Tackle It Tuesday–Organizing the Kitchen

 

On Tuesdays I am going to begin posting about a weekly organizing project.

This week it was a major rearrange of a shelf to provide more storage in my cozy kitchen.

The first step was to get the shelf out of the office.  After I determined that I didn’t actually need the shelf and could simply declutter it I started unloading.  Then DH helped me carry it into the kitchen.

(the metal shelf in the left corner – great one to pick huh? see Where is Your Office for the lowdown on my crazy office space)

Now it does block a window but the view isn’t great.  We live in a rental property that has too many trees.  In fact so many trees grass cannot grow.  Trust me.  I tried.  I counted the trees. 32 in the backyard alone, 52 total on the property.  That is a lot to this Texas girl from the land where you can see for 100 miles.  I supplement Vitamin D now.

Anyway, because of the trees we don’t get a lot of light on a sunny day.  Moving the shelf there wasn’t going to change much and would solve a ton of problems.

I have recently started baking 3 to 4 times a week, some times more (see Cheesecake Saturday).  My baking supplies were not easily accessible for that amount of baking.  I have this huge mixer that I LOVE and it was too big for the counter where it was.  My pans were down low where every dust ball & bunny, dying insect, dog hair, and leaves would accumulate.  Not what you want in your baking pans.  I washed them before and after I used them.  Who has that kind of time?

(Please ignore the awful paint job and butcher block laminate counter top. It is a rent house. There is nothing I can do.)

So now they are up, out of danger.  I moved the microwave because my kids are finally old enough not to use it to microwave their action figures. 

That also opened up space to move my beloved mixer within arms reach.  This opened up the other side of the counter which meant I could get the cabinet cleared above by moving some canisters out of there.  So now I have organized, viewable, baking supplies with more counter and cabinet space. 

I then moved the bins from the pantry/shelf to the rolling cart shelf where the baking pans used to be.  I also pulled out a punch bowl that didn’t fit in a cabinet above the refrigerator and put it on the large shelf. 

It was my husband’s grandmother’s punch bowl she had forever.  I love to keep those things out and hopefully use.  They make me feel connected and fuzzy inside.  Besides if you aren’t going to use it why do you have it? (not always true with antique items but most things)

You might wonder why many of my pantry items are in plastic containers with lids?  Well that story is for another post.  It involves a large rodent with opposable thumbs or at least it seemed like he had some.

Happy Organizing!