A clutter-free kitchen not only looks fantastic and is a more pleasant space to be in, but also makes cooking and cleaning a breeze. Your kitchen worktop represents the largest horizontal surface area in the room besides the floor, so keeping it clear will have a huge impact on the sense of calm in your kitchen. We’ve asked some decluttering experts for their views when faced with an unruly worktop, and how to get it looking shipshape again…

Clear down your worktops

Start by taking everything off the worktops and putting it all on a nearby table or onto a clean picnic blanket (or similar) on the floor. Clearing the decks in this way will allow you to appreciate how much space you have to play with (and help stop you from giving up halfway through the process!). It also lets you see exactly what you’re dealing with in one glance and helps identify the main culprits cluttering up your worktops. ‘One of the most frequent types of clutter I come across on a kitchen counter is unloved and forgotten kitchen gadgets such as food mixers, slow cookers and coffee machines,’ says professional declutterer and organiser, Lynda Wylie, founder of Tidy Rooms. ‘These are often big and bulky, gathering dust on a counter and taking up prime space. Assess each one and consider when it was last used and whether it could live in a cupboard and be lifted out when needed.’

Before you do anything else, take the opportunity to clean your kitchen worktops, getting right into the corners and taking a brush to any dirt traps at the back.

Create space in your cupboards