How to Make Your Kitchen Look Cleaner Than it Is

The kitchen is one of the hardest rooms in the house to keep clean, because of how often is used. Here are some tips I use to help keep the kitchen looking cleaner than it really is!

Clear Counters ~
Clearing off your counter tops is one of the most convincing visual methods of making your kitchen look clean. When your cabinets are clear of clutter, the open sight-line tricks the mind into thinking that your kitchen is larger and cleaner.

Remove everything that doesn't belong on your counter tops. For instance, items that should be in a different room. Then pare down the items on your countertop. I got mine down to a canister set to hold baking ingredients, and minor appliances like the toaster oven. Everything else, I found other places for.

Remove Seasonal Items ~
Similar to the idea of clearing space on your counter top, is clearing out items that suggest your kitchen hasn't been cleaned in awhile. If you still have the Christmas napkin holder on display in your kitchen, and it is May, it gives the impression that you haven't bothered cleaning up the kitchen really well for five months. If you have knickknacks and decorations in your kitchen, either make sure that they don't represent a specific season, or make sure you rotate them immediately when the season they're associated with ends.

Cup Hooks ~
Items you use everyday, such as your coffee cups, can be displayed in a way that looks decorative instead of cluttered. Install a row of cup hooks underneath the upper cabinets nearest to your coffee pot. It gives the coffee cups a place to be when they are clean, and you can even hang them there to dry which clears out space in your dish drainer. In a pinch, you can also hang them up when they're dirty, if you get surprised and you want to clear up your cups before you answer the doorbell!

Spice Rack ~
If you do a lot of cooking, and you need to have your spices handy, you've probably found yourself leaving them out on the counter because it is convenient to be able to reach them. If you install a spice rack on the wall, near your stove, you'll still have them within easy reach, but it will look intentional and decorative instead of cluttered.

Lighting ~
In general, bright areas look cleaner than darker areas. Adding task lighting or under-cabinet lighting to your kitchen will create the impression that the room is bigger and airier than it really is. Mentally, people associate big area spaces with cleanliness. So adding lighting to your kitchen is a great way to give the impression that your kitchen is cleaner than it really is.

Plants ~
Nothing says 'clean healthy living environment' like the ability to keep plants to alive. More to the point, nothing says 'dirty icky kitchen' like the fact that you can't keep a plant alive in there. A small potted plant on the counter or window sill gives the impression the kitchen is at least clean enough for plants to thrive, and if you like to grow herbs this is the place to put them and have fresh herbs available on your counter top.

Of course, if you're not all good with plants, by all means avoid this tip. A dead or struggling plant can all-to-quickly become the center of attention is your kitchen.

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