Another one of my goals for 2012 was to get organized. I decided to tackle the kitchen first . I don’t know about you, but I cannot stand to have “things” on my counter tops. It makes me anxious. Cluttered drawers make me crazy too.
This is probably why I have a hard time eating other people’s food. If they have a messy kitchen I can’t eat what they have prepared or have brought to a potluck. It freaks me out.
For instance, I have a really nice friend {who shall remain nameless} and without fail, every time I have had something to eat at her house, there has been hair in my food. Human hair, cat hair, dog hair, you name it. I love my friend dearly, but c’mon. Stop letting your freakin’ cat climb on the counter tops, dust a little so I don’t have to deal with dog hair floating around the room and for goodness sake pull your hair back in a ponytail when you prepare dinner. Oh the humanity. It’s a miracle my gag reflexes have not kicked in yet and made my friend feel bad because I had to hold back vomiting all over my dinner plate because of the “extra protein” that was served.
So now that I have vented, let’s get back to cleaning. I like to clean. Cleaning makes me happy. But, I have slacked off BIG TIME over the past few months. Granted I don’t have hair floating around my house, but still.
I decided to go thru all the drawers and cupboards in the kitchen and get rid of all the junkity junkity that some how always seems to find its way into our house.
I haven’t decided yet whether I’ll donate all the extra kitchen crack or if I’ll save it for a yard sale this summer. I know I should find a giant box and toss it all in there but then I’d have to store it. Ugh. Cookie Scoops… do you have them? You should. Besides using them to scoop perfectly round balls of dough {if you have OCD cookie scoops are an awesome stress saver} you can also use them to scoop perfect portions of muffin batter and chicken salad as well.
I even had to weed through the junk drawer to get rid of well, junk. Turkey basters are weird. I mean, how many times a year do you even use them? Twice? Three times maybe? Yet we allow them to take up prime real estate in our kitchen.
Cookie Sheets, Silpats, Cooling Racks and Cutting Boards. These items get used the most out of anything in my kitchen.
Baking dishes and specialty pans. {Note to self: make a bunt cake}
Cups. What happened to all our small drinking glasses? I had 12 now I have 6. And what’s up with the tall ones? I had 12 and now I have 13. Hmmm. Maybe Girly Girl has been shopping in my cupboards when I’ve been at the store.
The Handsome Husbands coffee cupboard. I can’t even tell you when the last time I paid for coffee was. The Folgers & Tasters Choice coffee came from Amazon thanks to Swagbucks, the Starbucks Christmas Blend was a gift from my parents {they buy the HH coffee every Christmas} and the Starbucks Breakfast Blend was selected {by his Mom} from the Amazon Wish List we make every year at Christmas time. I also received a bunch of free tea {my Mother} and a box of Starbucks Peppermint Hot Chocolate from the neighbors is in there as well. Life is good. Free coffee & tea make it even better.
Basically, if you want to organize your kitchen, grab an empty box and roll up your sleeves. Purge, clean and get rid of the cat hair.
More Goals For 2012:
Grow 2,000 lbs of fruits & vegetables
Kari says
I love your kitchen! Most of all, the flat island. We are currently looking for houses, and everything you see has a two-tiered island. They are on crack. Anyone who really uses their kitchen knows you need a big flat surface!
Mavis says
I agree. Flat surfaces are Da bomb!
Desi says
I’m trying to organize some rooms this year too. To better organize my kitchen though I would need more space and drawers. Maybe little shoe box size totes to put under the kitchen sink for the gadgets I use 1-2 times a year and can’t toss. By the way your kitchen looks BEE UTIFUL!
Jennifer Jo says
I’ve been lusting after a cookie scoop. In fact, I was all set to order one from Amazon, but then I ordered a cookbook instead.
Mavis says
Maybe Yo-Yo Man can make you a scoop.
nancy says
cookie scoops? got ’em. turkey baster? really? not me. would kill for a cupboard for my cookie sheets, cutting board, etc. not part of the package at my home. will have to see if i can figure out how to make one. i cleaned the kitchen/de-junked it this past weekend. feels so good.
Jules says
I think your next give away should be you coming to organize a (my!) kitchen! 🙂
Mavis says
Ha Ha.
CathyB says
So how do you like the sink in the island? We are looking into building a home and I am drawing out plans and debating all sorts of issues. One thing I have been torn about is whether it is best to have the sink or the cooktop in the island. I love the look of the sink in the island but I know that I always have a few stray dirty dishes around the sink that are waiting for the next dishwasher unload/reload cycle or are ones that I hand wash and are just waiting to be washed. I can’t help but think that it would bother me more to have dirty dishes piled on my island next to the sink rather than on a counter. I don’t know, is this an issue for you? If you could refigure your kitchen what would you change?
Also how big of a pantry would you ideally use? Because I am so pantry deprived right now I think I overdid it in my orginal plan and drew in a 6 x 25 foot pantry! But reality hit and in the interests of reducing square footage I reduced it to a 6 x 8 pantry, which is still bigger than anything I have ever had. But with canning and stocking up at sales, I think that this could be easily filled.
Thanks! Cathy
CathyB says
PS – My husband uses the turkey baster every weekend when he cookes bacon to suck the grease out of the little well on the griddle to keep it from overflowing (our griddle has too small of a well, it seems – or too fatty of bacon!)
PPS – I love the colors in your kitchen. I may have to pin your kitchen picture to my Pinterest board where I keep ideas that I like.
Mavis says
I think 6×8 sounds perfect! The center island was originally suppose to have a cook top where the sink was haha.
You Can Call Me Jane says
I’ve been purging over here, too, and had Jamey put in wooden dividers for my silverware drawer (versus the plastic ones). It adds so much space and additional height. You should have heard Sadie squeal when she first saw it (she empties the dishwasher):-).
Mavis says
That’s funny. I’m glad it made Miss Sadie happy.