©2009 Professional Organizer - Lea Schneider is the author of Growing-Up Organized: A Mom to Mom Guide available at Amazon.com.

Lea provides one-on-one organizing advice via phone and email through Organize Online division at her company website, Organize Right Now.

Her advice is featured here at What's Cooking America in a monthly column. You may have read her expert organizing ideas in Woman’s Day, Natural Health, College News, and Better Homes and Gardens Kids’ Rooms magazines and newspapers. She is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers and the Association of Food Journalists.
 

The smell of waffles on the occasional Sunday morning creates memories. Finding a home for the waffle maker is not as fun.

The same goes for that food processor you break out only during massive cooking over the holidays and the ice cream maker you bought on a lark. Then there is the rice steamer, quesadilla maker, deep fryer, blender, chopper, counter-top roaster, popcorn maker, juicer, donut maker, and more.

Cooking is great fun! Some of these gadgets are just that – a fun thing to have. Others are really a tool and help you do the work you need to get done. Either way, organizing the small appliances, their attachments, and directions can help you enjoy them even more.

Tips for Storing Small Appliances:

Keep it or lose it - Make sure you really want to keep it before worrying about storing it. Sometimes, you get gadgets as a gift but find you really don’t use them. Ask yourself if you love it, use it, or need it?

Countertop or hidden storage. - Decide which ones you use every day. If you use something daily, such as a coffee maker, then find a home on the countertop. If you use it less often, then hide it away. If you use it rarely (such as at the holidays) but still want to keep it, you might even store it on a shelf in the laundry room or garage.

Gather parts or spend time hunting - Many small appliances come with interchangeable parts. You can stash a food processor in a cabinet but it just becomes a cluttered mess if all the blades and gadgets, that came with it, are rolling around next to it. Using a small basket to hold both the appliance the parts makes for tidy storage, as seen with this food processor. For an item too big to fit in the basket, a small basket with parts stored next to the appliance is a great idea.