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I used to open cupboards and have things fall on me. I’d try to put pasta back in the cupboard and have to stuff it in there because it was too full. I would repurchase items I already had because they were in the back of the cupboards and I had forgotten about them. 

That was until I started to massively declutter our home and simplify our kitchen. 

Now I can easily find everything that I need. 

Everything in my kitchen is something that I truly use and need. And it takes way less time to tidy and clean my kitchen. I’m not saying it’s always clean, just that it’s so much easier to keep on top of it now.

So here are 20 things your kitchen doesn’t need.

Keep reading below or watch the video:

1. Appliances you don’t use

I used to cook in a slow cooker years ago, but then I realised that in the last few years I haven’t actually used it much. I would see it in my cupboard, and I would think, ‘I should make a recipe with that slow cooker since I have it’. But it was never my go-to thing, and I wasn’t enjoying using it anymore. It was just gathering dust in my cupboard. So, I decided to let it go.

I also had a sandwich maker that I was actually avoiding using. It was so hard to clean! So I decided to get rid of it too.

Do you have any appliances you’re avoiding using, don’t like to clean, or you’re just simply not using as much as you thought you would, like a waffle maker or an air fryer? I know some people love an air fryer, some people have it, and some regret buying it. 

If you are holding on to appliances you don’t really use, this is your sign to let them go. 

2. Extra spatulas

I used to have many spatulas, though I didn’t need that many. I can only cook so many things in one go. And I do have different ones that I use depending on what I’m cooking. So I got rid of the rest.

If you find that you’ve got loads of them too, your drawers are full, and you don’t actually even know what’s in there, it might be a good time to look through them and see what you actually need and use.

If you’re unsure about them, pack up some of them in a ‘decide later’ box. In a few months, see if you missed them. If you didn’t, that’s a good sign you can sell or donate them.

3. Countertop bread bin

I would say my kitchen is an average-sized kitchen. It’s not massive, but it has plenty of space for us. And I used to have one of those big, bulky bread bins that would take up so much space on my countertops. I eventually decluttered it.

Now that I’ve cleared up the counters, we have a lot more workspace when I’m cooking something and I need a lot of area to work with. Plus it’s so much easier to clean.

 Maybe you have one bread bin that you can let go of, too.

4. Lots of decor on the counters

I used to have lots of decor items: a little fake plant here, little items and knickknacks there. Over time though I realised that those things don’t need to be on my counters. If I want any sort of decor, I will either put it on a wall or in a different area of my house. I want the kitchen countertops to be as clear as possible.

If I wake up in the morning, really groggy (for example when I wake up at 5 am with my baby), and I spill a bunch of milk all over the counters, I don’t want to have to remove 30 items and have to clean them up in order to get my counters all clean again. I want my counters to be quick and easy to clean, and now they are.

5. Knife holder

Another thing that can be bulky and take up space on the counters is a knife folder, like the ones they always show in horror movies. 

I personally only have three cooking knives, made of stainless steel, from Ikea. They do the job perfectly, and I keep them in our cutlery drawer. Depending on how much of a chef you are, you might need more or less.

6. Loose lids and pieces

Do you have a lot of loose lids and pieces? All these tiny items that we don’t use frequently are something that shouldn’t really be in our cupboards anyway. 

For example, I keep the little baking items, like the icing and the little cookie cutters, in one basket. They don’t have to be mumbled in my drawer and take up space in my daily area. I don’t bake that often, so I don’t need them on hand all the time.

7. Food storage containers

How many food storage containers do you have? Hands up, I used to have way more than I really needed.

Nowadays, I have lunch boxes for my kids that they use for their snacks, and all the other food containers we have and use are glass ones. We try to avoid plastic as much as we can, even though it’s not 100% possible, but it’s about making changes here and there where we can.

The glass containers that we have are from Ikea and some of them are Pyrex. The great thing about them is that I can cook in them, as the Pyrex ones can go in the oven. I can use them to store food in the fridge. I can also use them to reheat food in the microwave and eat out of them, saving me some washing up as well.

8. Fruit or vegetable holders (for banana or avocado for example)

I don’t actually have these, but I see them on Amazon all the time: holders that are for a very specific purpose, like a banana, onion, or avocado holder. Little plastic things that you’re supposed to put the leftover of a fruit or a vegetable inside.

I feel like these items are a bit unnecessary, plus it’s extra plastic. Instead of these, we just use some aluminium foil when we need to wrap something up and put it in the fridge (although 99% of the time, we simply use our glass containers for any leftovers or fruits). 

9. Lots of pots and pans

How many do we realistically need? Probably not as many as we think. 

I’ve got two pans. One is a smaller one that’s mostly for pancakes and eggs. And one is made of stainless steel and I use it for everything else. 

And then I’ve got a tiny pan for one fried egg. Is it super necessary? Probably not, but I love making eggs in the morning in this pan, that’s my daily breakfast. And this tiny pan is the perfect shape and size for one egg.

When it comes to pots, we really need to think about how many hobs we actually have on our cooker. That’s usually four. We are probably not going to cook any more than that at any given time.

In my kitchen, I have four pots, all stainless steel and different sizes. They’ve got the lids in the same cupboard as well. And then I’ve got a ceramic one that’s just slightly bigger for when I want to cook a bigger batch of soup, stew, or something like that. 

So just think how many pans and pots you realistically need and feel free to get rid of the ones you don’t use. 

10. Clean glass jars (from jams or desserts)

Jams or little desserts that we buy from the shop often come in glass jars. Once the products have been used or eaten, we often feel bad about throwing the empty jars away, thinking, ‘It might be useful one day.’ 

If you are crafty, you can save those jars in a special place or a container where you keep all of your crafty things. You can also use them in your kitchen to store sugar or coffee.

But if you don’t really use them, if you’re keeping them just because they’re cute, and you have a cupboard full of glass jars or they’re floating all over your cupboards in the kitchen, you can let them go.

Remember, we buy things like these all the time. If you do need a glass jar in the future, you can always go and buy a jam, and then you’ll have the glass jar you need.

11. Lots of mugs

If your cupboards are overflowing with mugs, it might be a good sign that you can go through them, pick your favourites, and get rid of the rest.

Here’s something I learned from the ‘Minimalista’ book: think about how many people you would host at your house and would want a hot beverage at any given time. That’s the number of mugs you need.

In our case, we have around 12 mugs, and that’s plenty for us to put in the dishwasher as I don’t necessarily hand wash them after every use. We can go a whole day without doing dishes, without needing extras. And if we have guests over, there are plenty of mugs for us to use.

So, pick your favourites and let go of the rest.

12. Excess travel bottles 

You may or may not have too many travel bottles. I know I used to have too many. 

We now have one water bottle per person, and they’re all Ion8 stainless steel bottles. Then we have one coffee travel insulated mug, and that’s about it. We don’t need more.

Feel free to get rid of the bottles you don’t really use and keep the ones you do. 

13. Extra plates

Just like we did with the mugs, think about how many people you would host at any given time. That’s probably how many plates you need, probably even less if you have some special Christmassy ones, for example. You can store those away as you don’t need them in your daily cupboards all the time. 

For us, we have a set for eight of each of these: a big dinner plate, a side plate, and a deep bowl (for pasta or soup). That’s all the plates that we need in our cupboards. 

14. Spices you don’t use

Years ago, I used to always look on Pinterest for recipes, and I would buy all of these spices for one meal. Afterwards, I wouldn’t really use the leftover spices for any other meal. Yet I would keep them because they were in my kitchen. And this led to an overflowing drawer full of spices that I didn’t actually use.

My advice? Think realistically about what spices you like and use frequently, and get rid of the ones that are a bit dusty.

15. Overflow of tins, sauces, and packets

I don’t really buy a lot of pantry items like tins, sauces, rice or pasta packets. And I do have some extra tins of beans and tuna, for ‘emergencies’, when I don’t know what to cook one day, but that’s all.

I don’t bulk buy either as that would add more to my mental load than I can carry right now. I just want to have what I need and use, and what I’m going to cook this week, and that’s pretty much it. I don’t want to have an overflow.

If you are bulk buying, just be realistic about how much space you have to store those products. Also, make sure you have a good organising system so that you know what you have and use it before it expires. 

16. Excess cleaning products

I used to have so many cleaning products for every single purpose and for every single surface. Then I realised that I don’t really need that many.

Nowadays, I have two main cleaning products that I’ve been using for a long time now, and both are Purdy & Figg. 

One is a general surface spray that I use for pretty much anything – mirrors, kitchen counters, doorknobs, whatever it might be. The other one is a bathroom spray, which I use for the sink, shower, and bathtub. 

The only thing I have extra is a toilet cleaner, but the two Purdy & Figg are the main ones that I grab and clean all around the house. 

As it turns out, we do not need to have an undersink area that’s stuffed with products in order to have a clean house.

17. Lots of kitchen towels and cleaning cloths

How many kitchen towels do we actually need? 

I have two hand towels that we use for wiping our hands when cooking, or for wiping the plates. And then, going along with that, we’ve got cleaning cloths that I store on the inside of the cupboard door, and they’re kind of colour-coded: the blue ones are for the toilet and bathroom, and the rest for any other surface.

18. Rug

Because I’m in a busy season of life, I don’t have time to be pulling up rugs, shaking them off all the time, hoovering, mopping, and then putting them back on.

I’ve got a baby in a high chair who always likes to throw food on the floor, so I definitely don’t need anything to add to the cleaning process. I prefer the kitchen floor to be rugless because it’s quicker and easier to clean. I just hoover, and then that’s it.

19. Paperwork

If you’ve got paperwork in your kitchen, that’s something that can actually add to your stress levels a lot. Surfaces piled with papers can raise our cortisol levels, the stress hormone. 

If you find that you or your family members are coming in and the first thing they do is pile on paperwork on the kitchen counters or the dining table, then it might be a good idea to create a system. Have an ‘inbox’, a place where all those things can go.

We have a basket in the living room where all the artwork and school stuff that my son brings home from school go.

We also have a letter holder in the hallway, so we’ll pop in there any mail piece that needs to be addressed. Any junk mail goes straight into the recycling, and that’s it. We never have paperwork piling up on our counters.

20. Cables lying around 

I used to have my phone always charging on the kitchen table, with cables stringing down the wall. Then I realised that I don’t actually need to have any of those cables lying around in the kitchen. 

What I did, and this is probably the highest level of adulting I’ve ever done, is I used a drawer under our TV and turned it into a charging station. 

In it, I use a letter holder to keep my laptop, iPad, phone, and anything that goes in there to charge. All of the cables are nicely organised in there, and this charging station helps with the clutter so much.

I hope this was helpful. Let me know, in the comments below, what you’ll be decluttering in your kitchen, I love hearing from you!