The kitchen is not usually the largest room in a house by square footage, but it is definitely the space with the most items crammed into cupboards, drawers, and cubby holes over the stove or under the sink. 

As such, it is often the most time-consuming room to pack. Think of your own kitchen, with shelves crammed with plates and coffee cups. In a side corner, you may be storing pots and pans, Dutch ovens, toasters, and bread makers. Often, there’s a mixer somewhere in the mix, along with a blender and a food processor. Drawers contain anything from silverware to corkscrews; napkins to kitchen towels; and several rolls of aluminum foil or plastic wrap. Hidden away in some far-flung nook are dozens of storage containers, anything from glass with snap-on lids to recycled yogurt pots. In the words of one of my co-workers, a kitchen is a place “that keeps on giving.”

Say that, like many of our clients, you’re moving from a large house to an apartment in a senior living community. Instead of seemingly limitless space for all those coffee cups, you’re now faced with limited acreage. Decisions for downsizing will have to be made. How should you proceed?

• A kitchen to fit the life you’re living now

The reality is that, in a senior living community, kitchens are designed for daily ease, not large-scale entertaining. You’ll probably be having breakfast in your apartment, but senior living communities typically have coffee shops and restaurants where many of the residents take their meals. It’s hard to fit more than a couple of others into most apartments, so keeping a twelve-piece dinner setting is probably too ambitious. I fondly remember one of our clients telling me that she was only going to take four of everything to her new kitchen. If, on a whim, she wanted to entertain for eight, paper plates were going to be the answer.

• Make a plan

As you’re planning your move, ask for a floor plan or photos of the new kitchen. If you are able to visit, measure cabinet space and count drawers. Note what is already provided (microwave, dishwasher, disposal, shelving). You can’t decide what to keep until you know what will fit.

• Edit by function, not category

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. What do I use daily, or at least weekly?
2. What do I use occasionally—but truly enjoy?
3. What have I kept “just in case” for years?

If you’re like my family, you might have multiple sets of dishes taking up valuable real estate. Can you make the decision to keep only one “everyday” set? What about that bread maker or waffle iron? Do you still make bread daily? (Keep). Do you make waffles only on New Year’s Day? (Might be time to say ‘bye-bye.’)

• What to do about Items for which you have an emotional attachment:

First of all, be easy on yourself. As my Move Maker colleague Deborah pointed out, many people have wonderful memories of entertaining and time spent in kitchens. Be aware of feelings of grief that may arise. Also, some kitchen items are harder to deal with than others. These are the items around which we often have deep emotional attachments: grandmother’s wedding china or the crystal pieces we bought on our travels. We don’t typically use such things daily, but thinking about them connects us to our pasts. Here are some solutions:

1. Keep one representative piece, and take photographs of the others
2. Pass treasured items to family now, while stories can be shared
3. Donate to places where your items will give others joy 

• Thoughts on safety and accessibility

The smaller kitchens found in senior living communities often prioritize safety and accessibility. There’s often no place to store heavy cast-iron pots, for example, and putting things in hard-to-reach upper cabinets is a recipe for injury. Will you really be cooking boeuf bourgignon or coq au vin? Heavy pots and pans should be among the first items to be discarded.

In conclusion: 

Be reassured that downsizing a kitchen isn’t done in one day. Reach out to a professional organizer or to The Move Makers to work with you on making decisions about what to keep. You want the ‘kitchen that keeps on giving’ not to be one giving you headaches, but one giving you a sense of ease and peace of mind.