Taking a tour of my kitchen….

Posted by Laura on February 13, 2008 · 49 Comments

February is the month for getting our kitchens in order. I thought it only fair that I post some pictures of my kitchen and how I’ve got it organized. Please, as always, keep in mind that this what is working for me right now. I’m always changing things up because there are just so many options! Don’t let indecision or worry about doing it wrong stop you from getting your kitchens in order, just do it!

I have a couple of goals that I strive to achieve in my itsy bitsy teeny weeny thankfully not polka dot kitchen……an uncluttered countertop, all like items stored together, the things I use most often within easy access and as well stored where I’m most likely to need them and finally storing overstock in a separate location.

My kitchen ~ nothing fancy and pretty small

The other side is my pantry which, other than my baking cupboard, is the only place I store dry goods in the kitchen:

The top half of the pantry:

I love the pull out pantry drawers in the bottom half.

Shelf 1 ~ canned goods

Shelf 2 ~ my food allergic son’s shelf (it’s not as messy as it looks, I promise)

Shelf 3 ~ sippy cups, water bottles and small plastic containers

Shelf 4 ~ Smart Spin, Tupperware and Rubbermaid, etc

An uncluttered countertop:

I don’t have a lot of countertop so what I have I like to keep free for cooking. This means, for instance, that even though I use my slow cooker a couple of times a week I don’t want it sitting out on my countertop taking up valuable space. I also don’t have any piles of paper or anything else driving me crazy. You all know I’m not so handy in the kitchen, I don’t need the extra stress of a cluttered kitchen before I even get started that is for sure. Less stuff on my countertops also means it’s easier for me to keep the kitchen tidy and sanitized.

All like items are stored together:

I created zones in my kitchen…..a designated space for everything. For example, my lazy susan in the corner is my baking zone and everything to do with baking is stored there. My pots are all stored under the stove, all my big bowls together, all my sippy cups, etc… My food is all stored in the one pantry, no where else. This just makes it so much easier to know what I have and I am always amazed at how many people don’t do this.

The things I use most often within easy access and stored where I’m most likely to use them:

Here are a couple of examples:

~keep your dishes and cutlery in cupboards close to your dishwasher to make emptying the dishwasher quick and easy

~ keep spices near the stove

~store your knives near your cutting boards

~create a coffee/tea station near your coffee pot or tea kettle….in the picture above I have all our coffee/tea supplies in the cupboard directly above the coffee pot

~store kitchen utensils in one central location ~ I love my Pampered Chef utensil holder…it is big enough to hold all the big and little tools and contain them all in one spot close to everything

I use a lot of dollar store baskets to keep like items sorted together. Here are some examples from my pantry:

My baskets keep “like with like” with makes me happy and makes it easy for the kids to put the dishes away. I don’t so much care how they look in the basket just as long as they are in the right basket allowing us to find what we need when we need it.

If you don’t have pull out drawers you can alway store your food containers in baskets in a cupboard, I’d probably do one basket for the lids and one for the containers. The baskets serve to set some boundaries and when you need something you can just pull the whole basket out to find what you need. Easy, peasy.

Although I must tell you that I love my Smart Spin. I resisted buying one forever but then eventually caved in and gave it a try and I’m so glad I did. It is amazing how much space it saves!

Another thing I use are these handy shelves in my cupboards to create more space. Take a look, very helpful indeed for creating more space.

Keep overstock in another area:

I know I said I like to keep things together and this might seem like a bit of a contradiction but due to lack of space in my kitchen I only keep one of everything in the kitchen and all the overstock (extra items of something purchased when on sale) I keep downstairs in my storage room. I have some simple narrow shelving that works great for this purpose. It’s always fun to go “shopping” in the basement. It also means for the most part we can keep this from happening.

Please ignore the lovely paneling in behind.

If I had to find space for all that in my kitchen cupboards, I’d go mental :)

I didn’t have a basement in my old house so I used one of these cabinets below as a makeshift overstock pantry. I found a spot for it in the back hallway of all places. It just tucked in nicely. It wasn’t as convenient as it would have been if it had been in my actual kitchen but it was better than nothing. These go on sale for as low as $40.00 if you keep your eyes open.