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Clutter-Free Kitchens–Wotta Concept!

GAZE UPON these cleared kitchen counters. Revel in them. I, the self-proclaimed Queen of Kitchen Clutter (three-year-old House Beautiful magazine, anyone? I’ve got it right here!), salivate when I see clean spaces like these. And I appreciate the tips included in this Houzz piece, written last week by contributor Laurie Gaskill, I really do.

But when you’re afflicted with ADHD of the clutter sub-type, it’s really, really hard to follow through . . . on much of anything. And so the coffeemaker sits under the wall-hung paper-towel dispenser next to the new loaf of bread and the dog’s glucosamine chondroitin pills. With MSM (dog owners will understand).

But there’s one suggestion hidden in plain sight in at least four of the kitchens featured, a movement I’m thrilled to be a part of: pot drawers! Instead of (admittedly cheaper) cabinets beneath kitchen counters, where you will have to stand on your head to find anything, pot drawers allow you to slide those puppies open and gaze down onto . . . everything. Pots, yes. Sauté and fry pans in another drawer, along with lids. A deep drawer for all my kitchen towels (note to self: How many kitchen towels does one household need?). A drawer that contains all the accouterments for baking, including the pastry docker and the once-every-10-years-or-so cannoli-shell forms.

These drawers make me so happy that when I gaze despondently at the wreckage strewn across what should be seven running feet of clear countertop, I simply open one of the pot drawers and soothe myself with the order within. Cheating? Yeah, okay. But it keeps my mental health healthier.

—Nancy McKeon


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