A Little Post On Kitchen Organizing

26 Sep A Little Post On Kitchen Organizing

jacque lyn clark

I’ve had a bit of a stomach bug this week, so forgive the lack of a post yesterday!

This past Sunday, I spent every spare moment doing something I love and don’t have much time for – organizing.  Perhaps I felt inspired by getting to hang out be silly with Jen from IHeartOrganizing (who is so down to earth and pleasant to talk to by the way – don’t you ever wonder what your fave bloggers are like in real life?)  at the Better Homes & Gardens Stylemaker event in NYC last week!

BHG Stylemakers 2013

If you follow me on Instagram (@astoriedstyle), you probably saw a week or so ago that the makeshift “wall” between our kitchen and the new room finally came down.  Wahoo!

Those wood boards were in front of dear, dear drawers – you know, the ones with your scissors and tape and pens and extra keys.  I was not home when said wall was erected, and I was very sad to see those drawers had been covered.  It has been months – months! – since I have been reunited with my favorite chalk pens and sharp scissors, and it has been a happy reunion.

But then…then I had to begin bringing the kitchen items that have been packed in my living room forever into my kitchen.  Finally!  I have been anticipating this kitchen reorganize for quite some time, so I whipped out a large box to put garage sale items in and went to work.

Our kitchen is not very big, and storage space is not ample, so I knew I needed to do some major purging of items I have not ever used since I got married.  Do you have these?  Fondue set anyone?

This lazy susan cabinet literally pains me – I am always shoving things in here, and it is one big mess all the time.

I took everything out and wiped it.  I also wiped the interior of every cabinet and drawer in my kitchen until they were sparkly, lemon-y clean.  It was wonderful.  (in a hard work internal reward sort of way)  And then I pared everything down to what I really use.  In the nearly nine years I have been married, I have cooked enough meals to know what I really need.   I tried to apply the same rules to thinning out your closet to thinning out my kitchen:

If you haven’t worn it in a year (or ever), toss it. (in the garage sale box, of course)

If it has a hole or is damaged…again, toss it. 

My policies were indeed paying off when the cabinet above went from looking like that hot mess to this.

The cabinet under the countertop between the addition and the kitchen feels really cavernous to me.  Things seem to get lost in there so I headed to Home Depot and purchased two of these drawer units.  They mount by screws to the bottom of the shelf, and I installed them in five minutes each or less.  And let me tell you, they are amazing!  Cavern cabinet, be gone!

I saved the best for last because it thrills me to have a drawer like this.  I feel like only my coolest cooking friends have one, and now I can join their ranks.  Behold…

the uber-organized utensil drawer!!

I LOVE that I can see everything (these items used to be thrown in a drawer, yuck), and all of my most used cooking utensils are within close reach.  It took me the whole day, but my kitchen is now clean and organized (even the darkest corner of my darkest cabinet), and it feels so so good.

Plus I had this huge box full of items for my much needed garage sale!  (adorable baby not for sale)

I’m curious to know how many of you are happy with your current kitchen’s organization.  What are your tips?