This might be the OCD in me but before the big transfer of kitchen supplies from our old kitchen to our new kitchen, I’ve been drawing out little diagrams on how to fit and cajole our entire pantry, bins of baking supplies and cabinets of pots and pans into the new space.
Our current kitchen is teeny and up until recently I’ve been storing the rarely-used tools in the garage. Even so, our countertops now are often over crowded with every gadget that we actually do use on a regular basis, such as the blender, crock pot, toaster oven and coffee maker (those 1930’s cabinets are so shallow even storing a blender in them was out of the question).
And then of course there’s the magic ‘kitchen triangle’ that every kitchen planner recommends for creating a conducive cooking space – your most frequently used kitchen areas (aka the fridge, sink and stove) should fit the points of a triangle with as close to equal sides as possible.
That’s an early rending (before we changed the counters a bit) above showing our new kitchen layout.
Maybe it’s because I’m over-the-moon excited to move into the new space (even though we have the backsplash to grout, the appliances to install, etc) but the anxiety of filling each and every cabinet and drawer with the right tool in the right location leaves me with this layout:
One day we hope to add a pantry to the opposite wall (past the windows), but until then we’ll be skimming down our bags of flour, cans of soup and bottles of olive oil so that all can fit easily on two cabinet shelves and in two roll-out drawers.
And for island storage:
So that’s the plan that I’m sitting on now. Meanwhile my dishwasher is working non-stop as I rewash every utensil and cup before it finds a home in it’s new location.
But I’m curious to know – do you have any more tips for me? Do you line your cabinets with contact paper or rubber mats? Do you swear by any sort of drawer inserts for organization? And where do you keep your forks in relation to everything else?
Do you have a good drawer close to the oven/stove for hot mitts? I love having an easy to access drawer close to the hot stuff!
That’s a great idea – I will attempt to find a way to get hot pads and mitts close to the stove/oven for that purpose. Thanks!
~Morgan
A note of liners… my mom’s new trick. which I quickly opted for in our kitchen too… forget the contact paper and purchase some cheap lenoneum squares! They last much longer than any other liner and are impossible to rip or wear down. Plus you don’t have to worry about them getting all wrinkly from installation like the contact or wall papers. Super easy to clean and then you can add the cushy non-slip stuff over the top in the areas that need it. I don’t like the cushy stuff in every cabinet because they are difficult to clean.
That’s a great idea! I’ve never thought of that – thanks Anna :).
~Morgan
I use contact paper on my top cabinet shelves (they are too ugly not to hide) and use the cushy stuff on bottom cabinets so the higher things slide out easily & bottom ones are easy to pick up anyway. My biggest decision with my kitchen reorganization was color and print choices on contact paper and cushy stuff. I had a hard time finding something that didn’t look like “old lady” stuff, but still had a pattern on it. I was happy to find the perfect green & white that I love. I use wallpaper to line shelves in my laundry room and have covered my bathroom shelves with fabric that matches my labeled baskets. Yes, I am a little OCD about organizing :>) Have fun!!!
I think those are all great ideas! And not OCD at all – I did a post waaay back about ‘modern’ contact paper and might need to do some more searching to avoid the standard blue checkered variety. Still love the idea of only sticking the edges down too.
~Morgan
My mother uses contact paper, but that is mainly because she has an older kitchen with wodden chip-board shelving, she painted the shelves, but also uses contact as it makes wiping the shelves down easier.
I do not use contact as I have shelving that is made from melamine, and is easy to clean. We built our house a few years back, and probaly should have thought more about kitchen space when we designed the kitchen, cause it’s hasn’t got masses of storgae, and I do keep some of the kitchen appliances that are not regulary used in purpose built cupboards in the garrage, which has internal access from just near the kitchen, so its not too much trouble.
I have 4 standard sized draws, stacked, similar to yours, on the right of your dishwasher.I keep all everay cutlery in the top draw, which has a factory fitted cutlery divider(my fancy set is boxed in the garrage). Second draw houses utensiles such as a pizza slicer, bottle opener, and salad servers in a store brought divider; third draw holds more utnesiles such as a slotted spoon, cheese grater and meat mallet- I haven’t got a divider for this draw, instead I purchased some anti-slip sheets from IKEA, they stop everything sliding aorund when you open and close the draws. And finally the 4th draw houses all untensibles devoted to baking, cooky cutters, spatulars, measuing cups, whisk etc, also on the no slip matting.
Also in the cupboards that are above the bench and wall mounted I house everyday glassware & Vases. I also have a couple of cupboards with glass doors, and in those I house all the other glasses, champagne, wine, pilsner, martini and margarita, as well as a few decorative peices of glass.
Good luck with sorting it all out, so far it looks fabulous!
Lady S
~www.ladyinresidence.blogspot.com
Sandi, I didn’t even think of the fork placement as being close to the dishwasher – but you make a great point!
Lady S, thanks for your great drawer organization suggestions… love them all! Drawers can be difficult – I’d like to add about 10 more to the kitchen.
Sheila, that’s a really great point on cushy cabinet liners which I was originally leaning towards, I’m short as well and need the sliding power. I’m using wallpaper in my current cabinets and love incorporating the pattern – may do that again!
~Morgan
Something I’ve done in the past is to use wallpaper, with double-sided tape on the two ends to secure. Easy to change, and cheap if you buy the closeouts or partial rolls. I’m currently using the kinda’ cushy vinyl (?- not sure what it is) liner- but not real happy with it. It’s great for glasses because of the cushy part, but it’s impossible to slide something across it. (I’m short and this stuff makes it hard to slide that bowl toward you in order to get a better grasp of it.)
I was going to say you should make sure you have your forks near your dishwasher, but you do!
This kitchen is going to be amazing – I’m so jealous!
That’s a great suggestion! Makes it MUCH easier to switch out the contact paper later (I’ve run into the pulling off of veneer from the actual shelf in the past).
~Morgan
OK, this tip doesn’t have alot of WOW factor, but it has served me well. My mom taught me to always line my cabinets and drawers with contact paper. What makes it easy is, after cutting the piece to the right size, only remove the sticky backing from the edges, about 1-1 1/2″ all the way around. Then if you want to replace it, it is so much easier to remove. Good luck!