When we don’t have the chairs on the dining room table, inevitably someone will decide it’s a good place to put clutter, which will rapidly multiply! Flat surfaces just seem to be clutter magnets!
My kitchen island is very friendly. All it takes is one item sitting on it and then before I know it, that item has invited a a friend to come and visit and then they invite many more friends, etc. The friends become a pile and they invite more of their pile friends.
I really work at making sure my island is totally clear off a couple time each day.
In chemistry, there is a thing called “entropy”. It can only go up unless one spends energy to bring it down. In biology, the term “benthos” means the organisms that dwell among the sediment and debris that fall down to the oceanic floors… It is a constant war on entropy and benthos in my house… 
A good tactic is to attack categories rather than a specific area to de-clutter. Go for all the books or linens or office supplies etc no matter where they are stored in your home. Focusing on one type of item allows you to focus on how many of one type of item you’ve got rather than “I cleaned this specific closet” with it’s dozen types of items in it (and the subsequent “I’ll need this someday” syndrome (but not when there are a dozen more stored elsewhere).
I have one dedicated kitchen drawer for mail, bills etc. It’s my “mini office” Whatever is important and needs attention goes in that drawer. Not a big drawer but MY drawer. Rest in trash–I do my mail over the trash can too.
I concur that flat surfaces invite more stuff than necessary. So I went vertical with one brochure 3 slot rack that sits on the kitchen counter. Vertical takes less space and since the slots don’t allow much room it gets cleared out often.