As the temperatures drop and pumpkin craze begins, prepare your kitchen for the season of celebrating roasted vegetables, spices, warm muffins, hearthy stews, and sweet potatoes for every meal. It’s time to welcome fall with open arms—and a clean kitchen. Autumn means crisper weather, foggy mornings, changing leaves, and cozy flannels and sweaters. Oh and boots!! Can’t wait to wear my Doc Martens and Uggs again!

If I could pick one season to live in year-round, it’d be autumn—and not just because of hot coffee and cinnamon apple everything either. I prefer fall to every other season because it gives me the perfect, guilt-free excuse to stay indoors. As the season changes and the temperature drops, I find myself wanting to be cozied up inside more often and cooking more frequently. Wrapping up in a warm blanket, sitting on the couch for a Netflix binge-session, and eating a big bowl of something comforting is an ideal autumn evening for me.

Do you agree that kitchen is the coziest place in your home? Kitchens are for more than just cooking, being the room where you talk, laugh, and share memories with the ones you love. September is the month where I start to prep my house, especially my kitchen, for fall and the upcoming holidays. 

As the summer comes to an end, your attention may turn to getting your house ready for the cooler fall and winter weather so it’s important to make your kitchen clean, cosy and beautiful.

So if you’re ready to say goodbye to summer and get ahead of the changing of the seasons, here are few easy steps that will help you get your kitchen ready for fall in snap:

Deep clean your shelves

You’ll be amazed by the rogue grains of rice and flour dust you’ll find. Kitchen is the busiest room of the house and it can get disorganized the fastest. As the weather turns colder, I’m in the kitchen more cooking and baking, so this month is a good time to go through each cabinet and get rid of the clutter.

It doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Take one cabinet at a time or a small section of your kitchen a day at a time. Empty the cabinet of everything, wipe it out and only put back the items that you actually use.

Free up some freezer space

It’s a good idea to sift through your freezer at least once a year and toss out expired, improperly stored, or freezer-burned foods. But more than that, you can get your freezer ready for fall by completely clearing out one or two shelves. What do you think? Can you do that?

Restock and reorganize your pantry

Throw out all of your expired goods, and take inventory of what’s left, making a note of any baking essentials (like all-purpose flour, baking powder, or vanilla extract) or dinner prep must-haves (like chicken broth, tomato paste, or rice) you’re short on. This will help you avoid making any last-minute trips to the grocery.

Without question, there will always be a few items in the pantry that just need to go, whether they’re expired or simply things you will literally never use. Oh, be sure to move all fall flavorings–cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves – to the front and center of your spice rack.

Clean your oven

To prep for your fall baking, you’ll also want to give your oven a deep clean. After removing everything inside the oven, make a paste with a 1/2 cup of baking soda and a few tablespoons of water. Coat the entire interior of your oven with the paste, using gloves if your oven is extra grimy. Allow the mixture to sit overnight, and in the meantime, clean the oven racks.

After at least 12 hours, wipe out the paste (and all the grime it lifted) with a warm, damp dish cloth. Spray with white vinegar as needed to remove excess baking soda, then wipe down once more with a clean, wet cloth.

Clean under the sink

After you give your pantry, freezer and oven a refresh, it’s time to take a look at your cleaning supplies. Empty out everything underneath the sink (or wherever it is you store your cleaners), give the cabinet itself a scrub, and replace whatever needs to be restocked.

Deep clean your refrigerator

Now is the time to say farewell to crusty summer condiments and expired food so you can make room for your fall ingredients! But first, give your refrigerator a deep clean. As a general rule, your fridge can use a refresh and good clean at least once a season, and at the beginning of a new season is a great time to hit “reset.” Take all the items out of the fridge, remove the drawers and shelves, and give them a scrub in your sink. For the walls and surfaces you can’t remove, spray with a solution of water and white vinegar, then scrub. 

Get to meal planning

Now that the kitchen is decluttered and organized, you can move forward with a clear head and thorough knowledge of what you’re working with in the kitchen. This means you can easily plan meals around what you have to utilize the ingredients you intentionally keep in stock. Simply make a list of the ingredients you have, plan a few menus around those items, and then make a shopping list for the handful of other items you may need to enjoy prepping cozy meals in your refreshed, orderly kitchen.

Decorate with pumpkins

Pick up an assortment of colorful pumpkins (orange, white, green…) at your local supermarket and then have fun pairing them with various fall offerings, like warm-toned foliage and seasonal fruit. Arrange them in a bowl and set them on your table for a centerpiece, or set them on countertops next to cozy candles.

Decorate with seasonal fruit

Seasonal fall fruits like pears, plums, apples, and figs make great arrangements on your kitchen table or countertops. Create a fall fruit bowl and place it on your kitchen counter to bring in the feeling of the season, or use fall fruit in an arrangement with other decorations to create a centerpiece for your kitchen table.

Embrace classic fall colors

Fall introduces a lot of earth-friendly tones, and these tones can be used to easily add coziness to a kitchen that is starting to cool down. Colors like burnt orange, chocolate brown, olive green, and mustard yellow are all fall-appropriate colors that will instantly bring warmth to your kitchen. Most fall colors can be found in nature, so anything goes to make your fall-kitchen your own. 

Flowers and herbs

Collect fall foliage from your neighborhood or farmers’ market, then pair elegant florals like roses or hydrangeas. It’s easy, fun, and inexpensive to arrange your own fall-themed bouquets to use as centerpieces around your kitchen. 

Fall is a great time to use natural herbs as decorations in your kitchen. Keep bundles of herbs like rosemary, thyme, or fresh sage around your kitchen to use as a decoration, for cooking, or simply as an organic air freshener. 

You can also use dried wheat bundles as a decoration captures the essence of autumn without the maintenance of taking care of it. Dried natural wheat gives any arrangement a rustic, earthy look that feels appropriately autumn.

What do you think? Is your kitchen ready for fall? If not, what are you going to do about it? I’d love to hear what you do to prepare your kitchen for the fall.