TIP OF THE DAY: Clean Out The Gadgets, Pots & Pans

January 6, 2012 at 8:32 am · Filed under Kitchenware-Tabletop, Tip Of The Day

When was the last time you used the wok? Time to start woking or give it away. Electric wok from Aroma.

A few days ago, we suggested taking time to clean out the spice cabinet.

Now, how about those kitchen gadgets, pots and pans? It’s a great weekend task, and other household members can join in, help and vote: what stays, what goes.

Last weekend we went through our two overstuffed gadget drawers and found three lemon zesters, eight corkscrews, an electric uncorker we haven’t used in the two years since we received it as a gift, six vegetable peelers, a mango slicer that didn’t work for us and a manual egg beater we haven’t used in decades. Oh, and a gadget that turns radishes into roses for crudité platters.

Elsewhere in the kitchen were grungy spatulas among newer ones. Two sterling silver cake servers from a past life of lavish entertaining. Seven bowl scrapers (we don’t use them, but companies keep sending them to us). Plastic containers piled so high, the stacks keep falling over.

Among the pots, pans were much larger space hoggers. Stainless steel frying pans we haven’t used in the years since we switched to nonstick surfaces. Specialty items like the tamago pan we last used around 1990, to make Japanese omelets for sushi. A beautiful like-new double-sided waffle maker—but we’ve given up the pancake and waffle group for protein-focused breakfasts. An electric wok we liked, but out-of-sight-out-of-mind, we haven’t used in a year.

If you’ve got a similar situation, this Tip Of The Day will solve it.

Toss out anything worn or grungy.

Put everything that doesn’t deserve the space it takes into a box. If you’re undecided about certain things, put them in a second “TBD” box. Consider them for a day, then move them into the first box.

Ignore emotions that tempt you to keep Grandma’s egg beater and the pricey juicer you only used once.

Invite friends and neighbors to stop by for coffee and to take their pick. Donate everything left over to a cooking school or a thrift shop.

If you like to organize events and can resist the temptation to acquire things you don’t need, you can host a white elephant party to help your friends donate their excess paraphernalia.

Enjoy the extra space you’ve freed up. We live in a small apartment with no storage lockers or other storage space.

But even if you live with a luxury of space, someone else can enjoy your white elephants.

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