Hello Everyone, Angie from Architecturally Organized here! 

Tis the season to clean up the yard, maybe open a pool, and light up the grill!

We are in full “outdoor clean up” mode right now.  It can be a little tricky as we are having the pavers redone and are working around that.  But, we are getting the pool open, thinking about what we want to plant and we are also in the planning process of building a small outdoor kitchen.  And that gets me thinking about all the ways it can be organized lol.

I am not joking.  I am imagining taking all of the outdoor grilling tools and permanently removing them from the kitchen!!! No large spatulas and tongs getting stuck in drawers.  Freeing up cabinet space that currently holds the summer/outdoor plates.  No more stabbing myself with a Kabob skewer while reaching to grab another utensil…..

Doesn’t that sound dreamy?!?!?!

It’s embarrassing what gets me excited!

Either way – I thought it would be fun to talk about Grilling and Organizing. Remember kids – you can organize anything and everything -so why not your grilling gear?!?! Let’s get to it!!

So just like with organizing anything else – you stick to some pretty basic rules.

1. Assess

Find all your grilling tools.  Do you have some in your kitchen? Some in the Garage? Some in the basement? Take the time to look for all of your tools and put them all together. All of them!!!!! Assess what you have.  Figure-how can you organize anything until you can see what all you actually have.

So once you have gathered everything, now you can take the time to….

2. Sort

Sort through all the items and start categorizing them into separate piles.  Designate Cleaning tools vs Grilling tools vs Serving tools vs…. Anything else your heart desires.

Sort through everything… ya know… the whole “like with like”… do it.

Once you know what you have, and you have grouped them together with similar items

and you can see how much of each thing you have… you will now be able to…

3. Purge

Yes-Go through each category pile that you created-see if there are things you thought you would use and don’t, things you bought-but later found a better version, items that are broken, items that are… you fill in the blank and remove them.  Donate them or send them to the trash, it doesn’t matter what you do so long as you purge them out!

Once you have purged through everything you will be able to….

4. Store/Organize

This is the fun part.  Putting everything back in a neat and orderly fashion.  There are numerous ways to store your tools and accessories-For both short term and long term use.

For Short term use (things you use often) look into hooks and magnets that can put the tools within easy reach.  Think about buckets or caddies that allow you to put regularly used items in for quick access.

For long term use (storing items that don’t get used each time or get stored away during off seasons) look into different types of outdoor storage cabinets.  This also helps with keeping your everyday essential items (that may or may not be stored in a grill caddy) stored away until you are ready to use them.

Another item to look into is a designated grill cart – this may be the way to go, this would allow for long term storage as well as additional counter space. You can create your own Grilling Organization Station and keep everything on the cart that is essential to your grilling needs!

Grill Station by Angela Caddy

After all that work in sorting and organizing I think it is time to fie up the grill!! What are you cooking??

Till Next time!!