Wendy Kuncken could not resist treating the kitchen as another showcase for pottery and plants. As a result, the kitchen had so little counter space that she ate standing up and sliced bread on the floor. Utensils were jammed into a small drawer under the sink. “There was no way I could really cook in there,” she says. “It was not a room that functioned at all.”

Dedicate a Work Zone

An efficient work area was made by installing an Ikea Varde base cabinet ($329, www.ikea.com) with drawers and a countertop that is 30 inches deep, 10 inches deeper than average.

Put Function First

There are places where practicality rules, and the kitchen is one of them. Kuncken never eats in the kitchen, so the table was removed, along with the pottery, to make way for more useful items, like a Pier 1 Imports under-cabinet glass rack ($8, www.pier1.com), and an Ikea Vurm wine rack ($10, www.ikea.com), for bottles that had been strewn about the living-room floor.

Create a Triangle of Efficiency

With the excessive decorative items removed, Kuncken can now move unencumbered among the three key work areas: sink, stove, and refrigerator. “Finally I can turn around and put something down,” she says. “I actually enjoy being in here now. Of all the rooms, this one works the best.”

The Out-Box

If you have difficulty letting go of household items, author Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan suggests creating what he calls an “out-box,” a bin that acts as a kind of halfway house for things you’re considering getting rid of. Many of us become paralyzed when faced with the chore of editing our belongings and end up doing nothing. The out-box lets you begin to clear the clutter without a commitment. Once an item sits in the box for a week, it usually becomes easier to part with. “It allows you to figure out if you really need something,” Gillingham- Ryan says, “without the anxiety of an immediate decision.”