A little kitchen needs good editing.

Oh my little kitchen. 9.5 x 12.5 feet (including the walkway to get to the basement) was just getting so overrun. Really I had just crowded too much in there I think. I didn’t take full before pictures, but you saw the disaster it was the other day. When we went to put in the french doors I moved everything out of the small corner cabinets in the dining room and realized just how dusty things there were. We haven’t changed much about what was in them for years. Now that Tuesday can reach up there I thought I should put the china up and out of the way. But there was no where in the kitchen for it to go.
Time for a complete clean out. I pulled everything off every shelf. I cleaned, purged and put it all back together.

The basket of chips was me finally giving in to the fact that we always have chips and they need a place to go besides crammed next to the microwave or crunched up in a drawer. Bj has already taken his coffee maker thing off of the tray so I might have some convincing to do on some of the reorganization.

The bulk of my time was spent here, moving things around to better suit us and what we use most often. I’ve talked about my dishes here (always on the lookout for them!). I probably still kept too many serving dishes, but I really do like to entertain. This is the longest I’ve gone with out throwing a shower of some sort!

And I took all of this out and reorganized and labeled (easy since they are just chalkboard labels I cut with my Silhouette). We only have this cupboard, one drawer and our refrigerator and freezer for food. If I get something in bulk I can store it in the basement (where my preserves are – out of the light), otherwise everything has to fit in this kitchen. When I’m on top of my game in the meal planning department this is no problem. When I’m not random crap gets bought and builds up here.

(Please ignore the pineapple, they were 10 for $10 and I haven’t had a chance to process and freeze them yet). Our pots and pans go here, one drawer is all tea, another small cooking utensils and the last well, it’s the drawer we all have in the kitchen! The bins hold baking supplies, parts to our small kitchen appliances, cookie cutters and I have a whole bin dedicated to popsicle making. This buffet thing from Ikea is not the best, it does block the walkway to the basement a bit, but we needed the space. In the corner of this picture you can see our learning tower. It’s a testament to how much we use and love it that we make it work in this small kitchen!

Recycling bin, and my spice cabinet. And my cutie. We have a gate here and can also close the door going to the basement for safety.

(from our yard: strawberries and mint)
I stayed up too late (12:30) working on this, but you know that super satisfied feeling you have completing something big? When you go to bed and are just so happy you finished the thing? That was me. I was so pleased with myself. So happy I did it all. It cost me all of zero dollars to feel like I was getting a completely re-organized and updated kitchen (the basket I found in another room).
Now, what to cook…
 

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285 Comments

  1. Wow! I bet you feel as if you have a new kitchen! It’s so clean and organized and bright and sunny… I love this space! I love the basket filled with chips above the fridge! The basket is so cute and gives really nice texture to this room. I love your storage unit and the open shelves above. I love how everything is out in the open and always within reach. It gives such a true, kitchen cottage look that I love so much. And the pineapples look really nice all lined up there.
    What to cook? Maybe a strawberry pie or strawberries with mint over ice cream! They look so fresh and delicious!

  2. It looks awesome, so cheery. With the micro moved the counter looks bigger. Great job! Worked on my side of the garage, all organized and it feels good. Now Jim’s side. I especially like that little cutie, Bennie.

  3. the kitchen looks AWESOME! i love a good clean and purge and reorganization. i just did that with my bedroom and bedroom closet last weekend and i can’t even describe how much better i feel! also, those strawberries look SO delicious!

  4. How are the pineapples ripening? We went last night and I thought they looked too green. We froze 7 pineapples last summer (end of I think) and they lasted us until now. $10 for a year’s supply of delicious pineapple, yes please! I hope they run that sale again.

  5. Wow that looks fantastic! I could stay home a week a work on clearing the clutter… and that wouldn’t be enough, but you have inspired me to try!

  6. It looks great!!
    I’m slowly working on our kitchen. I haven’t had any big chunks of time, so it’s been quite a process. But so nice to get rid of things we don’t need, and make the space less cluttered. I’m hoping to be done in 2 weeks (and we’re gone for almost a week of that), so once blueberry and raspberry season are in full bloom, I’ll have time to make jam and freeze freeze freeze 🙂

  7. Where did you get such a great deal on the pineapple? I loooove me some pineapple!

  8. I spy snack set plates! Do you have the mugs too? I have to stop myself from buying snack sets every time I see them, most recently 3 sets of “hawaiian leaf” snack sets. I’ve had them for years and years and never pull them out and use them 🙁

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