Your kitchen is part of your everyday life. From cooking to cleaning, you no doubt spend a lot of time in there, but storing your food and equipment in the wrong places can cause havoc - not to mention backache.

A messy work area can lead to things getting knocked over and spilt, or worse, it can lead to injury. By tidying up on the go, you can reduce the risk of kitchen accidents.

We’ve come up with a quick guide to safe kitchen storage:

• Storing your appliances close to sockets means less electrical leads trailing across the kitchen, and less chance of them getting wet.
• Bleaches and drain cleaners, like pesticides and cleaning fluids, can be dangerous and should be kept away from all food and drink. If you must store them in the kitchen, keep them on bottom shelves so they cannot leak onto food or cooking equipment.
• When using a pan, turn the handles in so they are above the work surface, not the heat, to avoid them getting caught and pulled down.
• A build up of grease in the grill pan can be a fire hazard so remember to clean it as soon as you finish using it.
• Glassware is great for cooking casseroles or making coffee, but if you leave the empty dish on the heat, or a particularly cold or wet surface, it may explode. Hot glass containers should be left to cool down on a dry surface that is not noticeably hot or cold before being stored safely away.
• When holding something hot, you are likely to grab the closest towel or cloth to protect your hand from the heat. However, if the towel is wet, the liquid will turn to steam and burn you. To prevent this from happening, make sure you have a dry tea towel or oven glove stored in a drawer close to the oven.
• If you do not have a knife block, try keeping sharp knives handle-up in a utensil jar, or in a certain section of a cutlery rack. You could even store the knife in the presentation box it was sold in - to keep the sharp edge safely away from fingers searching through a drawer.
• Lifting big items can hurt your back, so it is good practise to keep heavy or well-used items, such as pans, weighing scales or potatoes, in bottom cupboards.