Designing The Perfect Kitchen

A kitchen is the heart of the home; it is where we prepare and cook family meals, gather at celebratory events and also where our trusty kettle resides. It's no secret that a new, well-designed kitchen can add value to your home, but investing in some gadgets or nifty kitchen storage can also be worth every penny if you are intending to spend the rest of your days at your current address.

Whatever the size of your kitchen, having a well organized space will encourage you to cook more and spend longer making dishes you enjoy for yourself and your family. It helps take the stress out of preparing meals and creates a clutter-free zone for all of your pots, pans, condiments and fresh ingredients.

Pullout larder drawers prevent items from being lost at the back of shelves and being left to go out of date. They are easily fitted onto runners that attach onto shelves and act as a metal sliding rack for you to pull in and out of your cupboard. Built for ease, they ensure that you can see all of the items on your shelf, avoiding multiple purchases and food waste.

Shelf liners are a cheap way of smartening up the inside of your cupboards, drawers and kitchen shelves. Wipe-clean, PVC rolls are available for under 10, meaning that you can effectively preserve the life of your cupboards for pocket money prices.

Another option is to purchase some plastic cupboard organizers. Polypropylene caddies are superb for storing loose tins, jars and packets which are usually hard to reach and create chaos in your kitchen cupboards. Always select boxes made for the job, with a handle to easily grab and a height of at least six inches to fit most sauce jars.

Tin foil and cling film are notorious for creating kitchen clutter. Dispensers are now available which hide the rolls within crafty compartments and have tidy slide cutters. For the ultimate compact storage item, search for an item such as this which also holds kitchen roll, greaseproof paper and spice jars.

It may seem an obvious suggestion but investing in a set of tea, coffee and sugar jars can really straighten up your worktops. Binning the branded packaging and selecting some jars which are in-keeping with your kitchen interiors will keep your products fresh as well as out of sight. Some ranges have coordinating bread bins and biscuit jars should you wish to expand on this idea even further

Despite most fridges coming with an inbuilt holder, eggs are best kept at room temperature for baking. It is handy to have an egg keeper to use when bringing your eggs to the ideal baking temperature. This will prevent them rolling off the side, onto the floor and cracking. Egg keepers are also a fantastic novelty-but-practical item for the breakfast table, some sets include toast racks and are a neat way of serving up boiled eggs and toast for the family.

Getting your worktops and cupboards in order is a step in the right direction for kitchen organization. However, sometimes further space is required which can be dealt with by the purchase of a trolley. These often have fitted cupboards as well as wine racks and drawers for your added convenience.