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How To Get The Most Out Of Your Kitchen And Not Feel Overwhelmed

I’ve probably made close to 15 cups of coffee using the kitchen at work in the last few months. I spend most of my time drinking it, but sooner or later my cup runs dry and someone has to make another. Some of the time it’s me and some of the time it’s other members of my small but perfectly formed “hot drink group”.

Surprisingly, whenever it’s someone else’s turn to make the drinks, they drag their feet over the whole affair and I have to wait ages for my coffee. I think they must feel totally overwhelmed by what the kitchen offers and simply “don’t know what to do.”

I decided to write this article for the members of my group in particular, but also those people who are interested in making hot drinks for themselves but simply don’t know how to navigate the kitchen or are looking for some concrete advice on what to look out for.

Have a Clear Focus on What It Is That You Want

If you go into the kitchen on any day of the week, you’ll find a variety of different things. Cups, saucers, cutlery are just some of the utensils you’ll find available for use. If you’ve just entered the kitchen for the very first time and didn’t know there would be so much confusing stuff, I can understand you feeling overwhelmed.

Well organised though the kitchen might be, it can still be befuddling for the first timer. You might think, “how am I supposed to make a white coffee when there’s no milk?”. Don’t worry, sometimes people hide milk in what we call a “fridge”. It’s all part of the every day prank playing that is found so often in workplaces. Likewise, teaspoons are often found lurking in “drawers”. You may have to open a few before you find the right one, but the more experienced drink makers will usually gravitate to the one under the sink. These are tips that people in the know would rather keep to themselves (ebook for Kitchen Power Users coming soon).

If you go to the kitchen with a clear focus on what you want to do, you’re less likely to be  distracted by the option to use the microwave, turn the taps on, play with the light switch etc. Focus!

The first thing I like to do on entering the kitchen is open the fridge door and then think about what it is I need. At this point I’m only interested in milk so I make sure that that’s what I look for with my eyes.

Looking at things that don’t meet my criteria of “being milk” is simply a waste of time.

Have an idea of what you’re looking for – whether you can identify it by its shape or its colour – and then narrow down your search using more criteria if you have them.

Be Prepared to Ask the Right Questions

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t have a perfect success rate in kitchens, especially when I don’t sniff the milk before pouring it – and especially in summer.

In no order, here are some of the most common questions I ask myself:

• Can I steal the water in the kettle that’s just boiled before its owner returns?
• Can I be bothered tipping milk that’s gone off down the sink or shall I leave that to someone else, and put it back in the fridge?
• I can’t remember what everyone wants. Shall I just pretend I thought they all wanted coffee?
• The coffee has actually run out. Shall I make them all tea to save traipsing downstairs to get a fresh jar, and pretend I’m losing my mind?

Of course you can tweak these to suit a specific drink you’re making or add to them if there are other things you need to know about another round of drinks you need to make. Remember: you need to be flexible.

Take Your Time

If I’m totally honest, the hot drinks that didn’t work out very well for me were the ones that I rushed. I’ve often boiled a kettle and then needed to use the toilet urgently. Faced with the choice of leaving the freshly boiled kettle for the phantom hot water thief to pilfer, and seeing the drinks through to the end in pain, I more often than not stick two fingers up at the water thief and battle on with the drinks. As you can expect, I've made one or two wrong drinks in my haste.

Things to Watch Out For

Last but not least, I think it’s important that anyone who aspires to make hot drinks in a kitchen is aware of the things they should watch out for. If I had this list when I first started making hot drinks I would have saved myself a lot of time and trouble. And burnt fingers. And soiled trousers.

The first point I have to make here is that if a round of drinks seems so small that you’ll be in and out of that kitchen in a matter of minutes, think again. Check the car park for new arrivals, because you can bet your bottom two pound coin that just as you are handing out the drinks, two more people from your team will arrive and want drinks too.

Also, if someone declines your kind offer of a drink, ask yourself why. Do they already know the milk’s off or that there’s only that disgusting green tea left? Many naive drink makers fall into this trap and are paralysed by uncertainty. They usually have to be gently ushered out of the kitchen.

Finally, you will find that you need to count up the number of drinks in your order and estimate how much water you will need. The way I do this is to count the cups using a numerical system like base 10. You could use hexadecimal for this but that's an advanced technique reserved for the pros. When you have the (base 10) number in your head, try and locate that number on the side of the kettle (most modern kettles tend to have a measuring system on the side that corresponds to the number of cups). This is the level that the water must reach. Don’t forget to turn the tap off when you reach that level - or at least move the kettle away from the tap. Although someone else would undoubtedly turn the tap off for you eventually, you are better turning it off yourself.

I hope this post helps you make the most of the kitchen and encourages those who are a little apprehensive to try it out. Hopefully you will see this intimidating room in a new light and give it a whirl.

The author is a blogger who has carved out a career by stating the bleeding obvious and by padding out his articles with common sense advice that everyone already knows. It’s been a long career so far because it seems that the public will swallow anything.