Friday, September 7, 2012

Home Organization 101: Week #1 The Kitchen

Wow I  finished this one just in the nick of time! I'm exhausted, so let's get this started :)

This is the BEFORE of my Kitchen


Another BEFORE shot




The first thing I wanted to tackle was the coffee pot, so I just better empty it and have one more cup o' joe!

BEFORE:


Kind of wished I wouldn't have had that last cup . . .


Eww!


I saw what Samantha from Simply Organized did and knew I had to try it for myself.


First you take a dish washing tab and put it in the pot, then you fill the pot with boiling water and then let it sit for about 30 mins (if yours is bad like mine at least an hour!)


In the meanwhile, I decided to tackle a few other projects like cleaning out the microwave. Here's the BEFORE:


Dried on food, water spots and fingerprints oh my . . .


One thing I HATE about microwave popcorn is the "butter" or "homestyle taste" that drips from the bags and dries on, but that's it I LOVE everything else about it :) 


AFTER


All wiped down and sparkly clean!



Moving onto the coffee bean holder, ewwww coffee bean oil!


All washed out with warm soapy water and filled back up. The coffee maker and burr grinder were wiped down and cleaned up as well.


What? Oh you wanted to how the coffee pot turned out? Amazing right? Go to Samantha's blog to see the most grossest-awesome thing ever!


Moving onto the cabinet above the coffee area is where I store my drinking glasses. Pretty basic, I've been thinking about adding a vinyl background or even scrapbook paper.


Under that cabinet is my Utensil Drawer. This is what it looks like, pretty basic. 



Next is the cabinet below the coffee area, apparently I didn't get a before shot :(
Let me try and explain, the top roll out had toaster, blender, waffle maker. The bottom pullout had a George Foreman grill and a small crock pot.


Now the top roll out has "morning items". Blender, Toaster and a Coffee Area. I bought the Linus Coffee Station at the Container Store and it houses my filters and sugars. I put that on a tray and our two coffee cups. This works great, before the filters were in another drawer on the other side of the sink.


The bottom roll out has my large & small crock pot, waffle maker, and hand mixer. The waffle maker and hand mixer are just vacationing here . . . I have other plans for them.


Speaking of the Kitchen Sink here's the BEFORE well after I emptied the garbage can and random cleaners, garbage bags and dish washing tabs but BEFORE I started cleaning!

 Random Cleaners


Shiny Clean ~ Oh yes, I have this problem of buying things and then not putting them to use right away and then when I do want them I can't find them well I bought the Ribbed Drawer Shelf Liner
from the Container Store and it will be perfect here!


Speaking of The Container Store, I drove 68 miles one way to pick up a few things because that place really is The Happiest Place on Earth!


I tried the new organizers out but I just wasn't sure . . .  I don't know, maybe I have a thing with collecting cleaners?


So I tried this . . .


and ended up with this . . .

Garbage on the left, Rubbermaid Pullout Drawer & Upper Slider & a Cleaning Caddy.

The Cleaning Caddy stores my most used items.


The Pullout Drawer contains garbage bags, clorox wipes, dish washing soap, rinse aid and extra sponges.


The Upper Slider has sponges, microfiber cloths and dish washing tabs. The rest of the cleaners are going out to the garage and I'm hoping to start using more of the Shaklee products I purchased last year.

Under Sink Drawer BEFORE


And AFTER cleaned with warm soapy water and old sponges tossed and new ones in their place.



At this point let's pause for a "keeping it real" picture or two! Organizing and Grocery Shopping are not a good idea, sure separately they are fine but together . . . not so much!




Ok let's move on . . . next is the Upper Cabinet to the left of the sink. Once again I didn't have a before since it was already the way I liked it - minus the background.


This cabinet stores my white dishes and baking dishes.

And under that cabinet are three drawers, which I'm not so sure what to do with yet. My Old Flooded Kitchen had a cabinet in that area and I'm not quite sure what to do with the drawers. 
What I have right now is: 

I used to have a top drawer that housed wraps, bags and lunch pretties but this new drawer is too shallow. I now have in the top drawer a divider which has straws, plastic utensils and napkins for lunches.


Under that the middle drawer which holds my wraps and bags. This seems like such a waste since this drawer is SO deep.

So I tried this instead . . .


All the sandwich bags, and plastic lunch containers in one place.

The bottom drawer looks like this, it's another really deep drawer so I put my Oxo Interlocking Drawer Modulars in here.

I'm hoping it will magically turn into this:


OK onto the other side of my kitchen. I'll start with the Upper Cabinet left of the oven. This is also another work in process. I have all my Tastefully Simple spices on a Lazy Susan. Shameless Plug to Order Here and then all the packet spices all together; taco seasoning, ranch packets and dry onion soup mix. On the middle shelf I have three divided Linus trays holding all sorts of teas, honey packets, and hot chocolates. The upper cabinet needs something but I can't decide what yet.


Below the cabinet is the Snack Station you can read more here. This is where we keep snacks for lunches and such. I put all the canisters in the dishwasher, polished the stainless steel and cleaned under and behind.


The filled them up with snacks. 


All clean and put back together.


Under the counter is another utensil drawer. It holds my spatulas, bamboo skewers, ice cream scoop, and a few other miscellaneous tools.



Under the drawer is another cabinet with roll outs, this is where I store all my pans. It's always a mess and a pain to remove any one thing.


So while at the Container Store Happiest Place on Earth, I picked up a lid rack. Duh how easy was that? I removed all my old Calphalon pots, pans and lids. Then arranged all my new Rachael Ray pans & lids.


Pure beauty isn't it?


The bottom roll out I put all my pans in order by largest to smallest.



And then pushed the roll out in and shut the door, easy. 


To the right of the Oven is another Upper Cabinet. It holds more Spices, Oils and Cooking Sprays on a Lazy Susan and in another organizer are Sauces & Marinades. On the Top Shelf are my favorite Cookbooks.


The Drawer under this cabinet has also been a work in the making. I weeded through all my knives, and other tools and decided to just use my favorite knives and tools.


The below cabinet is a major work in process.


I think I would like to use these cabinets and roll outs for baking, measuring, mixing, and storing cupcake decorating things. Thoughts? 

I bake once every week or two but thought these would be great to use for chocolate chips, coconut, sprinkles and such. 

Cute Right?

OK moving onto the Refrigerator and Freezer

BEFORE:




Empty


Not too bad but it needed a good cleaning!


I added to Fridgz Binz also from the Container Store.



AFTER


I tossed anything that was expired or had bare remains. The reloaded the door, butter and cream cream in the top. Then condiments on the upper left shelf, sauces, salsas, and marinades in middle shelf. Then milk and my waters on the top right shelf, then below that juices, mixers and beer. Lastly the bottom shelf has my daughters favorite waters and capri sun. 


Then I loaded everything else up. I'm most proud of the fruits and vegetables I washed, cut, and containerized. I saw what Samantha does on her Blog at Simply Organized with her produce and thought "I can do that too!" So I did, she all those pretty containers with pretty produce above? 


I used the fridge binz for Maya's lunch items that are easy to grab.


The larger one I used for my bread, bagels, english muffins and such.


Then I reorganized the deli tray. This holds cheeses, deli meat and tortillas. 


Most of my freezer items are kept in the larger freezer outside. I do however keep some quick frozen side dishes and of course Popsicles too. 


Last Cabinet above the Refrigerator. Liquor and Glass Vases. 


There's the tour of my kitchen, I hope you enjoyed!








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2 comments:

Jennifer Johnson said...

Looks great! Oh, how I wish we had a Container Store here!!! :)

mom2maya said...

Thanks Jen! I wish ours was closer I feel silly driving all the way to Portland for a container LOL! Love you!