Friday, January 14, 2011

I NEED YOUR HELP- well my kitchen does for sure!

Ok so my kitchen is tiny.  TINY.  tiny.  When we moved in my sweet friends Alyssa and Nicole helped me to unpack my boxes and put things away.  It's worked great... until lately.  So now I need your help.  There aren't many options of where to put things in my kitchen but any suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated.  There has GOT to be a better way to make this work!

 This is my "pantry".  Don't laugh.  It's relatively deep which is great, except for the part where I can't reach anything in the top cupboard that isn't located right at the front.  Currently I have cereal and crackers in the top cupboard.  The bottom cupboard has 3 sections.  On the top I have food items, in the middle I have cans, jars, bottles etc, and on the bottom I have all my pots and pans (which barely fit... I have to take them all out to get the one I want and then put them all back in and I don't have the patience time for that.
I have these tiny little "over the fridge" cupboards which I absolutely cannot reach without a stool or chair of some sort.  It's pretty much a necessity that things that go in this cupboard only get used once in a blue moon.  Right now I have surplus paper products and serving dishes that I only use for company or holidays.
Above the dishwasher is one larger cabinet.  It currently houses my dinner plate, salad plates, bowls, and mugs.
Above the sink is a mess.  Really it is.  On the left side I keep all of the hot drinks (coffee and tea which have to be accessible daily) as well as cocoa and cider.  To the right I keep... I really don't know, I just had to get up and go look.  PITCHERS.  Apparently I keep spare pitchers there.
To the right of those cupboards is a skinny little guy.  He houses the mugs that don't match my dish set and glasses.
I have one of those great big corner cabinets you can't put anything in.  Why?  Because the interior is shaped like the letter V!  I have 2 corner stacking shelves in there now but still feel like it's a mess.  This cupboard is where I keep all of my baking stuff from spices to mixing bowls.  I can only reach things on the top shelf that are near the front... again, I'm short.
Next to the corner cabinet is another skinny lil' guy.  This houses all of my round plastic containers and lids.  It's VERY organized- just not sure it's the best use of space.
Above the stove (again not a place I can reach well) I keep the square plastic containers and wine glasses.
To the right of the stove is a medium sized cabinet that has NOTHING in it.  Why?  Because my husband just cleaned it out and I can't decide what would be best to put in there, that's why!
Then there is the bottom cabinet, under the sink.  I just keep spare soap, trash sacks, the drying rack, dish soap that kind of stuff under there.  It's sort of a hot mess too!
 I have another corner cabinet on the bottom that is a lazy Susan.  I keep all of my baking dishes (I have tons!) under here as well as our water bottles and travel mugs.
Finally is my only set of drawers... all 4 of those puppies are filled.  I've got silverware in the top drawer.  Plastic wrap, wax paper, Ziplocs, and foil in the second drawer.  Hot pads, dish towels, and dish clothes are in the 3rd drawer, and the 4th drawer holds surplus baking items such as the flour that won't fit in my canister.
I do have this great little antique cupboard I got for $5 at a garage sale.  It's partly full (light bulbs in a drawer, an extra set of silverware and placemats in another drawer) but 2 drawers would be available for things I use sometimes but not always.

I KNOW this post is SUPER long, but can you help?  What are your suggestions for re-organizing my kitchen?

3 comments:

  1. You've got to move the things that are most needed to the best spots. Maybe move some of the pots and pans to the lazy Susan and move some of the water bottles and/or baking things to the empty cabinet or the top of the pantry and move the cereal down? You could also move spices to the cabinet next to the stove. Good luck!!

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  2. I have some ideas but I have to see the whole kitchen to know if they would work.

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  3. I would definitely move your plates & bowls to a smaller cabinet since they're not utilizing the bigger one they're currently in & you've got some smaller ones to work with. I would switch out your extra pitchers withe the cereal, crackers that are currently in the top pantry shelf & put them where the pitchers are. And various other moves. I agree that you want to put things that you use most in the best spots. I have VERY similar cupboard space, so I can sympathize. I also have an over-the-door clear vinyl shoe rack on my pantry door that houses all my spices, so it opens up space, is less messy & I can get to them all easily. I'd be happy to have you stop over to see how I do things & help you with yours, though I'm definitely NOT perfect. But I think it works well for me. Good luck!!! :-)

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