We’ve made it to week 4 of the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge. This week, we’ll take advantage of that space we’ve freed up in our kitchen cupboards and drawers over the last couple of weeks. Today, we organize and declutter the kitchen counters. 

So far, we’ve decluttered under the kitchen sink and cleared out our kitchen drawers and cupboards. How’s it going? Do you find it easier to work in your clutter-free kitchen? Well, it’s about to get even easier!

This post was originally published in January 2021 and updated in January 2024.

What is the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge?

In this year-long journey, we’re tackling one task at a time with the goal of cleaning up and organizing our homes. If you’ve just joined us, no worries. You can jump right in with this week’s challenge. Just check out the first two posts in the series to download your free checklists.

• 52-Week Decluttering Challenge
• Week 1 – Easy Decluttering Checklist

You can get easy access to all previous weekly posts on the main Decluttering page.

Are you ready for week 4? Let’s get decluttering!

Week 4 – Declutter the kitchen counters

Countertops are an area where I disagree with a lot of decluttering purists and experts. They will usually tell you that countertops are not for storage. Some of them even go so far as to suggest you put things like your toaster away in a cupboard when you’re done with them. What? That makes absolutely no sense to me. While I like the idea of clutter-free counters, there is a limit. I won’t be putting my toaster, or other similar items, away in a cupboard for a couple of reasons.

• I don’t have a cupboard big enough for some of these items.
• From an efficiency and time-management perspective, I question the wisdom of putting things away that you use every day.

The desire for clutter-free countertops also contributes to the need for a junk drawer. In our haste to clear the clutter off the countertops, we hastily throw everything in a drawer. Out of sight, out of mind.

So, while I’d like to reduce countertop clutter, I will continue to leave some items out on display, either from a pure utility and handiness perspective, or because the knick-knacks on the window ledge make me smile when I look at them.

Here’s a picture of my kitchen counters before my latest decluttering exercise. They were actually not too bad.

This week’s decluttering and organizing tips

For me, as I set out to declutter the kitchen counters, I realized it was more of an exercise in organizing than decluttering. Most things on our kitchen counters are there because we use them often. But I do have a couple of ideas and tips to control the countertop clutter.

• Put things away when you’re finished with them! In her book, Decluttering At The Speed of Life, Dana K. White calls this “procrasticlutter”. These are things that require no decisions, like the basket of clean laundry waiting to be put away, or the kitchen gadget you used earlier today that’s still sitting out on the counter.
• Assemble a “breakfast basket” (or it could be a lunchtime or snack-time basket). Let’s face it, we all like stress-free mornings. With that in mind, I used to leave my breakfast items—tea balls, smoothie straws, tea caddy, etc.—out on the kitchen counter for easy access in the morning. I decided to try something different and put everything I need for the morning in a basket and put it away in a cupboard. I first followed Marie Kondo’s advice of using existing containers and used a fruit basket from the market. This worked well for me, so after a few months I replaced that basket with a washable, plastic basket from the dollar store.

What I got rid of/changed

As I mentioned, for me this was more of an organizing exercise. Here’s what I changed.

• Got rid of some paperwork and expired coupons from the caddy on the side of the fridge.
• Threw out or relocated some miscellaneous small items that were sitting in a bowl on the counter.
• Created my breakfast basket and put it in the cupboard.
• Found a spot in the cupboard for my “paperless” towels.
• Moved an empty Sodastream canister to the cupboard.

There are a couple of items that I would have liked to find a new home for but ended up leaving them out on the counter:

• Sodastream: It’s taller than any of the shelves in my cupboards so it will have to stay where it is.
• Breadmaker: Another large item that I don’t have a cupboard big enough for. But I use it a couple of times a week so I’m okay with leaving it on the counter.

As for the kettle and toaster, we use them multiple times every day so they’re staying where they are.

And…of course, I can’t forget this week’s candidate for strangest or most useless item. I found the police report from when my daughter’s phone was stolen…in 2016! I somehow think we won’t be recovering that phone anytime soon.

Let’s keep in touch! Join my mailing list and I’ll email you when I add a new post.

2024 Update

It has been three years so I’m rebooting the 52-Week Decluttering Challenge to see how much I can get rid of in 2024.

Again, this was more of an exercise in organizing than decluttering. However, this time I did find a spot in one of my cupboards for the bread-maker. I don’t use it as often as I used to, so I’ll get it out when I need it. (As an aside, if anyone has a great whole wheat bread recipe for a bread-maker, let me know!) In total, I decluttered 10 items from my kitchen counters. Things definitely look much neater now.

Although there are a couple more kitchen tasks on our 52-Weeks of Decluttering and Organizing checklist, it’s time to move on from the kitchen. Next, we’ll begin closet decluttering—an area that I know is a big problem for many.

If you have friends or family members who could benefit from a little less clutter in their lives, please share this post and spread the word!

How did you make out decluttering the kitchen counters this week? Tell us below.