As I slowly
worked my way through all the decisions to get my food storage under control it
became clear to me that just doing the pantry was not going to settle my
overall kitchen condition.
A few years
ago the men remodeled my lower cupboards to make the storage in them much more
efficient and I love all they did replacing the standard two deep shelves with
dead zones. Now my lower cupboards are a
series of drawers that roll out to let me easily see where all my mixing bowls
and such are.
The dead
corner now stores my seldom used big serving bowls on a special shelf that can
be pulled out through an open area created when the shelves there swing out on
piano hinges to make room for the hidden shelves.
Essentially
these lower cupboards have stayed in excellent condition. Periodically I may need to re-stack a bowl or
two. Or to wipe out a drawer on big
clean-up days. The swing out cupboard
worked so well I’ve worn out the hinge, so the guys will soon be replacing that
hinge.
The upper
cupboards, however, up until now, had gone pretty much untouched and were
becoming more and more a source of irritation and inconvenience for me.
When I
started this phase of the kitchen clean-up my plastic storage bowls were taking
over one long shelf that ran behind five separate cabinet doors. We had far too many glasses stacked
dangerously. In another set of cabinets y spices blocked getting my mugs.
Then there
were the spices themselves. They were
what got me started on this part of the pantry/kitchen cupboard re-do.
I am, for
the most part, a scratch cook. While I
do use convenience foods when I can get them on sale with a coupon 95% of my
cooking is from scratch. I make Master Mixes for all my baking, seasoning, and
many of my condiments. As a result I have a LOT of spice and herbs I use on a
daily basis. This creates the question
“Where and how to store them for easy use?”
When I
started this cupboard corralling my spices were in two cupboards by the stove,
in the pantry near the dining room and in two different grain pantries in the
sunroom, besides the back ups in the main pantry downstairs. I had both big and little containers of
spices and we won’t even discuss the stash outside in the camper.
As a result
of this chaos cooking could be a challenge.
Since I do most of the cooking around here I pretty well knew where what
was, but when the guys cooked it was often “Where’s the…?” Also when they
helped with the nightly kitchen clean-up they didn’t always put things back
where I normally store them. I couldn’t
complain, because they were helping, after all. We needed an organized game plan with
everything together which would allow any of us to find anything quickly and as
conveniently as possible.
In the
beginning my “little bottles” were for the most part on a tiered rack in a deep
dark cupboard. While I had them alphabetized at one point that had long ago gone
the way of the do-do bird.
Because my
son does a lot of scratch cooking on his own when we travel he will often
purchase a certain spice or herb rather than try to find it in the clutter when
I’m not here to tell him if we have it and if so where it is. This has created many duplicates in the
cupboards, which of course adds to the chaos.
So as I
mulled over the best place to store the spices, especially my big containers of
them I first put them in the pantry. Too
inconvenient, they were much too far from the stove. It simply was not going to work. I needed them in my main cooking area to save
time and steps.
The little
bottles often got lost in the dark on the upper shelves, not to mention I’m only
5’1” on my tall days and often I couldn’t reach the seasonings on the second
shelf without dragging out the stepstool, not to mention my mugs that were
behind them. So anytime I wanted a hot
cuppa I had to get the step stool (or a tall person), move the spices and get
the mug. Then repeat when the mug was
washed and ready to put back. I needed a
plan!
It was my
husband that came up with the first suggestion.
He was watching something on HGTV and pointed out how the small bottles
of spices were being kept in a drawer near the stove in the kitchen remodel
that was being done. That allowed the
cook to spot any spice easily if they were alphabetical in the drawer.
Yes that was
a good idea only my drawers closest to the stove were overflowing with unorganized
junk. Great another area to
straighten. I could feel the “but first”
syndrome rising in me. It is a disease I have suffered from greatly all my
life.
You know
that syndrome. For me this was happening
with the pantry remodel and spilling over into the cupboard corralling. Here is
how it was building up.
1. I need to finish the pantry shelves,
but first…
2. I need to decide what is going on the
fourth higher shelf, but first…
3. I need to make a decision on the
spices and herbs that are in the pantry, but first…
4. To put the spices and herbs up the
way I want I need to re-arrange the main spice cupboard, but first…
5. I need to straighten up the glass and
plastics cupboard so I could move the mugs, but first…
6. I need to empty the two drawers
closest to the stove, but first…
7. I need to get that fourth shelf ready
to store the things I’m moving from the kitchen, but first…
8. See #2.
How often do
all of us run into this syndrome? So I
made myself set down, take a deep breath and work out first in my head and then
on paper where I wanted everything to end up.
This gave me a game plan. I also
knew I needed to make myself STICK TO that game plan. So I chose a day I didn’t have to worry about
cooking dinner because the men were going to an evening dinner meeting. Then I got up early and got started.
Having a
plan makes everything easier and saved me a lot of walking. Here was the plan.
1. Unload, reload the dishwasher as
often as needed. This was to be step one
because I knew that as I moved things around I’d find things that were dusty,
or sticky that would need cleaned. If it could safely be done in the dishwasher
it was definitely going in there. I’m
not a big fan of hand dishes at all.
2. Clear the cabinet tops. This would allow me to have unfettered
sorting areas.
3. Clear off the top pantry shelf
completely. Wipe it down. By doing this one first I could put the
seldom used kitchen utensils I’d be moving to that storage shelf up as I came across
them. The plan for this shelf had become
one that would place those utensils behind a front row of my gallon and half
gallon jars of my flours, beans, grains and similar goods.
4. Take a before photo of the dishes and
plastics cupboard. This is for not only
my benefit but yours as well. I have to
admit posting the before photos is always hard for me, but it is my way of
forcing myself to not only see how cluttered things have become this last 17
years, but to remind me to never let them get that way again.
5. Using my cleared cabinet top sort all
the plastics by size and shape for better storage. Only keep one lid per storage bowl. If I have a bowl/lid with no match up they
will be removed to either go to recycling, charity donation or to use in
gardening.
6. Wipe down emptied shelves.
7. Replace the now sorted/organized
plastics in an orderly fashion in a more convenient order starting at the far
right.
8. Pull out the plates, cereal bowls,
saucers and organizer from the bottom shelf.
Wipe down the shelf and replace.
9. Pull down the items from the top
shelf of the far right cupboard sorting by where it will either be stored, or
disposed of. Wipe down shelf. Return the
items that will remain on that shelf to the cupboard. Put the items moving to the pantry storage
shelf to the pantry. Take to recycle
items to the recycling area.
10.
Moving
on to the middle cupboard. Starting at
the top, sort and cull as I did on the previous cupboard. Wipe down the shelf, replace and put up the
items.
11.
Middle
shelf will be continuation of the plastics and would be dealt with in the same
manner.
12.
Bottom
shelf. The men prefer plastic glasses, I
prefer glass, thus the two separate glass cupboards. However, there are items we seldom use in
both glass shelves so those items will be culled as previously described. Wipe down shelf and deal with the sorted
items before moving to the next cupboard.
13.
Third dish cupboard. Will be handled much the same way as the
previous two. By now my middle shelf in
this cupboard should be empty or near empty.
This is where my mugs and glass measuring cups will now go.
14.
Take
before photo of the drawer closest to the stove.
15.
Empty
the drawer sorting the items as I go as previously described, however, I’ll be
putting things like my salad shooter together instead of in parts to store as a
unit in the upper cabinets. I believe
this will be a more efficient use of space. I only use that utensil about once
every two months, so it will not be a big problem that it will be behind the
large containers of spices, where I’ll only have to move 1-2 containers to
retrieve it, fully assembled, when needed. Wipe out drawer.
16.
Repeat
with second drawer.
17.
Put
up things I’ve sorted in spaces created in the previous segments, in
recycling/charitable donations or on the far cabinet temporarily out of the
way.
18.
Take
before photos of the two spice/herb cupboards.
19.
Starting
with the top shelf and working my way down of the cupboard closest to the sink
sort the items as has become the habit by this time. Sorting the spices and herbs in rough
alphabetical order as I go. Culling old
spices, combining newer ones, and washing any extra small bottles as they
become available. I will be using these small balls for spices for the camper
in the future.
20.
Repeat
with second cupboard.
21.
Now
the fun part. In alphabetical order,
starting at the drawer closest to the stove place the small spice bottles on
their sides so the labels can easily be read.
I will be filling smaller bottles of the spices/herbs I use in small
amounts regularly from my big bottles.
The bigger containers of these will be put in one of the grain pantries
to do refills with as needed.
22.
If
needed, fill part of the second drawer similarly. The remaining space in the second drawer will
be to hold my individual measuring cups, funnels and rolling pins.
23.
Starting with the upper cupboard nearest the
stove. Place the now assembled items
like the salad shooter, popcorn popper etc to the back of the shelves in an
organized manner. A single row of large
spice/herb containers of the items I use nearly daily in large amounts will be
in front of those utensils, that are used maybe once per month.
24.
Take
after photos of all the cupboards.
25.
Wipe down the outsides of all the cabinet and
drawer fronts.
26.
Sweep
and mop.
27.
Smile
as I turn off the light and leave the kitchen to go collapse in exhaustion at
the computer to put this blog post up.
Yep, that
was the plan. Now how did it really go?
As with any
project around here it took longer than I thought it would. On day one I managed to get most of the upper
cabinets to the right of the sink finished.
There was far more in that cupboard than I thought there was. By the time my son came home I was thrilled
that he helped me move the mugs from the left side of the sink cabinet to the
right side one. He agreed that over by
all the other dishes was a far better place for them.
However,
instead of putting the mugs in the larger middle shelf of the cabinet closest
to the sink we found it was a much better use of space to put them on the same
shelf in the middle cupboard and put my larger storage bowls in the large
cupboard. This was because the larger
storage bowls would not fit well in the smaller middle cabinet. We are, as always, flexible in our
organization plans around here.
By the time
I declared myself too tired to proceed further that day I still needed to sort
the top shelf and the bottom shelf of the cabinet closest to the sink. Everything left of the sink and near the
stove remained pretty much untouched.
I did smile
as I left the kitchen that night because the seven shelves we had completed
were gorgeous in our eyes.
Day #2 only
the minimal got done in the kitchen.
Instead I went with my men to see Star Trek:Into the Darkness.
Once home I
wrote the blog review of the movie and then spent the evening with my guys. You
can view the review by clicking on the link.
Day#3. Was budget day. So very little was done in the kitchen, I
have certain days I work on the budget, pay bills, balance the checkbook or
other things in my time budget and I try
very hard to not skip that day to avoid financial chaos. So day #3 was a sticking to schedule day for me.
Day #4. I was in a cooking mood so as I worked on the
kitchen in a normal fashion I made a large Sunday afternoon meal, followed by
an evening of watching the weather extremely closely as massive tornadoes moved
into my part of the state. Why bother to
sort it all out if it’s going to blow away right?
Day #5. I did a “but first” and started on the
cabinets on the left side of the sink rather than completing the right side
because I needed those cabinets at least partially organized in order to finish
the first set of cabinets.
Unfortunately,
in my enthusiasm to get started, I
forgot to take photos of those two cabinets for the before and didn’t remember
until I had all the small spice bottles out of the cupboard and basically
sorted. I wasn’t about to put them back
for the sake of a photo, after all I was already four days behind schedule on
this project.
I alphabetized
and sorted the small spices, filling the drawer closest to the stove as
planned. This is where I hit an
emotional road block. This is a drawer
of medium depth and all that vacant space with a single layer of small spice
bottles in it really bothered me.
Decisions needed to be made and I needed to consult with the two other
cooks in the household before I went forward with the spices. They wouldn’t be home for hours, so I went to
work sorting out other items in that cupboard until…
Tornado
warnings went off for the second day in a row.
Then I became glued to the tv, phone and computer all at once. I watched in horror for nearly an hour the
live video as fellow Oklahomans were in danger from the two mile wide tornado
in Newcastle and Moore, Oklahoma tore the ground up for over 17 miles,
destroying everything in its path. I
prayed hard for all those folks as I kept track the path of that storm. Fearing the worst for family members in
Moore. Thankfully they are physically
okay, but their home is totaled.
As it veered
toward my home I gathered my emergency supplies and hit the basement, for the
second time in two days. By the time we
were all clear and had worked hard on checking on the family members in Moore
it was too late to finish the kitchen.
However, I
did confer with the two men on the drawer and ideas to avoid wasting that
space. Dh suggested I create a tray of
some sort similar to the trays I have in other drawers in the kitchen that
create two layers that are easy to move to get to the layers below.
I had
purchase these drawer expanders at Garden Ridge years ago and have never
regretted putting them in the drawers. I
had no idea if Garden Ridge still carried anything like that any longer, but I
did know that the exact same ones wouldn’t work because of the way the
compartments were made. So I closed the drawer and mulled it over during the
night time hours.
Day #6: I
woke up still with no idea what to use for a tray. So on this day I started again on the upper
shelves leaving some small spice jars, and the spices that were in tins
unstored at this point.
I had
decided the day before to remove permanently as many of my small appliances as
possible from the cabinet tops because I have very limited cabinet top
space. However, I still wanted them
where they were convenient. I had also
decided I wanted my most used mixing bowls up where they were more convenient
for me to use and more importantly put up as I empty the dishwasher.
This
resulted in a completely different storage plan than I had originally decided
on for the bottom left shelf closest to the sink. I moved my expanding tiered spice shelf, also
purchased at Garden Ridge years ago, from the large section of this cabinet to the
bottom shelf of the smaller section. On
it I placed all my food colorings, small cake decorating kit, cookie sprinkles,
extracts and similar products in alphabetical order of each type of item. In front of this tiered shelf I placed the
large bottles of extracts and condiments that we use regularly.
In the
larger section on the bottom shelf I placed my mixing bowls, my ingredient cups
(ramekins), my Oster Kitchen center base and
my small hand mixer. In front of the
mixers. This left some space in front of
the mixers, but I wanted to wait and see what type of space I was going to need
for my large containers of spices.
It was as I
worked with this cabinet I had a thought for the spice drawer. Storage bowls, Ziploc large rectangle to be
exact. Would they fit on top of those
spices? Why yes they easily would.
This meant a
slight re-arranging of the spices already alphabetized. I decided to put all my tinned spices in one
of those bowls, and the used daily or near daily spices, herbs and seasonings
in another. With all the remaining
spices being alphabetized below so that we could get them quickly and easily as
needed.
By using
these bowls we could lift one or more bowl out to see what was below with no
problem. While not as attractive as a
specially purchased spice drawer organizer might be, it works. More importantly, I already had these bowls. I also included a 2 cup size one to put my
clothes pins we use to seal bags we have rolled the tops down on in.
A side note
here about clothes pins. Whether you
hang out laundry or not clothes pins have a multitude of uses, this should be another
blog post over at “Mind Your Pennies” for
the future, the one I just referred to here is a simple enough one. One day I was in Wal-Mart and noticed they
were selling “bag clips” for around $1 each.
I laughed when I saw them, because they were clothes pins that had been
relabeled to sell as bag clips. No
special paint, no special design, just a single plain wooden clothes pin.
Out of
curiosity I walked over to housewares and priced a package of 100 clothes
pins. For that same $1 I could get 100
“bag clips”. Ever since then we have
used them to seal everything from chip bags to the cereal box liners, for items
we need to store only temporarily that would be too time consuming to use the
vacuum sealer on or to place in a jar.
This is when
I realized that by doing this I would use up all the currently stacked rectangular
bowls, which I would eventually replace with others I had cleaned out from
other places in the house. So I went
back to that right cupboard to finish it up and take the photo with those bowls
in place so you could see the overall cabinet plan.
But first…to
finish sorting that cabinet I needed to work some on the pantry top shelf,
cheez this is really a circular project isn’t it?
While all of
this was going on storms were raging outside again. This time however, so far it was merely
thunderstorms, not tornadoes, thankfully.
As I worked
I realized I was going to have to give up certain guidelines I had set for
myself. Just as with the small bottles
alphabetizing my large containers would not work for the allotted space in a
single row either. I was going to have
to put some containers behind others, so it made more sense to put the most
used where they were the easiest for me to obtain. The ones I used on a less frequent schedule,
but more than the ones in the grain pantry, would have to be in a second row
between the front ones and the small appliances. I wasn’t happy about this turn of events,
because I don’t want to have to constantly move things around more than
necessary.
However, I
liked even less the idea of having them stored elsewhere away from my main
cooking area. So instead of totally
alphabetizing these bottles I put them in “use” order, but sort of
alphabetized. So behind the beef and
chicken bullion containers were the containers of the commercially made beef
and chicken gravy powders (thinking beef with beef, chicken with chicken would
be simpler to find in a hurry). While I
use Williams Chili seasoning more than once a week, I only use chili powder
about once a week. So the chili powder
went behind the chili seasoning. You get
the general idea.
My plan to
put all the Oster Kitchen Center attachments that were scattered in several
drawers, cabinets, closets all on one shelf would not work because of the size
of them. So parts of two shelves had to
be used. While the citrus, sausage
maker, and pasta maker attachments were going to have to stay in the utility
room storage they were already in. At
least this allowed me to have all the food processor parts together, which was
a great improvement.
As I gave
into these adaptations the upper cabinet to the left of the sink came together
quickly, as did the spice drawer.
That only
left the drawer for the rolling pins, measuring cups and such. As the rain continued to fall I took a rest
break to type part of this. Then hit at
it again hard. I wanted to finish the
drawers and cabinets today, but knew there was no way the mopping of the
kitchen was happening due to the fact it was nearly time to start dinner. Jambalaya was on the menu for that night.
After dinner
I did a small bit of general kitchen clean-up and then headed for bed. I was tired.
Day #6. This day was spent doing general kitchen
clean-up, typing this blog report and snapping after photos.
Day #7. Today the final cabinet door wipe downs,
sweeping and mopping finally occurred.
Along with a round of merchandising for the one company I still
periodically help out when they are in a bind, proof reading and posting this
blog post.
In
summation. It has already probably
became clear to you that in this household, as in so many other households
around the world, no project of any size beyond tiny gets done super fast.
Life gets in
the way, ideas come from nowhere. Not
only for that project, but for future projects and for future blog posts. Ideas that must be written down before they
flee from my mind forever.
The Princess
Plan is a good plan and ideally it could be done in a year for the number of
things I want to accomplish. But as you
have already seen I suffer greatly from “but first syndrome” and from stopping
to smell the roses along the way. After all
roses only bloom for a very short time each year, and who can guarantee we will
be here for the next season of roses.
I keep
records of ideas, an example is the 58 pages of the blog concepts outline for
future blog posts for all my blogs including the new one that I will be
starting soon called “Lingo” it will definitely be fun to do. Stay tuned for the announcement. I will also
be added to my blogs links to the right as soon as the first post goes up.
The main
thing to remember is no matter how long a project takes, don’t give up. You can do it and you will be so happy you
did. Just look at what a difference this
last week has made in all my upper cupboards and the demise of two junk drawers
that are now useful organized drawers.
Ahhhh, the value of before and after photos.
While all I
did might not work exactly for you, maybe you’ll cull some good ideas for
yourself.
Jan who is
looking forward to working in her now orderly kitchen in OK
