I can't believe I did this. LOL. snafu asked for it! This makes me tired just looking at it. Of course you don't have to pore over all of these, but if you see anything that jumps out at you that you'd like to comment on, feel free. But as stated before, be gentle. This is our home that we love!
To make sure I photographed EVERYthing, I first opened all my cabinets and doors. So then I had to take a photo of that. I don't know if it gets across just how weird it looked:
These are the drawers within the kitchen island. They hold 1) large utensils, measuring cups & spoons, 2) foil, saran wrap, potholders, etc., 3) pens, pads, random tools, etc. (junk drawer).
This is AS's baking cabinet, also under the kitchen island, holding mixing bowls, cooling racks, cookie cutters, sifter, etc.
The big double cabinet under the kitchen island holds pots & pans, pot lids, cutting boards, colanders and steamers.
This hard-to-reach cabinet is over the fridge. It holds seldom-used things: fondue pot, cupcake carrier, deep fryer. We do use these things, but only once or twice a year. I also see a couple bowls and a baggie cleaner that we haven't used in a long time. In front of it we've put the food processor as well as AS's pumping bags, bottles and other supplies.
This cabinet is over the microwave to the right of the fridge. Bottom shelf: bowls and plates. Middle shelf: coffee, tea, some baking ingredients. Top shelf: pasta maker, tortilla press, tortilla holder, kitchen scale, more baking ingredients.
This is the corner cabinet. Bottom shelf: cookbooks. Middle shelf: cookbook holder, some baking supplies, straws, some snacks for the toddler. Top shelf: crockpot, plastic cups, milk steamer/thermometer that might be for the espresso machine.
This cabinet is between the corner one and the sink. Mostly condiments, plus two martini pitchers.
Cabinet over the sink. As you can see, cups, mugs, cocktail glasses.
The cabinet to the right of the sink, over the dishwasher. Spices, canned foods, Asian noodles, drink mix. (We worked VERY hard to find a spice cabinet arrangement that worked for us; this one is pretty functional compared with our other attempts.)
Under the sink (the child-safety cupboard): cleaning supplies & garbage bags.
The drawers to the right of the fridge under the microwave. Bottom: napkins, some random tools like potato ricer, funnels, etc. Middle: bulk foods such as grains, beans, nuts & dried berries. Top: utensils.
This is the lazy-susan cabinet under the corner counter. Large space but very hard to get into the depths of it. Close-up pics to follow.
Right side of lazy-susan cabinet: cereal, cat food, pastry board
Left side of lazy-susan cabinet: tupperware, more cereal, bibs. In the lazy susan are pasta, pitchers, lunch containers.
Middle of lazy-susan cabinet: waffle iron, George Foreman, oh and some Girl Scouts cookies we seem to have forgotten about.
Cabinet above the stove: high up, but not impossible to get to if you drag a chair in. Chips, breakfast bars, salad bowl, popcorn bowl, salad spinner, serving bowls. A bunch of lesser-used but still occasionally necessary spices.
Since we store some stuff out on counters, I took pics of that as well. This is in the corner between the microwave and the sink. Salt, rice, sugar, couple of snacks, flour, onions, toaster, Clorox wipes, tea kettle.
Counter above the dishwasher: Coffee supplies. Coffeemaker, espresso machine, coffee grinder, steam pitcher, flavored syrups. Also, vitamins and other medicines for mama and baby, so they're easily remembered in the morning.
Drawer under the oven: baking sheets, muffin tins, loaf pans, etc.
I also took this pic of the bottom of the fabric storage, because here we keep the Kitchenaid mixer and mixing bowl.
Not pictured because it was in my previous post: the kitchen island which holds the Vitamix blender, the fruit bowl, and a pretty punch bowl that has turned into a repository for sippy cups, baby nail clippers, and some random bits of candy.
Sigh. So there you go. I have noticed a few random things during this process that we could get rid of, but most of it we do use, with varying degrees of frequency.
Kitchen storage pics
June 21st, 2012 at 12:46 am
June 21st, 2012 at 02:20 am 1340245206
I'd agree that you're pretty maxed out at this point. I do tons of "from scratch" cooking, and I have a fair bit of equipment, but I've been cleaning out a few things here and there!
My only comment is that it drives me crazy to mix the cupboards. I want a cupboard to be all food or all dishes/containers.
June 21st, 2012 at 03:09 am 1340248161
June 21st, 2012 at 03:59 am 1340251143
June 21st, 2012 at 08:01 am 1340265677
We cook a lot on stove top so following the 'keep it as close to use as practical,' small, medium and large sauce pans are nested in the stove drawer with a lg. oven proof pan a top a Teflon fry pan whose finish is protected by a plastic lid. The lids are 'filed' a the back.
June 21st, 2012 at 07:43 pm 1340307823
English: Ha! We have a plastic bin that takes up 1/3 of a shelf in the fridge that contains most of our jam.
June 21st, 2012 at 10:01 pm 1340316099
But it's amazing that I have to bring various things on the next trip to the UK for friends and family that want "American food." I've got A1, Ghiradelli brownie mix, marshmallow fluff (!), Captain Crunch, and other odd items.
June 22nd, 2012 at 04:58 am 1340341105
If you take lunch, consider designating 2nd drawer [below micro] for Rubbermaid boxes currently in l/susan + any other take away supplies.
June 22nd, 2012 at 02:49 pm 1340376595
June 22nd, 2012 at 03:07 pm 1340377655
Daily: Coffee grinder, coffee maker, toaster, kettle
Weekly: Espresso stuff, VItamix
Monthly: Food processor, Kitchenaid, pasta maker, waffle iron
Yearly: Deep fryer, tortilla press (hopefully, just got in March and haven't used yet)
Less (could probably get rid of if we can't make space elsewhere): Foreman, fondue
Interesting idea about moving cutlery. We actually hardly ever used the dining room table for eating until recently, but now we have dinners and weekend lunches there, so we do eat at it every day.
We'll be talking over everyone's ideas over the next few days, and hopefully some better organization and cleaner lines will be the result. Thanks again for putting so much thought into it. We're "group-sourcing" our home organization!
June 22nd, 2012 at 03:13 pm 1340377991
June 22nd, 2012 at 03:21 pm 1340378493
June 23rd, 2012 at 12:24 am 1340411048
June 23rd, 2012 at 04:14 am 1340424898
June 24th, 2012 at 03:59 pm 1340553550
http://organizerightnow.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/organizing-kitchen-before-and-after-pics-plus-tips/#gallery-3964-18-slideshow
Drawers are used differently, racks, bins and turntables are inexpensive usually available at Dollar type stores. Just pick and choose cabinets that are important to you and your kitchen tasks. You don't want to feel overwhelmed so work on one cabinet at a time and reward yourself for each completed section.
June 24th, 2012 at 04:46 pm 1340556360
pictures are so much better than words and this coincidentally showed up in my e-mail today. I hope the link works