My friend Cheryl came over to help me reorganize my kitchen. As I stated previously, I thought a fresh pair of eyes could help me solve some of my storage issues. Things that bother me about my kitchen are...
-I don't like anything stored on my counters
-My counter always seems to be a mess
-My cupboards are crazy deep and some even turn so it is near impossible to reach items
-I forget about and never use those items that get shoved into oblivion
-I have to keep certain things like the dog's bowls on one wall becasue he is banned from our kitchen
Before Cheryl came over my kitchen was a mess, as it is every single day. The kitchen seems to be dumping ground for everything. Anyways, I didn't clean it, I wanted her to see what and where these messy people just leave junking up my kitchen. Plus it isn't like it is a very big cleaning job just an annoying one, so I knew I wasn't making more work for her.
I told her my issues, we opened every cupboard and I explained what was in it, why, and how often I use it. Oh! and if I would use it more if it was more easily accessible. Right off the bat she had some great ideas.
I have a food pantry cupboard- it is deep as are almost all my cupboards- so putting cans in there gets difficult. Really anything in there other then cereal has to be "dug" out.
Oh let me go off on a little story here.... Cereal and Brad- Pretty much the only food Brad gets out of the cupboard is cereal ( lucky guy gets all his meals made for him!) Anyways, the cereal used to be on the very bottom shelf. Brad was constantly whining about this " I don't want to bend over....boo hoo..." So one day I told him to feel free to reorganize the pantry. He did and moved the cereal up 2 whole shelves. While Cheryl and I were reorganizing I decided to take a shelf out and move the cereal to the top. I told her Brad is going to be thrilled about this. Once he notices it, it will be all he sees or cares about. So when Brad walks in I open the cupboard to show him all our hard work. The first thing out of his mouth..... "YES! The cereal is on top! No more bending over!!!" Oh, he is so predictable!
I had never considered that the bottom shelves didn't have to have food on them. The food could be in several different cupboards in my house depending on what it was, what a novel idea! It seem like a duh! kinda thing but really, the thought never crossed my mind. I was quite obviously stuck in a rutt. (here is a semi-before (I'd already started moving stuff when we remembered to take pics) and an after picture)
Just below and to the right of my pantry is a cupboard with a shelf that pulls out- what do I have on it? A crockpot. But what could be on it? Cans of course!
Next to the stove I have some baking stuff, a George Forman Grill, hot pads, samich making stuff, candy, drink mixes, and mac n cheese (Cheryl thought I had the Mac there since it was close to the stove. Nope, sorry my Mac is there becasue I buy so much of it that is the only cupboard I can fit it in!!!). But all of this stuff is just kinda shoved in there- again a deep cupboard- and this one is weird shaped too- triangular. So we moved all side dish items (not just mac n cheese), drink mixes, and baking supplies to nice organized locations in the triangle cupboard.
On the wall where the dog's bowls have to go I had a small 2 person table that no one ever uses. Well they do, but just for setting their junk on. I kept thinking the kids would sit there and do homework since you can't see the TV from it but nope, it is too full of junk for anyone to sit at. I do keep the junk in a nice pile- ya know if a pile could be nice- I'm here to let you know piles are NOT nice- no matter how neatly you stack stuff it is still just that- a pile- a "I'm on my way to becoming a hoarder" pile! My pile was kid magazines my mom suscribes the kids to. They never read them and I felt bad just throwing them away, but with a little help from my friend I tossed them (normally I would send them to school but it is summer break).
On my garbage can wall I had a metal shelf I had brought in during Brad's surgery to keep all of his foods on (so he didn't have to look at ours while getting his and be sad). So great idea- get rid of the table and move the shelf over to it's place. This way the dog's bowls can move over the few inches they really need to and the junk table won't be there to serve faithfully as a collection point. What to put on the wire shelf was a little difficult. Because the dog can reach that wall the only food that could go on it would be cans but we already found a home for those. I knew juice needed to go on the bottom shelf so that was easy. Then it hit us- we haven't cleared the counter tops yet! Perfect solution, my reward rock jars and my paper files.
These files were my genius idea on dealing with all the paper. The kids bring home a ton of papers from school, Brad is never happy about where I put his mail, and I have store ads I want to hold on to for the week or kids papers I just don't feel like moving to their permanent file in the basement. So this seemed like the perfect solution. It is a good one, I haven't made it perfect yet, but I am working on a plan to! The problem is I never make people empty these so as you can see in the picture, everyone's file is pretty full.
The rocks, well that is my behavior/chore system. The kids get rocks for doing chores, being punctual, good grades, good attitudes, etc.... When their jar is filled they get cold hard cash- how ever many years old they are is how many dollars they collect. The system was working really well but has slowed down. I am going to work on a new twist to it- make a list of jobs and how many rocks they are worth. My hope is they will then voluntarily do more chores without me even having to mention they need to be done- here is to hoping!
But back to moving the table out- I'm so glad we did! The kitchen feels so much bigger, more open. I do have to touch up some paint thanks to the table but no biggie- I actually have a small wall on the corner that never even got painted becasue the patching of it wasn't dry and then I forgot to go back to it- oops!
I do need to come up with a solution for my recycling. It goes on the same wall as my garbage can. I also have a stand there for bags which has to stay becasue it keeps the shocker disk for my dog on it, this is how we keep him out of the kitchen (he will eat all our food, open cupboard doors, and dump the garbage if he was allowed in). I've put the disk in many places but that exact location is the only way to make the perfect perimeter for him. Anyways, I think I might buy another trash can like the one I have but mark it for recycling so the kids don't throw trash in it- it would help with symmetry for sure!!!
All in all my kitchen reorganization was a success for sure! We moved a lot but we also left a lot alone. I'm anxious to see in the coming weeks if it stays cleaner and functions smoother. I highly recommend having a friend over to help give you new ideas. I truly think once you have lived somewhere for a while and just get used to things in a certain place it is hard to see where things could move for a more efficient and organized kitchen. But sorry those of you who know Cheryl, she is all mine and I'm not sharing!
So here is the after shots around my kitchen....(and fyi, those are princess magnets on my dishwasher not dirtiness)
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