Store items at point of use

I took half a ME day yesterday to change things in my cabinets. In order to be better organized in the kitchen its important that items be stored where they are used most often. I started with this cabinet. The top shelf holds my least used set of dishes. I inherited these from my aunt and I use them very rarely. Anything rarely used is kept on the highest shelves.

I got rid of all the unused plastic stuff in there. The food got moved to the food cabinets. Except for the yeast. I prefer to keep the yeast in this cabinet for now. I moved the mixing bowls, measuring cups, and mixing jars to this cabinet because I do my mixing on the counter directly below this cabinet. The jars are used to store anything I mix to drink. (after its mixed) Powdered milk, kool-aid, juice, tea, etc. I mix it here then put into the fridge.

Next was this cabinet. This is where some of my mixing bowls used to be. The top shelf has inherited bowls and platters. Some of those are depression era dishes. Rarely used. The second shelf has another set of inherited dishes. These came from my grandmother. They contain gold (metal) designs on them so they can't be put into the microwave. They are Bavarian China.

Remove the mixing bowls. Re stack the dishes. Move the plastic and paper stuff. Now I have room for items that are used at the stove. Cooking oil, spices, and utensils will go in this area. I haven't figured out the best way to store them yet. Oh look, I still use plastic drinking glasses. The kids constantly broke all my glasses every time I bought new ones. So, I stopped buying glass and started using plastic. Now that the kids are gone I can look around for a bargain on real glass glasses again.

Ok, the next cabinet looks like this. All the food gets moved to the food cabinets.

This cabinet is above the stove. I use these pots but not very often. I move these to the top shelf of the cabinet next to it. Leaving this area to be used for other stuff.

See where they went? The top shelf. In this cabinet is anything used in the microwave; which sits on the counter just below the cabinet. The salt and pepper got moved to the other cabinet after this picture was taken. I use paper plates and plastic forks etc when my SIL is here for a day of sewing. I also use them for microwaving instead of my dishes that contain the gold designs. The microwave would ruin it or it would blow up the microwave.

Want to see a close up of the drawer units? I love this idea. I like drawers instead of plain shelves. I sure wish my base cabinets were drawer units.

This was the next cabinet to tackle. It was actually installed upside down. I didn't notice that until after I had signed the mortgage papers. I just had to live with it. This cabinet is only 6 inches wide. Geeze, what a mess in there.

Now that's better! I moved most of the pans to above the stove. I left only the largest items that would not fit in another cabinet.

See, it all fits nicely here. The only thing I haven't found a place for yet is the pot lids. I do have an idea for storing them but I have to buy something first. Some of my pans are stored in the bottom of the stove. My cast iron pans are stored in a bottom cabinet because of their weight. I have several.

Now I have nice empty counter tops and items are placed where used most often.

By the way, did you know it takes 18 gallons of water to fill one side of my double sink? Of course not.... why should you know that? I found out when I started carrying buckets of water from the bathroom to fill up the sinks. I make 6 trips from the bathroom with 6 gallons in each bucket full. Three buckets per side. Carrying buckets of water reminds me of my childhood when I had to draw water from the well outside and carry it inside to the kitchen.

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I do miss the convenience of running water in the kitchen. I need to buy a new faucet unit before I call the plummer. A trip to the hardware store is on my shopping list for next shopping day.

This was the next cabinet to work on. It's very awkward to use. It's the corner unit above the sink. The door is narrow and the back of the cabinet is wide. In a triange shape. I can't reach into the cabinet without using a step stool. I decided to leave it as is until I figure out a solution for the best way to use it. I'm thinking that some of my little used items are best stored here but I'll think about it for a while.



Well that's it for my ME day. Still lots to get organized in the kitchen..... on another day.