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Decluttering your kitchen has several benefits. Not only does it make your kitchen neater and look nicer, it makes it easier to locate kitchen utensils when you need to use them, and makes reaching items in higher cupboards safer, as they’re not overcrowded. Decluttering shouldn’t be rushed, so make sure you set aside a weekend to do the job properly, or add it into your regularly monthly domestic cleaning routine. Consider asking a friend or family member to help you to make the home cleaning job a little easier. Throw outThe first step is to figure out which kitchen items you want to throw away, give to charity or sell. We often end up making impulse buys or just keeping hold of utensils, which seemed like a useful purchase at the time but are now gathering dusk at the back of our kitchen cupboards. Half the time we keep hold of them out of stubbornness and believe we may actually use them one day; the other half we simply forget we have them.Empty your cupboards and go through the items, sorting them into three piles. One for useless items, which are either broken or faulty and won’t get you any money. Another should be for items that you don’t think would get you much money if you were to sell them but they’re still in perfect working order. This pile will go to charity. Make sure you wrap these in bubble wrap and package them well to ensure they don’t break in transit. The third pile will be items you can sell; these are the items still in their packaging or you’ve only used once. Research similar items online, repackage and sell online, if you have the time. This third pile is optional, as you may just want to give all items to charity.Some items you may want to keep but you don’t use them enough to warrant them taking up room in your cupboard. With these, if they’re delicate, like china plates or glasses, wrap them in bubble wrap and pack them in boxes with newspaper stuffed in between to prevent breakages. Clearly label the box and which way up it should be carried. For other items, like blenders or juicers, try to use the original packaging. Find some space in your loft, shed or other storage area that’s safe and dry, and store them here until you need them.Kitchen CleanYou don’t want to put cutlery back into dirty draws. Use anti-bacterial kitchen cleaning fluid to wash the inside of the cupboards and draws. Brush out any crumbs or pieces of broken items from the bottom and make sure they’re completely clean before replacing the items. Hire a cleaning company to help you do the job. This will save you time and effort.SeparatorsKeeping some order in the kitchen is key to maintaining tidiness. If you haven’t already, buy cutlery separators for your draws and sort your cutlery into knives, spoons and forks. Have separate cupboards for glasses and plates and consider purchasing racks to keep crockery separate too. Not only does this make it easier to get to each individual item, it also prevents the risk of breakages and annoying scrapes and chips.Utilise the spaceIf you perhaps have a smaller kitchen and want to keep it tidy but don’t have the room to keep everything separate, stacking items is a sensible way of saving space. Plates, saucepans and frying pans can be stacked in size order, while glass racks, which hang underneath cupboards are a great way of storing your glasses, while keeping them in easy reach and saving space.