Here’s a peek into my kitchen and all its problems. I hope you’ve got some good solutions to my kitchen dilemmas.
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Growing up I thought that the only spotless kitchens were those you saw on television. Ours was a small kitchen with little storage space. Stuff crept out on the counters because there was no other option. While it may have been “clean” in a germ sense, it was cluttered. I didn’t realize until I was in junior high or high school that other people had clutter-free kitchens. I’m not sure that all those families did much cooking in their kitchens, but their kitchens were showrooms, nonetheless.
My kitchen is “lived in”, as was my childhood home’s kitchen. There’s a lot of cooking done in my kitchen. Whether it’s me or one of my family members or many of us at one time, there’s almost always some food prep going on in our kitchen. Also some messes. I’d like to change the latter. I’d like one of those pristine kitchens: a well-used, but also tidy, space.
After cooking in some pretty tiny kitchens in France this fall, I came home with a new appreciation for the ginormous space I have for cooking. But, I also realized that it needs some improvements.
I tend to stay away from kitchen stores and magazines because I want to be content with what I have. Looking at “bigger and better” doesn’t help me do that. Improving how I care for what I do have does.
However, sometimes a girl needs a little help. Since I can’t have you all over for coffee, though that would be quite fun, I thought we could chat about some of my problem areas. Maybe you struggle in the same way? Or maybe you’ll have a great solution.
This is real life in my kitchen.
(Excuse the iPhone pictures, but I get up at 4 am each morning. This is the best I could do.)
This is what our kitchen looks like in the morning when I get up. It’s not a disaster, but it’s not the Donna Reed kitchen of my dreams, either. There are clean dishes on the counter, overflow from the dish drainer last night. Cabinets are continually left open. That lower cabinet is where we keep the kids’ drinking glasses. It’s perpetually left open.
Perpetually. Insert angry eyebrows emoticon here.
Here are some of my problem areas.
Maybe you can help?
Piles of produce – We get a lot of fresh produce. Some goes in the fridge; some in the pantry. The items that I don’t want to forget about, get left on the counter. I need a better solution.
Kid clutter – Self-explanatory.
Stained grout – This has been one of my most embarrassing parts of my kitchen. This white grout is impossible to keep clean. I can talk about it now because we have a plan to remedy it. Stay with me.
Too much stuff – I know some people have nothing on their counters. I’d like to get to that spot, but I’m not there. I moved the utensils out of a drawer because the drawer was just too congested. I cook a lot and actually use all these utensils on a regular basis. Not sure if it’s different storage or decluttering or both that needs to happen.
Flour bag – See the opened flour bag? I have two bins of flour, but no bins for other varieties. I need to buy a few more. Any favorite in your cupboard?
New grout! – Last weekend my husband removed the old grout from this section of counter and replaced it with shiny, new white grout. He’s got an internal debate with himself (he’s a general contractor) about which kind of grout he wants to use throughout the kitchen. There are different kinds with different benefits. I’m letting him work that one out on his own. I’m just thrilled to have a countertop with no shame!
Cleaning supplies – broom and vinegar spray. They seem to travel quite a bit. They need a home.
So there we have it: this week’s edition of Real Life in My Kitchen. If you’ve got solutions to my problems, I’d love to hear them. Feel free to share your own kitchen challenges as well.
Cathy
Thanks for sharing your struggles with the kitchen. We have some of the same ones and the ideas are helpful. A friend of mine gave me this idea for cleaning supplies – they all live in a small tote with a handle. I can fit window cleaner, duster spray, cleaner spray bottle, toilet bowl cleaner, papertowels, a sponge, and plastic gloves. It lives under the sink. The kids are encouraged to put the cleaning supplies back as they learn how frustrating it is to not be able to find it when it is their turn to clean. The cleaning supplies are easily portable and can be taken around the kitchen or into the bathroom for cleaning. It’s also helped with not keeping extra supplies we don’t use.
Dana
Over the last few years I have been downsizing my kitchen and all the stuff in it. One thing that has been helpful to me is to have less utensils and bowls etc. If I need more bowls for baking or whatever I just wash them. And since you have kitchen helpers they could just hand wash them and dry them to use again. Instead of waiting for the dishwasher to finish up. I hate hand washing dishes but it is so fast and not really a big deal if you just do it. Two kids could get it all done and put away much quicker than the DW could.
Jessica Fisher
After I published this post, I started downsizing my baking dishes. What freedom!
Naomi
Hi! I’m not sure i have any additional suggestions to add to the wealth of advice above, I’m just curious – do you really get up at 4am – every day? Wow!
Jessica Fisher
I do. It’s the only time my house is quiet. 🙂
Carla
I think a long, bigger, low-rimmed basket would be good for the produce(a tray just visually seems like stuff would try to roll off and not stack well). We did get a sleek, simple, cheap, black tray from amazon to put our electric kettle, kuerig spinny thing, spoon rest and a spare black cup for filling the kettle & keurig. It’s amazing how much better this area looks with these more “cluttered” items contained on a tray. I pull it out to heat water and then it gets slid back on the counter. I ditched my knife block—the few knives i have are in a drawer ( a couple nice/sharper are in a cabinet). Maybe separate the containers for spoons & such. For example, on one side of my stove is a crock for spatulas & wooden spoons. The other side is for cooking spoons, strainers, etc. Maybe separate won’t look so piled up? Oh, my vinegar spray I put in a cute little spray bottle from one of the dollar general stores. I have to fill it a bit more often, but it stays out on my counter by the sink . . .ahem . . . or wherever else it lands. The other stuff I insist goes on the rod under the sink. But this little bottle is cute enough to not be a bother. Curious to see what you do. 🙂
Demi
I have been inspired! Just ordered a spice rack with matching jars and labels, and a produce hammock. Thanks for the ideas!
Esther
At our old house we had 2 metal magazine baskets hanging on side of the lower cabinets for the over flow of produce. I loved them. We too are a family of eight and you just can’t fit it all in the fridge!
Michelle S.
Oh Girl. I so feel your pain! Although your kitchen is much, much larger than my teeny one, we have the same issues. Have you a space for a hanging wire basket (or tiered wire baskets)? I have a 3-tiered one I hung underneath a cabinet. I store fruit or veg from our CSA baskets there and up off the counter, since we have little space. I know they sell grout-whitening paste at Home Depot. Perhaps it might be worth a shot if FishPapa doesn’t want to do it all right now. For flours, I really prefer vintage metal flour bins from the 50’s or 60’s. I have several, and they look great and work great. My dream, though, is to have an old Hoosier cabinet with the flour and sugar bins and the big, enamel work surface. That would be heavenly!
Because my space is so small, I have a clip thing on the wall that holds the broom and dustpan. The bigger wall has a wall-mounted pot rack from Vermont that I ordered on Amazon. It is fantastic and has a shelf above for my larger pots. I got a great wall-mounted magnetic knife strip for all of my knives, and then an IKEA rail system, with hooks and buckets for cutlery, other utensils, and all my kitchen tools. Perhaps you could use something similar to catch some of the clutter.
elie
i would suggest one of those magnetic strips for the knives…they save space and the knife blocks dulls the knives.
Jessica Fisher
I’ve never heard of the blocks dulling the knife. Huh. I’ve been reading a lot of reviews for magnetic strips and most complaints are about damage done to the knives. Do you have a brand you recommend?
Brooke
Have you considered a pegboard for the kitchen wall? To me, this is like art, but I love all of my kitchen tools and would lovingly gaze upon them if I had any real wall space in the kitchen. The link here is to the DIY instructions and an image – Julia Child used this method! If it was good enough for her, it must be perfect! 🙂
http://www.remodelista.com/posts/diy-pegboard-kitchen-organization-inspired-by-julia-child
Although, this might not work if the only wall space you have it what is in the picture…
Leah
I bought this a few years ago to store our produce on the counter, and It’s been a life changer for keeping produce looking neat and off the counters.
http://www.ballarddesigns.com/bd/235807?cm_mmc=Google-_-2012-_-NBPS-_-PLA&mr:trackingCode=FF3A2921-B98F-E111-AF97-001B2163195C&mr:referralID=NA&mr:filter=75553541425&mr:ad=47247370705&mr:device=c&mr:match=&SourceCode=BDG006&origin=pla&mr:adType=pla&mr:keyword=&gclid=Cj0KEQiA7tCjBRDulMny5rfM0dkBEiQA7fcshQ8bGqZ_iejWp2ypWbRdGQi-5QUA-QoggQyVKGSK6C8aAuuU8P8HAQ&redirect=y
Jessica Fisher
Thanks for the link. That looks pricey, but good.
Danielle L. Zecher
You’re probably much better at organizing your kitchen than I am, but here goes:
My kitchen is really tiny (the whole house is about 900 square feet, so you can imagine how tiny the kitchen is) and has only one drawer. We added a small bookshelf to the kitchen for all of my cookbooks (I have tons, and have inherited some from grandmothers, great grandmothers, etc) and we keep sort of wooden buckets that we picked up at Michael’s really cheap on the top of the bookshelf for storing thinks like onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc in. We’ve started keeping things like apples in a large bowl that matches our china pattern on the table. The bowl was a wedding gift that we loved, but didn’t store very well, so that seemed like a way to kill two birds with one stone. Plus, it looks really pretty with Granny Smith apples in it. 🙂
I’m still working on good ways to store flour, bread flour, etc. A lady in Sam’s Club recently told me that you can get the empty icing buckets for free, and that they’re really good for storing thinks like flour and sugar. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m hoping to pick up a few this week.
There are a lot of good suggestions here; I may have to look into some of those storage containers. I also agree with the people who’ve said that you’re doing well. It’s your kitchen, if it works for you as is, then who is anyone else to declare it cluttered?
LeesaB
Regarding the metallic strip for knives, you ought to look into something like this http://www.benchcrafted.com/Magblok.html . Or, your husband might even be able to make you one – I’m not sure how handy he is, but I imagine it would be pretty easy to get some strong magnets (rare earth, perhaps?), a block of wood and some food-grade finish.
That said, we have a regular metallic one and I’ve never noticed it damaging our knives. You do need to remember to pull it off edge first, to not dull the knife.
I can’t offer you any suggestions about the clutter as my entire house is in desperate need of a purge. 🙁
Alice E
My counters are worse, I think. But, I will put my two cents in. I use the Rubbermaid canisters and bought them at the grocery store. They come in sets, or separate and I can have several canisters for flour. I don’t really want the counters completely clean, I like to leave appliances and canisters out. I would also suggest some kind of tiered baskets or bins for produce storage on the counter. Do try to identify and store elsewhere stuff you rarely use, perhaps in a basement or other storage area. However, you have a large family and use lots of items in recipe testing and display pictures, so you may need more items than your kitchen can store neatly in cupboards. If this is so, then grouping and using matching or coordinating containers for things like utensils will have to do for know. I knew someone with a house that had nothing on the counters. But, some of her cupboards were crammed full. I prefer organized cupboards and stuff on the counter, where it isn’t forgotten. Good Luck and God Bless.
Janel
Here’s a storage idea from World Market. They’ve got a whole system, but I noticed the knife rack — it’s not magnetic. I think you have to buy the bar separately and then the different pieces.
http://www.worldmarket.com/product/modular+kitchen+wall+storage+collection.do?&refType=&from=Search
Sara
I feel your pain. I am the clutterbug of my household, and my husband thinks we should live in Architectural Digest. He is a bit of a surface Nazi, always moving things off countertops and stowing them away. While some of his little hidey holes drive me insane, I have adapted to some of his suggestions. I agree with everyone else that streamlining should be the first thing you do. Pare down to one knife block and get rid of what you dont’ use regularly. Cleaning supplies should go under the sink. This is also where we have our garbage can on one of those slide-out rack thingys. Go through your dishes and get rid of what you don’t actually use. For instance, we never used the tiny cups/saucers that came with our Fiesta ware, so those went on a garage sale and it freed up half a shelf in a cupboard. Also, we put all the kids dishes in one cupboard. Ideally, one that’s accessible for them. And one large container for something is always going to look neater than a bunch of small containers. For instance, one large utensil crock rather than two small ones. Use a large basket, serving platter or bowl to contain fruit and veggies. My favorite thing that we adopted is to put up metal rails underneath the counters and use S hooks to hang our coffee mugs from. They’re easily accessible and visible that way, but off the counter top. Also, for flour, I bought a giant glass container that would fit probably about 10lbs of flour in it. Got it at Walmart for $10. Clear glass so you always know how much you have.
kellybd
Hi jess,had to write in,although I have no advice..your pictures made me chuckle..it looks like my kitchen…he he..acorn squash on counter..check..broom leaning ..check…cabinet doors open..check..haha look,the truth is..those lovely neat and tidy kitchens don’t have big families living in them..I have 7 kids,work 3 overnite shifts a week,and do almost all my cooking from scratch,like you do..I do the best I can with keeping the clutter down(love the hanging basket idea)..only suggestion I have is for my baking supplies I use Tupperware modular mates..they come in different sizes,tight fitting lids..love them….other than that ,I will be watching for any good ideas you come up with!thanks for always keeping it real!
Jenni
We have a lived in kitchen too. Dishes are always in rotation. I keep a fruit bowl out. And certain appliances just make sense to keep out.
BUT…confession time. I live in the country, and country mouse and his family moved in. And despite our pest control company’s efforts (really a lack of) a mouse or two is still hanging out. So now we obsessively clean. So, you could always get a mouse infestation for motivation! Haha.
I hope you never have that!