Cluttered Counters Stressing You Out? Banish These 5 Things ASAP to Feel Better

Whether you realize it or not, that cluttered countertop is stressing you out. There's a mental strain that comes with seeing a surface full of too many random things. Clear, organized kitchen countertops not only ensure you have enough space for food prep, but they also lighten that mental load.

It's time to take a hard look at what occupies the precious real estate that is your kitchen countertop. Get tough about what is important enough to earn a place on it. To start, banish these five categories of items from your countertops ASAP.

1. Packages of Food

It's tempting to leave the packaged foods you reach for daily, like bread or a box of cereal, out in the open for easy grabbing, but doing so can leave your kitchen looking messy. Instead, relocate these go-to foods to the cabinet nearest where you use them—for example, store bread in the cabinet directly above the toaster—to make it easy to access what you need and put it back.

If you must store food on the countertop, possibly due to a lack of cabinet space, keeping it in a basket or lidded breadbox will help neaten up the look. If you go with a basket, get one with high sides to hide as much of the food (and its visually loud packaging) as possible.

2. Nonessential Small Appliances

Restrain yourself from storing every small appliance on your countertop. Yes, that's probably where you use them, but think about how often you do so. Don't eat up precious countertop space with a food processor you only use once a month. Save that coveted counter space for appliances you use every day. Relocate all the others to a cabinet, the pantry, or a nearby closet. If the closet doesn't have shelves, add a storage rack or small bookcase.

For appliances that do merit a spot on the countertop, like the coffee maker or toaster, try putting them on a tray. It contains the mess (coffee grounds, crumbs, etc.), makes the kitchen look more organized, and keeps countertops clean.

3. Cookbooks

Having your cookbooks within arm's reach is handy, and their covers are no doubt display-worthy, but the countertop is not the right spot to store them. Not only do cookbooks take up considerable space (most of them are quite large), but they can also get damaged by water, grease, or anything else flying around your kitchen when you cook.

Instead, choose one favorite cookbook to display on a stand. For the rest, see if you can squeeze a small bookcase into your kitchen, or consider open shelves. Failing that, just store them in a cabinet at eye level.

4. Herbs, Spices & Oils

As convenient as it is to have dried herbs, spices, and oils within grabbing distance, exposing them to the light and heat of the kitchen doesn't do them favors freshness-wise. The better practice is to store them in a drawer or a cabinet located away from the heat of your stovetop.

Wherever you decide to store your spices, you can buy a spice rack made just for that spot. There are racks that fit in a drawer, small shelves that mount on the back of a cabinet door, and multi-tier risers that make all those small containers visible on a cabinet shelf.

5. Mail, Flyers, and Paperwork

The kitchen has enough hustle and bustle; it doesn't need the added chaos of being the spot where you deal with mail and papers. Fight the urge to let mail pile up on the kitchen counter (even if it's in a basket). Ideally, you'd set up a mail and papers processing station elsewhere, such as in a home office. If that's not possible and the kitchen is truly the only space for this task, at least hide it. Designate one drawer for papers or get a small file box and put it in a cabinet.

You can prevent a lot of mail and paper clutter if you simply don't allow yourself to bring any junk mail into the house. Recycle it before you even walk in the door.