Minimalism is sweeping across the nation and the entire globe. This interior design trend is growing in popularity, and we love all the reasons behind this. Bit by bit, it made its way into several facets of our modern lives. Whether you’re attracted to this trend due to a limited amount of space available or because you want to adhere to a more sustainable lifestyle, minimalism doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon.
Today’s economy is either changing or in need of a change. The amount of consumption happening all across the planet has a severe impact on the environment. The 21st century came with further growth of polluting industries and a lack of support for positive impacting initiatives. Our modern lifestyle is not good for the environment, and we need to implement a more sustainable take on everything in our lives.
One effect can be seen through trends like minimalism, a focus on natural materials, and a shift away from chemicals and polluting sectors of the industry. It can be about something as simple as reducing plastic waste in your home or about the source of your favorite pair of jeans. However, implementing one thing is not enough, and trends like these are important. They support a more sustainable lifestyle through different types of applications in our lives.
What is Minimalism?
Defining Minimalism might not be as simple as a minimalist lifestyle, but we’re going to take a shot at it. When you hear minimal, you instantly think of fewer, simpler, smaller, or … dull? In many ways, that is correct. However, Minimalism is about simplifying your life.
With origins in the arts, Minimalism presented artwork with simple lines, fewer colors, and a clearly determined placement. It evolved to represent a less cluttered lifestyle and has fewer distractions, allowing the individual to prioritize the important aspects of life. This concept can be applied to everything from physical possessions to the amount of time we spend on our mobile devices.
Minimalism can mean something else for anyone, but it generally refers to removing non-essential things from your life to focus on the essential ones. Marie Kondo promotes a minimalist lifestyle through her decluttering consulting business, applying the KonMari method of decluttering and organizing. Other applications can be seen in real estate through tiny homes or in environmentally responsible lifestyles.c
How can Kitchen Essentials be Minimalistic?
The minimalist lifestyle is slowly but surely seeping into every aspect of our lives. This lifestyle may not be for everyone, but the appeal and comfort it brings to everyone involved is reason enough for many people to implement it in one form or another. When looking into how minimalism can impact the real estate industry, tiny homes may be the first thing that comes to mind. Upcoming 2022 kitchen trends will also focus on the concept of minimalism. Its application in kitchen essentials is an interesting but nonetheless exciting one and if you want to buy best things for your kitchen then you can take the help of Wholesale Olivewood store they are providing the best things in cheap price.
Food Preparation Devices
When it comes to food preparation, various types of utensils can be used. However, the number of necessary utensils doesn’t have to be big to be enough. A compact, multi-purpose metal grater is enough for prepping the ingredients. Different types of ingredients do need different kinds of devices. This is why the list can get long, but one of each should be enough. You need a peeler, a multipurpose opener, and scissors, but you can not limit their use to one thing as many have more than one role. Knives come in sets, and one should be enough. As for measurements, you can get a universal measuring cup and a set of measuring spoons. If you don’t use your countertop as a cutting board, a wooden one should work perfectly. Stick to materials such as metal, stainless steel, glass, or wood for their sustainability factor.
Some devices are not necessary for a minimalist kitchen. The garlic press can be replaced by a chef’s knife from the set. Sophisticated peeling or coring devices will just occupy space in your drawers. The number of knives in any kitchen can vary, but when you have three for cutting bread, two for filleting fish, and countless others from mismatched sets, you can get rid of them.
Cooking Devices
These are the most likely to stack up and overflow your drawers. Limiting the amount of storage they occupy depends on your cooking practices. The type of food you make and the amount can help you determine what you need in your ultimate smart kitchen. However, even the ones that are necessary can be kept to a minimum. Ladles, tongs, flippers, whisks, mixers, spatulas, and serving spoons are required, but one of each is enough in most households. There are sets available that only include the strictly necessary ones. To this, in case of need, you can add more.
When you realize how many cooking utensils are available on the market, it might shock you. There are special spoons for different types of pasta. It’s shocking because we can accomplish their purpose with the ones we mentioned in the previous paragraph. Again, multiple sizes of the same thing are unnecessary, just like special cleaning devices or different types of mixers. Unless you have a bakery, you don’t need more than one hand mixer.
Pots, pans, lids, and other necessities can also be limited to what is actually used. Stocking your cupboard with countless sizes of countless cooking essentials isn’t necessary. You can buy a set that contains everything you need and add whatever isn’t included but is essential based on your cooking practices. If you don’t bake muffins, why have muffin tins? If you don’t cook several dishes simultaneously regularly, you don’t need 20 pots in your kitchen. Many of these will only occupy valuable space in your kitchen, making it look cluttered and disorganized.
Tableware
Anything that goes on the dining table goes in this category. From cutlery to plates, glasses, coffee mugs, and bowls, limiting yourself to the necessary amount isn’t easy, but necessary. Cutlery set for six people is enough in most cases, and the number six can apply to every kind of tableware. Glasses come in different sizes, styles and are designed for different types of beverages. However, if you don’t throw large gatherings at your home, you don’t need six glasses for every kind of drink. If you are an occasional drinker, Wine, Whiskey, or Martini glasses can come in handy, but you might not need six of each. The same goes for plates, coffee mugs, and bowls. Understand how many you need and draw the line. If you have kids in your home, you will need a few pieces of age-appropriate dinnerware.
You don’t need to have different sets of the same thing, so the number of plates doesn’t crowd your storage area. When it comes to different sizes and styles of tableware, pick one and stick to it. Why buy a plate set with each color of the rainbow when you can buy a plate in each color of the rainbow.
Small Kitchen Appliances
Kitchen appliances that are deposited on the countertop, in a cupboard, or pantry tend to occupy more space than we’d like. That is the main reason why we don’t need so many. Depending on the type of food you cook, try to limit yourself to one specialty meal-cooking device like Instant Pot, rice cooker, Crock-Pot, dutch oven, or any others available on the market. One coffee-making appliance is enough unless you’re a barista whenever entertaining guests. However, there are coffee machines that can make most types of coffees, so go for that one. If you like freshly ground coffee, some machines grind coffee before making each cup. You don’t need another grinder unless you grind other things as well. For the breakfast of champions, two small kitchen appliances can not be decluttered. Those are the blender and toaster. One of each is enough, though.
What you only buy because it makes your life more comfortable are unnecessary appliances. You can boil water on the stove or in a microwave, so the electric kettle can go out. While a rice cooker does have its perks, a pot, and stove work just fine. From the specialty meal-cooking devices, if you slow cook food regularly, get a slow cooker, but having every specialty cooking device available will clutter your kitchen in no time. The same goes for the panini press, juicer, countertop convection, or toaster oven. They aren’t a necessity. As for the bread maker, if you make your own bread, have at it. If you don’t, send it on its way.
Storage
Now, we are going to talk about food storage. We mentioned storage as something that is threatened by a multitude of kitchen essentials overcoming its availability. You need food containers, Tupperware, a spice rack, countertop bowls, and salt and pepper grinders. We can say here that there are containers that can grind the spices as the food is seasoned.
For any other type of food storage needs, we usually turn to plastic bags or aluminum. However, minimalism is also about sustainability, so instead of drawing the oceans in plastic bags, we can use glass or stainless steel containers that are reusable. For the freezer, anything else except glass and stainless steel is not an alternative to plastic as they can’t provide the benefits of glass, stainless steel, or plastic.
Conclusion
Approaching a more environmentally friendly lifestyle isn’t easy. You have to consider many things, but when it comes to kitchen essentials, the whole point is … less is more. That’s, literally, all you need to do. Our kitchens are the most used parts of our homes, and we want them to be fully stocked. Also, you could spend the time you’ll win back from not having to wash unlimited amounts of kitchen essentials with your family. Make your kitchen a simpler place to be in and keep it minimal! This will make it a lot easier to cook, clean, and keep your kitchen as clutter-free as possible.
