I love reading all the Kitchen organizing tips on here- it's alot to try to take in when you are just starting. But I would like to know if any of you have ideas or tips that DIDN'T work. Why I ask? Awhile back, I started the "catch-all basket" I think I read in a magazine, I know it was supposed to be a temp holding place to keep the kitchen more tidy looking, but these only ended up being little(actually not that little) overflowing exposed junk/trash holders for me. I am now trying to just stick with one and be very picky at what actually goes in it- hopefully just get rid of it altogether.I guess I am just not following the rules for that particular "helpful" tip or idea. I know what works for some may not for others-we are individuals, but have you tried something that sounded helpful but just wasn't?
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Posted 11 months ago #
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Good question. I found out only yesterday - or rather admitted it aloud to myself - that a separation of baking gear from the rest of the cooking utensils just doesn't work in our small kitchen. I am an aspiring "pastry chef" (well, gotta set them goals high, right?) and still want to add some gear for those activities, but a designated baking section will exist only in another kitchen. *sigh*
Posted 11 months ago # -
I think a catch-all basket is good when you first start decluttering. However, a catch-all will always fill with all sorts of random stuff no matter how hard you try to not let it. I used to have several catch-alls. Never again. Eventually, you'll want to find more efficient storage/organizing solutions for like items. Most likely the contents of the basket could be sorted into piles of similar items. Take one group of items at a time and try to figure out permanent place for those items. If you are putting mail into the catch-all, that should be the first thing you take care of so don't miss any payments.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Since we live in a studio apartment that is also small, there is no point in keeping writing supplies in the kitchen. The office is only a few footsteps away... Grocery-list making supplies and stuff for writing on freezer containers now live in the office area and I'm a happier woman. It was almost like getting rid of a small-scale cath-all, since that area started accumulating other miscellaneous stuff as well!
Posted 11 months ago # -
For me it's stockpiling. It just doesn't work for me. Since I live alone and cook only once or twice a week (not a favorite activity of mine, as you can see), I can easily buy most of what I need once a week. Otherwise things get freezer burned or lost for months/years behind something else, even though I try to rotate things.
What I need to do is emulate the zero waste home and only have one container of beans and rotate the variety I buy, and the same for grains. Of course, first I have to use up the backlog I have on the shelves and in the freezer! This will take me a few months at least (sigh).
I've already pared down the amount of tools that I have, but I need to take another hard look at what's in my drawers. What *does* work for me is "a place for everything, and everything in its place." I have to put things back where they belong, or the mess starts to drive me crazy.
Posted 11 months ago # -
we had a freezer once.
it was a leftover from a catering contract.
i couldn't wait to sell it on.
we just don't eat out of the freezer as a general rule.
we shop most days and we cook it and eat it that day.Posted 11 months ago # -
That's what I mean, my stockpile is the only organized space for me. Another eye-opener was from the other kitchen thread. It is JUST a kitchen that should be set up as such. For years, I have been Trying to make it into multi-purpose, grand central control area-and need I even say it..... that is defiantly NOT WORKING.
Posted 11 months ago # -
in fact, most equipment designed to store/preserve food hasn't worked long term for me.
i dabbled in preserving, freezing, dehydrating.
it has all gone now.
i simply prefer to buy what we need, on the day we need it.
i am mostly cooking for two, with some entertaining.
the climate here pushes us in that direction too.
things perish quickly, so you tend to buy small amounts frequently.Posted 11 months ago # -
I failed at stock piling too, but there are 3 grocery stores within 3 miles from me, so there really isn't a point. There is a bulk grain store close to my house. They sell all the dry goods you could possibly need. My plan is to get a lot of dry goods I currently have into the canning jars that I had from a failed attempt at embracing canning. Once I do that, (I've been procrastinating), I can start buying from the bulk store. The big plan is to reduce garbage so we can switch to the smaller size city-issued trash bin. I don't know if it will work or not, but I'd like to try. Maybe next year I'll be posting on this thread that it didn't work for me, and all the canning jars have been taken to charity. lol
Momwalker - I once tried to make my kitchen to be command central also, but it was too much. I can easily keep it tidy now that it is no longer the everything space.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Bulk containers that aren't clear.
It worked fine for me for several years, the containers were labeled and I would refill the same ones with the same things over and over, so even when they weren't labeled, I knew what they were.
Then, I was out of commission for about a year - pregnancy knocked me on my ass from almost day one, then I was on bed rest, then I had an infant. Other people did my grocery shopping. They did not respect my system AT ALL. With random "wrong" things in the containers, I never did get the system back together (like, my bulgar wheat container got filled up with oatmeal, but I was out of bulgar wheat, so bulgar wheat got put in a different container...) My partner DOES NOT LABEL. Never ever. This is also the time period when someone "helped" us by recycling all the empty canning jar boxes.
Finally after 4 years or so, I started putting most things in clear glass jars. Yeah, the shelf life will be less but whatever. There are still some leftover issues (crap, is that baking soda or baking powder?) and one time I accidentally made tabouli with steel-cut oats instead of bulgar wheat, because of lack of labels. But giving up on the old tins and moving to new containers AND LABELING THEM is making things better - the pantry's a little overcrowded right now because in the transition we ended up with two of some things, and they're not always things we eat often. But it's getting there. Now that my son's in daycare instead of school again, I am having time to cook & organize more, so I hope to have it all in order by the end of the summer, partly by using up the dribs and drabs of old dry goods. Also by doing all the grocery shopping myself again.
Posted 11 months ago # -
An appliance for everything does not cut it!
Initially, I thought having all of these things would make my life simpler and oh-so-productive...NOT!!! Recently gave the following items to our local family free-store...a tortilla-maker, a waffle iron, a sandwich-maker, a smoothie-maker, a bread machine, a dehydrator, a vegetable steamer, an electric tea kettle, an electric coffee pot, a rice cooker, a bagel toaster, 15 assorted pans for making assorted things, and a partridge in a pear tree!
Am down to: a blender, a hand-mixer, a panini/grill press, a toaster over, a crock-pot, and a food-processor...and I may even decide this is too much, we'll see!
Man, do I ever have cabinet space!!! (And no, I'm not filling it with more stuff :)
Also, JUNK DRAWERS!!! I thought this was a good idea until I realized it was just a trash-can for things I didn't know what to do with. I have eliminated all "junk" drawers, because that is REALLY what they are :)
Posted 11 months ago # -
Cooking didn't work for me :)
Seriously though, I do cook sometimes, although rarely. But I'm in the same boat as ArtGal. When I took a serious look at my kitchen stuff, a lot of it went. The coffeemaker went (took up counter space, and I can use a much smaller french press for the rare occasions when I make coffee at home). The gas grill went (technically not in the kitchen but serving a kitchen-like function)- too big and too much to maintain.
What I do have are a cuisinart toaster oven that can serve as a substitute for a regular oven- great if you're cooking for 1 or 2 people, as it heats up quickly and doesn't use as much energy as a larger oven. A stick blender for smoothies that gets stored in a cupboard. I also have a hand blender and a crock pot. I think a crock pot is essential even (especially?) for the cooking impaired like me.
Posted 11 months ago # -
washing-up doesn´t work for me!
last year i decided to put EVERYTHING in the dishwasher from that moment on. it survives or it gets tossed. whew, my life got so much easier.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Mimi, you made me think. My boys have 2 plastic Christmas cups MIL gave them for Christmas and I have to handwash them plus they take ages to dry due to being tall. I'm going to replace them with something dishwasher proof but still kid friendly, I hate those cups and they make me think of MIL every time I see them :( I do have to wash up saucepans, frying pans and metal water bottles, but too many other things creep into that pile rather than the dishie.
Another thing which doesn't work for me are corners in the kitchen. The corner used to be where I kept the recycling, the mop, the dustpan and brush, etc. It became a dumping ground for everything by everybody. Now I am trying hard to keep that corner clear by moving all that stuff to out of sight areas which may be slightly less accessible (but still not too far away) so that my family don't pile crap in the corner again. It makes the whole room look and feel and function so much better!Posted 11 months ago # -
Junk drawers DEFINITELY do not work for me. (If it's not worth finding a proper place for it, it's not worth keeping, IMO.)
Multi-function spaces actually don't much work for me, either. The idea of using a computer in the kitchen makes me crazy (I don't want a TV or a desk in my bedroom, either).
Specialty appliances do not work for me. We got two blenders when we married, and we rarely use either of them. I have resisted all hints that someone would like to give me a breadmaker, or panini press, or waffle iron, or or or. I have a hand mixer, and most often resort to manual mixing because I don't like the power mixer! I figure, if Careme could make a meringue by hand in 1814, I can make one now.
Stockpiling doesn't work for me. I have lots of cabinet space but only one refrigerator/freezer, and I'm cooking for only two, most of the time. I want fresh food whenever possible.
One thing that *does* work for me (that wouldn't for many unclutterers) is entertaining. The chafing dish, the fondue pot, the vintage china, the stemware. I am no Martha Stewart but I do get satisfaction from a well-laid table and the occasional rococo item of serving ware.
Posted 11 months ago # -
lottielot, i also used to think that i have to wash up pans, pots, glasses, silver cutlery etc. now i put dirty casserole dishes, pans and the good wine glasses in the dishwasher, alltogether. the only things that really don´t like the dishwasher are products made from aluminium and "raw" iron.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Mimi, with a family of 4 I don't have the luxury of putting pans in the dishie, no room! Plus they don't really get clean if they're really dirty I find. I do put most stuff in there, wine glasses and smaller colanders etc, but roasting tins don't fit, the juicer components go in there, pretty much everything except pans and suchlike. A little bit of handwashing is ok, better that than running the dishie 3 times a day. Oh, and my expensive non-stick frying pans are not going in the dishie, no way!
Posted 11 months ago # -
Closet-type cupboards that are deep. I prefer drawers anytime and they should have the correct depth then; deep for pots, shallow for smaller utensils and food for instance.
Posted 11 months ago # -
@lottielot: ok-ok-ok, just a suggestion ; )
Posted 11 months ago # -
No, you had a good point Mimi :) It's a trade-off between things taking up lots of space in the dishie versus having to handwash things, I don't always get it right! I bought some cheapy, small glasses for the kids to use which will live in a low drawer for them to reach easily.
One thing which doesn't really work for me is high corner cupboards. I can't reach most of the stuff in there...Posted 11 months ago #
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