Taking Stock of Your Kitchen Inventory

About author / Lauren Braun Costello

The competent cook; food stylist; cooking instructor; graduate French Culinary Institute. To die for dish? Maple glazed bacon wrapped roast turkey. Yep, bacon wrapped.

One of the most important things you can do to be a more competent cook is to know your inventory.  Not only do you need to be aware of the fresh foods and dry goods you have in stock (see New Years Resolutions for Competent Cooks), you must be familiar with and have appropriate access to all your kitchenware.  If you know what you have and, more important, can access it easily, you will always make the right equipment choices when cooking in your kitchen.

A Case Study
Last month I helped my close friend, Nancy, organize her kitchen cupboards in her new downtown loft.  A newlywed with lots of fine cookery and serviceware, Nancy knew she now had plenty of space to store all this equipment, but really was not sure if certain items needed to be in designated areas.  That is where I came into the picture.

Working as a private chef and caterer in dozens of homes and offices across New York, I have cooked in every possible kitchen space imaginable.  From expansive penthouses to tiny walk-up apartments, I have seen it all.  Bigger is not always better, especially where intuitive organization is concerned.  Sometimes the smaller kitchens seem to make more sense because they have fewer options for storage.

Nancy's kitchen has ample space--in fact, happily more than she can fill at present.  The tendency is to spread the kitchen equipment around to make use of all the cabinets available.  This is not necessarily the best option.  It makes far more sense to have all the skillets and saucepans on one shelf instead of dispersing them sparsely between two cupboards.  When you open cabinet 1 to find that certain skillet and it somehow is not there, you will waste time hunting for it in cabinet 2.  Condense particular items in particular places so you know where to find them and where to put them back when you are done.

With more than a dozen cabinets in her kitchen, Nancy had Tupperware high on a shelf, and mixing bowls stacked on top of stock pots below the counter.  Once I opened all the cabinets, I could see immediately what would frustrate me about cooking in this otherwise luxurious and gracious kitchen space.  

We identified the equipment she uses most frequently and stored those pieces either above the counter at eye level for easy reach, or below the counter at the top of the pile of pots and pans.  Pot covers and lids had a separate shelf in the adjacent cabinet so that piles did not tumble every time she reached in to grab a piece of cookware.  Nancy does not use bakeware as often as pots and pans, so glass casseroles and muffin tins found a home in the below-counter cupboard furthest from the oven, along with her largest stock pots that she rarely employs.

Half an hour of careful consideration for how Nancy cooks and eats made all the difference in creating a truly functional and operational kitchen space for her.  The more orderly a kitchen, the more efficiently it will operate.

Ask Questions, Then Make Changes
There are several general guidelines that apply in every kitchen no matter the design or activity level.  Spices, oils, and implements should all be within arm's reach of the stovetop.  Oven mitts and rags also should be right next to your heat sources.  Pots and pans should be stored with the most frequently used pieces on top.

Identify the way you eat and cook, then make the equipment needed to prepare those meals easily available to you.  Do you eat lots of salads?  Do not bury your mixing bowls deep within your saucepans.  Are you a frequent baker?  Place all your tins and pans in a place where you can reach them without any frustration.

Once you view your kitchen like a workspace you will be able to organize it with ease.  No one would ever store the telephone in the filing cabinet, or the keyboard on the desk chair.  Think of your kitchen inventory as the tools you need to make a meal proficiently and successfully.  With a new and improved order, you will become a more competent cook!