Days 3 - 5 of the 91 Day De-Clutter Challenge Week #1: Kitchen & Pantry

Pantry, Cabinets, Drawers

I have already worked over my pantry, cabinets, and drawers not too long ago. You can see these posts here:

• The Pantry (post 1)
• The Pantry (post 2)
• The Spice Cupboard
• The Storage Cupboard
• The Gadget Drawer

Now, I am not quite finished with all the cupboards, nor all the drawers, however I had a bit more work this week than I originally expected and was unable to get to all the things I had planned in the kitchen. Mind you, I still have a couple of days to go.

In order so you have something to look at, here is a video of our bird, Taz, rearranging my gadget drawer:


Taz is a Senegal parrot. She is 18 years-old in this video. She has been living with us for approximately 6 months now. She is a plucker but we are trying to gently break her of that habit. Her feathers are growing back, but some will never grow back. Taz is a good girl and a very happy and healthy bird.

My husband came into the kitchen with Taz and she decided to help me with my gadget drawer.  She was being totally adorable and active. She slowed down when she saw I was filming and picked up again when I put my iPhone down. (All those measuring spoons went through the dishwasher after she was through with them.)

I need to re-arrange my kitchen to add a computer desk and work station in it. I will take the rest of this week to do that and will post about as soon as I can.

The Kitchen Wall

Our kitchen is large for an apartment but like many kitchens there is very little usable storage space. Luckily there was a large empty wall by the stove. I decided to use it as both a decorative and useful space. On this wall I have many of the things that I need to have near at hand when I a cooking. 

I have even added the dry measures to the side of a cupboard where I can easily reach them. These help to add colour and interest to the area.

This wall is the focal point of our kitchen. It turns a boring, dull space into a colourful area of interest. I am very fond of roosters and chickens. It could be my Portuguese heritage coming through with the love of Barcelos's Rooster. (In truth, I am very fond of birds. Period.)

People who know I am an artist often ask if I painted the tree and bird motif on the wall. I did not paint the tree and bird motif on the wall. That is a wall decal that I found at a favourite shop. The rooster hooks are painted wood and those were found in a specialty shop many years ago.

All items are placed far enough from the stove to not interfere in cooking or be a fire hazard.

Here is a close up of the dry measure scoops. I have them on self-adhesive hooks. These are used nearly on a daily basis so they don't have time to collect dust or a fine mist of cooking grease on them. It is handy to have them so close and accessible. 

I hope my post has inspired you to think outside the box/cupboard/drawer in finding storage solutions that are both interesting and useful.

See you next Friday!

If you are just getting started with Evernote, DeClutter Artista suggests that you buy Brett Kelly’s remarkably practical e-book, Evernote Essentials, Second Edition. It is worth setting aside a couple hours to work through this brief, 95-page book. It will save you DAYS of learning Evernote on your own.

Spice Storage

Under cupboard spice storage system

This is how I store my spices for easy access. It has created extra space on my counter and in my cupboard.

View from the front

Side view

Magnet hot glued to top of spice jar. Labeled at bottom for easy legibility

To make this I attached a piece of sheet metal (2"x48"x1/8") to the underside of the cupboard (I used Elmers Ultimate Glue and had it held in place for 24 hours with c-clamps. (I put newspaper down on the counter and sink to catch drips).

Strong magnets were attached to the lids of spice jars using a hot glue gun. I wrote the spice names on address labels and pasted them on the jars.

When all was dry, the jars were attached to the underside of the cupboard with the magnets. They are easy to retrieve when needed and easy to put back when finished.

Currently there are 20 spice jars (seen here) but I have room for 7 more on this piece of metal and will be adding at least 3 more to this group.

If you are just getting started with Evernote, I suggest that you buy Brett Kelly’s remarkably practical e-book, Evernote Essentials, Second Edition. It is worth setting aside a couple hours to work through this brief, 95-page book. It will save you DAYS of learning Evernote on your own.

I have arranged the bottles with the ones I use the most closest to the stove (right) and the ones I use the least further from the stove (left) then by category as well (baking, savory, Italian, etc).  You can arrange alphabetically, by colour, by type, or whichever way makes sense to you.

I do have a spice cupboard, that I will be re-organizing in the coming months. In it I keep the rarely used spices as well as the refills for the jars.

See you next Friday!

UPDATE:

I was asked where I picked up the supplies to create this storage solution.

• I had quite a few of the spice jars from a spice rack that we received as a wedding gift 25 years ago. Dollarama sells similar jars and I picked up the extra jars there. 
• The spices are usually picked up at the grocery store or Bulk Barn.
• The metal bar that was glued to the under-cupboard, the C-clamps, and the glue came from Rona 
• The magnets were from Home Hardware
• The glue gun and hot glue were purchased at Michaels Arts & Crafts 

I probably could have purchased all the hardware at Rona or Home Hardware but I did not purchase everything at the same time.