Monday, April 29, 2013

You're about to learn more about my kitchen than you ever wanted to know. Sorry.

But these posts are keeping me on task so I'm going with it.  Okay, just so you get a sense of the kitchen I'm working with, a general photo.  It was a red and white '50's kitchen when I moved in, but I remodeled it.  I'm more the earth-tone type.  It's a galley kitchen and not particularly spacious, but I like it.  The end there used to have a little breakfast nook, but I designed a granite topped table that is perfect for things like kneading dough.
All that food piled on the dining room table has to go somewhere. One feature I do love is the pantry with a door that can be closed. I keep the food that goes in here organized in bins - the tea bin, the cookies and granola bars bin, and so on. I also keep oils, vinegars, jams and the like on the little shelves.
Such neatness! All the food not in the pantry or fridge goes here and in the cabinet below. I used to keep things like flour in those glass containers, but the pantry moths knew how to get in and now I mostly store pastas in them. And at the moment, Easter candy.
The lower cabinet has cool slide-out shelves. Now I can actually see what I have and use up some of the duplicates. Ditto in the freezer - all the seafood and soy things are grouped together so I know what is there.
For efficiency's sake, I keep the coffee and sugar out with the coffee maker and grinder. Those are two of the four appliances I keep on the counter because I use them on a daily basis. The others are the microwave and the toaster oven. Everything else I want stored out of sight, behind cabinet doors. Like the dishes, pyrex containers, and vases above the coffee.
This cabinet holds every other small kitchen appliance I own. I was already something of a minimalist when it comes kitchen gadgets. Not that I've never bought them or had them given to me as gifts, but ultimately, I get disgusted and revert quickly to the tried and true items. Over the years I've gotten rid of my bread machine because it eliminates the only thing I like about making bread - working the dough with my hands. And the rice cooker I was told would magically improve my life because I realized it was harder to clean, took up space and I already owned a rice maker in the form of a pot. Also, an ice cream churn because I don't eat all that much ice cream to begin with, but when I do I either want to go out for an ice cream cone or I want a pint of Ben & Jerry's Karamel Sutra or Cherry Garcia. And finally, a juicer that, although it did make good juice, was a royal pain in the ass to use and clean. This go round I got rid of the waffle maker for the same reason.  Likewise, the food processor because I like to chop things. After all, that's what my knives are for. And I ditched the regular blender, too. Instead, I have a handheld immersion blender and a hand held mixer. I also have an air popper for  popcorn (because microwave popcorn bags have a carcinogen in the lining that decomposes and is consumed along with the popcorn) and a crockpot for applesauce and some stews. And that's it. Measuring cups and colanders and I'm good to go. I culled from this cabinet and the one next to it all the odd glassware like commemorative glasses from various events or places.
And of course I weeded through the drawers that hold utensils. Why did I have two ice cream scoops? Why keep the big wing-style wine bottle opener when I only ever use the simple waiter's corkscrew? Why were there cheap chopsticks from Chinese takeout when I have nice bamboo chopsticks? Why was there some mis-matched flatware stored behind the stuff I actually use? Gone now, all gone.
I have two other drawers that hold utensils. The one on the other side of the stove that has only three grill implements, wooden skewers for shish kebab, and oven mitts. Every utensil I cook with is in that ceramic container or the drawer on this side of the stove. There is not a single item here I don't regularly use - everything else went to the get-rid-of pile.
And finally, the spices I use most frequently, in alphabetical order. And the two lone knickknacks in my kitchen: a wooden cow I brought back from Switzerland and a pewter echidina a friend gave me to remind me of my visit with her in Tasmania (because whenever we saw one toddling alongside the road, I'd make her pull over so I could get out and pet it).

There you have it. I know it's not for everyone, but this is THIS cook's dream kitchen.

40 comments:

  1. I wish I could de-clutter the kitchen, but since I don't cook, it wouldn't go over too well I think. Problem is, my darling cook is also a kitchen junk hoarder...

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    1. Definitely the cook is the one who gets to decide!

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  2. Dont even have a junk drawer in the kitchen? Not that my kitchen is even remotely that organized, but I don't even let my kids put stuff away cause it drives me nuts if things aren't where I put them last,

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    1. I did a post on the junk maybe a year ago when I cleared it out. It now holds only a few essentials. My kids are teens - I WANT them putting things away.

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  3. WOW...you are soooooooo organized and tidy!

    My brother is a professional chief, therefore the kitchen the MAIN important room in his house. But even HIS kitchen isn't as organized as yours.

    Love the black kitchen accessories you have in your kitchen. They look beautiful against those light-colored cabinets. You have good taste, girl!

    X

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    1. I wouldn't expect that from someone who cooks for a living - I bet there are more specialty tools he uses that would be worth keeping for him.

      And thanks!!!

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  4. I'M actually coveting your tidy drawers and pantry. I am so seriously jealous. I just can't do that. that's all there is to it.

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    1. It's work, but it's actually far more dable than you might imagine.

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  5. if you want to get rid of the air popper you can microwave regular popcorn in a regular paper bag with just a wee drizzle of oil. i put about a quarter cup of kernels in a bag with less than a teaspoon of olive oil. fold over the edge of the bag, nuke it and voila! microwave popcorn without the nasty carcinogens.

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    1. I have read that, but then I'd have to store paper bags. I like the air popper because it's easy, requires no oil and doesn't have to be cleaned.

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  6. nice...i like your pantry...that is one of my projects this summer....turning a closet into a pantry for my wife...that will def help us de-clutter....

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    1. This one looks like it was a closet originally. There were no shelves other than the little ones on the side and the previous owners had mops and things in there.

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  7. What a lovely space: light, not too cluttered but full of things that show the room is loved and USED! Also, I covet your cupboard with the pull out drawers.
    Our kitchen is used by everyone for everything: so there is also a drawer full of string, batteries, scissors, sellotape, stick it notes, keys,etc. A mug full of pens, beside a box of paper. A pile of torches by the door for dog walks at night, two boxes for recycling paper and plastics, a compost bin, paper shredder, fruit bowl, etc. etc. But we have no basement and the kitchen is the through room of the house so everyone and everything passes through here!!

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    1. The cabinet maker I used had some really great ideas, those pull-out shelves being one of them. There's also a drawer that has dividers to stand up baking sheets and a lazy susan under the corner.

      My kitchen is the walk-through room from the door everyone uses. But I have a den and all that officey-stuff goes in it.

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  8. You are an example to me, maybe to us all.

    Only this morning I found several plastic containers meant for storing frozen dishes had sprung a leak. Some have lost their lids or their bottoms. How do I become as efficient as you?

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    1. I think the reading helped me form a plan of attack. And then beyond that, it's allowing yourself to be seriously critical of the things you have and ruthless about making them leave the house.

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  9. Good job! I agree with you on all the small appliances except the blender. I rarely use my blender, except to make the kids smoothies in the summer, with ice, so I feel the need to hang onto it, even though it was a wedding gift from '86. My spouse bought a hand held immersion one and I despise the thing. It splatters all over and just doesn't seem to do the job for me.

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    1. I can understand that. It's not which appliances you keep, I don't think, but that you decide which ones you really use.

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  10. Good lord, if my kitchen ever looked like that I'd put a coat of heavy varnish on it and seal it off.....take out would be my only food. Twice a year I'd open it up and show it to the neighbors, probably charge a fee too.

    Left over from my years as the sole cook for the kids, I have a large cabinet that only has plastic containers for uneaten food, if I toss them out I'll probably store fly tying materials and spare fishing equipment.

    How about we trade houses for a few weeks, say in July, it should stop snowing by then and you can work your wonders while I re-clutter your place? Deal?

    Cheers
    Muddled in Montana

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    1. I have a drawer for a set of plastic containers but only a set that have interchangeable lids and are stackable. I'm trying tor use the pyrex ones more because they can be heated without leaching anything into the food.

      Well, I already have tow teens who provide all the re-cluttering I could ever need, but I'll be happy to throw away a bunch of your stuff. :-)

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  11. I love the look of your kitchen. Mine is small. I don't mind the inadequate storage space as much as I mind the very minimal counter space.
    I am now picturing in my head things I'd like to just toss :)

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    1. Counter space is important if you like to cook. And tossing (to Goodwill, mostly) is sooo addictive.

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  12. Deep sigh of envy. Our kitchen isn't a mess by any stretch, but it does have lots of stuff in it--but, to our credit, all stuff we use regularly (like our rice cooker: probably three nights a week for that baby!).

    A lovely tour. Do it for every room in your house?

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    1. I just never could get into the rice cooker. But if you use it three nights a week, it is definitely not clutter.

      I'll do more of the rooms, but not my sos' rooms - I've decided not to touch those until I am ready to move!

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  13. You're doing so great! I do this periodically, and yet it still seems to rebuild itself over the next year. So I keep at it, like the closet full of clothes.

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    1. Thanks! And it's true - I"ve de-cluttered before. I'm really trying not to re-stock needlessly.

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  14. You're actually rocking that dark mustard color. Not everyone could. And what bravery, to have ANY clear cabinets. Good luck!

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    1. I fell in love with that paint for the kitchen because it is exactly the color of the butternut squash soup i make.

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  15. Everything's so neat and organized. I hope my future kitchen can look half as tidy as that.

    Knowing me, I'll be lucky if I can have the pantry half full at any time. :(

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    1. Luck doesn't have a lot to do with. When you have kids, you have to keep food around.

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  16. You are such an organised person. Congratulations!
    You have made me feel like cleaning up a bit too.
    Maggie x

    Nuts in May

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  17. I am so jealous because I have never ever been a minimalist but it is a goal of mine. Less is more is my new approach only I haven't started it yet! Your kitchen looks amazing and way to go on the organization. We had a popcorn popper years ago and then went to the microwave corn. We are back to the popper, no more microwave for us!

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    1. When I was a kid, I was a true packrat. But once I made the switch, I've more or less preferred things uncluttered.

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  18. I LOVE your kitchen! My kitchen is small, but it helps me get the job done. I like that you have things organized in jars.

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    1. Thanks! I like the look of a few interesting foods in jars.

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  19. I gave up on alphabetical anything. Now my spices are on a lazy Suzann grouped by most common combination (like cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg are together).

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    1. I keep the spices I use most frequently over the stove and they are alphabetical so I won't have to think about it - I know right where to go. The rest are on a small lazy susan in the cabinet in no particular order.

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  20. I want a pantry in my next house. I love those slide out shelves.

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