How to Clean Up an Overwhelmingly Messy Kitchen

We all need a blank canvas sometimes. A clear spot on our desk for writing letters or novels or paying bills, a clean page in a notebook, a blank piece of paper for doodling. It’s the same way with cooking closer to home – we need a clear spot to chop vegetables or drain pasta, and when our kitchens are overwhelmingly messy those clear spots, those blank canvases are buried under crusted bowls and sticky plates and somebody’s water glass and a stack of mail. When every surface – sink, counters, stove, dish drain is covered, the prospect of cleaning up is totally overwhelming because there is nowhere to put anything.

So the first step in dealing with the kitchen from hell is to clear off one space, which gives you enough room to clear another space, which gives you room to clear another space until order is restored. This is how I do it:

How to Cook in the Middle of an Overwhelmingly Messy Kitchen

All you really need to cook is an empty sink and a square of counter space about the size of a cutting board. A free stove burner is good too, but not strictly necessary. If your kitchen is a disaster area, clear out the aforementioned areas (go ahead and pile the dishes on the floor if you’re tired and hungry), get out the cutting board, and have some dinner.