The One Thing You're Doing That Makes Your Kitchen Look Unnecessarily Cluttered

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A dream kitchen should have the perfect blend of functionality, accessibility and design elements that perfectly fit your lifestyle needs. That is to say, when you're deep into preparing a meal, you probably want things within arms reach, and the last thing you want to do is criss-cross the length of your kitchen for your most used items — like pots and pans. But balancing out all of those desires can be challenging, and it's not uncommon for one aspect of your dream kitchen to be forced to take the backseat.

A truly functional kitchen looks different for everyone, based on your specific needs. You might be the type of person who feels like aesthetics are more important than accessibility. Or maybe you are happy to forgo a magazine-worthy kitchen for one that is more functional. Perhaps you have a tiny kitchen with limited cabinets and you are just looking for clever ways to organize your pots and pans. Whatever the criteria is for organizing your kitchen, an easy trap to fall into is storing your pots and pans on top of the stove. It may seem harmless enough, and you might even think that as long as you invest in nice looking cookware, it's totally fine. But have you considered that storing pots and pans on the stove is actually making your kitchen look more cluttered than it needs to?

One of the most basic rules of maintaining a tidy space is making sure that everything you own has a home. That means you know where a specific item belongs and it is always returned to its designated place at the end of each use. It's basically home organization 101. Even professional organizers agree on this and have shared concerns about storing cookware directly on the stovetop. You might be thinking that because the rest of your kitchen is incredibly organized — possibly even spotless enough to pass most city health inspections — there's no way a few pots and pans are diverting from all that hard work you do to keep your kitchen clean. 

However, it doesn't actually matter how tidy your kitchen is, pots and pans sitting on top of your stove will almost always contribute to an unnecessarily cluttered look. There is an automatic untidiness that happens when an item has no designated space. And even though it is understood that there is a lot more to keeping your home tidy than just putting things away, it is still good practice to have designated places for everything you own. That means getting your pots and pans off the stove and finding a long term solution to storing them — one that won't taint the overall look and tidiness of your kitchen.

There are plenty of reasons people store cookware on their stovetop, but whatever issue you're trying to solve, you might want to consider some of these alternatives. If small space and limited cabinets are the issue, you may feel like the stove is your only option. However, there are endless ways of organizing and streamlining your kitchen, no matter how many (or how few) drawers and cupboards you have to work with. Even if popular wall storage solutions aren't an option, you can look into a ceiling-mounted hanging pot rack, or think about downsizing your kitchen to rid yourself of useless or underused items. You might actually have more room to work with than you think. 

If you're one of those homeowners who already has ample cupboard space, your main concern might actually be functionality. Maybe you cook a lot and love having easy access to the pots and pans you use most often. Or maybe storing your cookware isn't so much of a concern for you — you're just trying to achieve that open-shelf, everything-on-display look that makes your kitchen feel cozier. Or maybe your cookware is just so beautiful, you want to keep looking at it. If any of that speaks to you, you might want to consider Joanna Gaines' stylish storage solution that will allow you to display your pots and pans on a bar directly above your stove. No matter what you choose, incorporating any of these storage solutions will create an overall more organized kitchen that you'll actually enjoy cooking in.