it to easily chop through bones.
Fillet Knife
The fillet knife has a thin, narrow blade, making it the perfect solution to filleting fish. You can also use this to cut thin slices of tender meat.
Boning Knife
Use a boning knife to remove bones from meat when you want to preserve the shape and structure of the meat. Boning knives have very narrow blades, which are sometimes curved. The curvature of the blade helps the cook to follow the curvature of the bone structure in the meat.
Be sure to outfit your kitchen with these essential knives, which will provide you with the right tool for every food-prep job. To see the high-quality kitchens in our Chicago apartments, contact us today!
The post Cut Out Mistakes With These Kitchen Knife Essentials appeared first on The Belden-Stratford Blog.
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