Kitchen Delimma

Martha Stewart Living

SO. The Kitchen. It is small. I have seen bloggers discuss their own delimma with their tiny kitchen, but really....you just dont know. I have 4 drawers. FOUR.  I have 3 sections of upper cabinets and two sets of lower cabinets. Oh, and there is one teeny cabinet above the refrigerater that I stuff all of the extra paper towels in. That makes 6 cabinets total (in case you needed help adding that all up). Oh and no pantry. There is a lazy suzan. The cheap below-builder-grade kind that is absolutely the biggest pain in my ass. I said ass.

Martha Stewart Living

 So, we are renters and have lived here for almost 3 years. I have been struggling with my kitchen since we moved in. EVERYDAY for almost 3 years I say (at least twice a day) that I hate my kitchen and who ever designed it must have been a freaking idiot (and a man, because any woman would know that extra storage is a must :) just kidding. not really.) I have a crockpot in my bedroom closet. Thats how bad it is, y'all!! But, regardless of my love-to-hate relationship with my kitchen, it works. The appliances are great and I can cook a meal for my family, which is the purpose of a kitchen anyways.

Martha Stewart Living

So, that brings my to this.....I have no choice but to work with what I have. I can't rip the cabinets out and design a more functional kitchen because it isn't OURS. I have been doing a lot of inspiration research in looking for ways to make it function better without creating any structural damage :) ! I have also narrowed down what we own, as far as kitchen items go, to a bare minimum. ONLY what we need. Nothing more. JUST the basics needed in order to make a meal. For the last week or so, I have been furiously planning and trying things and rearragning canned foods and stacking tupperware. And this morning...I walked into my kitchen and something amazing happened. It felt good. I opened the cabinet door to get a coffee mug from it's new home and I thought...wow, this is nice.

Everything is Containerized and grouped with like items (to the best of my ability due to the small cabinets). One day I hope to have everything in pretty containers, but as for right now, I am using ugly plastic containers to corral my kitchen crap. That is ok because it is behind closed doors.

I had an "AH-HA" moment. If our kitchen had a pantry for food storage, there probably would not be a problem. I thought about searching for an armoire or cupboard on craigslist or at flea markets...but we just don't have the extra space. We don't have a dinning room, just a eat in kitchen and with the table and chairs, there isn't much space left for things such as armoires and cupboards, but that is a whole different post in itself.

For now though, I am happy with the result of my extensive research and creativity. Of course, as things come and go I will have to tweak it but I'm thinking it can only get better.

I decided to add pictures. I only thought about taking pictures after I was finished organizing, so there are no before pics, but I promise it was BAD. 

 It ain't "pretty" and I surely wont be getting any design awards or magazine "shout-outs". It just is what it is.

A view of the kitchen:

Upper cabinets:

On top of the refrigerator, the bread basket :)

Behind the bread basket is a cabinet with extra paper towel rolls.

Top left: knives and sharp utensils (to keep away from the kiddos), Top right: that is where the rest of the plastic food storage will go ( I took into account what was in the dishwasher and what was currently storing our leftovers in the refrigerator) Middle: more pantry overflow and tupperware, Bottom: breakfast foods and coffee mugs (coffee pot is right below)

I found these scraps of zinc coated, metal thingies in the man's tool cabinet. I attatched some 3M picture hangers to the back and voila! I can use magnets to hang my weekly meal plan, grocery list, etc. ( I felt like a genius!)

after I reorganized everything, I found that I had a whole empty cabinet above the microwave so I took the doors off and made it pretty: Snack basket, recipe box, crayons (way up high :)), and cook books.

 Top: plates, Middle: glasses and bowls, bottom: kid zone.

All things neccessary to eat our meals like civilized folk.

The top shelf houses items that are used once a week or so, not everyday. The middle shelf contains a few things that wouldnt fit in the pretend pantry (explained later on), and my cake decorating container. The bottom shelf has my spice basket ( I plan on creating a better, more funtional plan for my spices...don't worry.) , seasoning packets and the toaster. All of the contents on the bottom shelf get used daily.

Pretty self-explanitory. I did this to keep my utensil drawer filled with EVERYDAY items.

Lower cabinets:

This is where things get crazy. This cabinet is playing the role of "pantry". I used trays on the bottom to make grabbing things from the back a little easier, just slide the tray out. That top shelf back there holds overflow condiments, oils, etc.

under the sink..I only keep cleaning supplies that get used at least everday and I bought generic (yes, fake) command hooks for dust pan, duster and grocery sacks)

I guess this counts as a cabinet too! I forgot to mention it. (That brings the Grand total to 7.)

(I forgot to snap a picture of the lower cabinet that contains baking sheets and pan lids. Don't worry, its not exciting.)

Drawers:

Cheapy suzan:

pots, pans, baking dishes, crockpot, etc.

(this is actually an obvious but brilliant idea that I NEVER even considered until I saw it at iheart organizing !)

Countertops:

Coffee, filters, and Sugar

fruit (duh)

utensils that I use everday

That pretty much wraps it up! There are still things that I need to to, but are not neccessarily a priority right now. That list includes:

{1} new spice organization

{2} lining the drawers and cabinets with pretty paper

{3} replacing the ugly containers with pretty boxes or baskets

I would Love love LOVE to hear any advice on kitchen storage or clever organization tecniques, if you have any? I will take all the help I can get!

xo

jessica