It must have been the overhaul of our playroom, but I’ve been inspired to start attacking all the rooms in our house. I’m not sure how long this organizational drive will last, so I’m trying to take full advantage of it while it’s here. The girls’ closets are near the top of the list, but first I channeled my energy into a task that has demanded my attention for quite some time- the kitchen.
At first glance, it appears a little cluttered perhaps, but the real mess was below the surface.
Complete…
and total…
CHAOS.
I’m fortunate to have a lot of cabinet space to work with, but over the years, I’ve shoved things in places to quickly get them out of site. I’ve piled things up in drawers that didn’t belong. I inefficiently kept things higher up or lower than they should be. And finally it started interfering with cooking, something I very much enjoy!
I would forgo using a kitchen appliance or gadget to avoid having to dig through a pile, and long story short, it was time for an overhaul.
What I scheduled for a half day ended up taking the entire 9:00-6:00 day, but it was SO worth it. I pulled every item in every cabinet and drawer out of hiding, which gave me shivers thinking about the day we might ever move. Then I vacuumed and washed out each and every cabinet and reloaded them, with everything in a new and more appropriate home.
Basically, I’ve thoroughly confused David but have very much enjoyed watching the search every time he needs a cup or bowl.
I followed my playroom rule of not returning anything to a cabinet or drawer that didn’t have a purpose and a place.
This means I ended up giving away a lot of items, including my broken Kitchen Aid mixer and about 25 wine glasses. Don’t worry, we still have plenty!
I sprung for a new silverware organizer:
But the biggest upgrade was by far the children’s plates, cups, and utensils. We used to keep them in the upper cabinets and I have no idea what took me so long to relocate all of it to a more appropriate place:
Even though Hailey’s counter jumping skills were getting quite impressive, this makes so much more sense, as now the girls can easily access any items they may need.
It was a big undertaking, but really it only took a day, and the way I feel?
Freaking fabulous. I’m so much happier in this space and since I see Hailey and I taking on a lot of cooking and baking together starting in the fall, it feels great to have it cleaned out and ready to go!
Like I mentioned, I gave away quite a load of items I didn’t use, but I also relocated a few of my favorites to prime real estate to take full advantage of them:
My favorite and most used gadgets at the moment include: my rice cooker, slow cooker with saute/browning feature, digital meat thermometer, and new Bosch mixer, which was a total splurge but WOW, I am LOVING it’s power and open top feature so much and can’t wait to try out more things in it.
The girls and I are down in South Carolina for the eclipse today (!) and then we have about a week left of summer fun before settling into our new fall routine. I’ve been all over the place with meal planning (or lack there of) this summer and look forward to settling into a rhythm again to take full advantage of this refreshed kitchen space!
What are your favorite (most used) kitchen gadgets?
Do you have any spaces that are on your short list to overhaul?
The girls’ closets are next on my list, followed closely by the pantry, and painting the guest room. Though I guess that doesn’t count as organizing, it’s something I want to do before the holiday season!
sherry says
You are an inspiration! Would love to organize/throw away stuff in our unfinished part of the basement. That would be a weekend job–with no one saying “we might need it someday” 😉
Closet organization with built in system would also be on my list.
As far as kitchen appliances–I am loving our new Ninja blender–use it almost daily!
Enjoy the eclipse sighting!
Brittany Dixon says
Well clearly don’t have me around for the basement project because you know I’m not the best at letting go (currently have 9 bins of my school memories in the attic- it’s driving David crazy!!) 😉
Tarayn Comer says
The kitchen looks great! Have fun watching the eclipse. Can’t wait to see what else you get accomplished this week!
I also can’t wait to get a hold of my girls closet! Ekkkk it’s such a struggle. I buy way too much! 😭
I also am getting some builtins in my laundry built out soon and having it painted! Wahoo! I can’t wait!
Brittany Dixon says
Ah, builtins in the laundry room- that’s awesome!! It’s on my want list too. Enjoy!!
Brynn says
There’s nothing like a clean, organized kitchen- heaven! I absolutely love you gave away 25 wine glasses and are still fully stocked, ha! I need to do the same to my kitchen with number two on the way I think we need to reorganize.
Brittany Dixon says
I know, it’s pretty silly to think how many we had (and about 25 extra juice glasses too– why?!). A lady in our neighborhood who decorates wine glasses for gifts gave all our old ones a good home though 🙂
Lynn Thow says
Everything looks fabulous!! I know that you feel just as fabulous as it looks! The playroom looks wonderful, too!!
Erica says
Congrats to you! I tend to start organization projects, but am not the best at taking them to full completion. I will do one little area (like my pantry) but then quit before I venture into the cabinet full of stuff I’m not sure what to do with… I bet you have the same issue I do with my tall cabinets, I can never reach anything on the top two shelves! We use our rice cooker, nutribullet, coffee grinder, and kitchen aid mixer pretty frequently, those are my counter top appliances. Happy Monday, enjoy the eclipse!
Christina says
I love home organization posts! 🙂 Our kitchen cabinets need an overhaul as well but our kitchen is so small (with very limited cabinet space) so I really need to be creative. But your post has me thinking that a lot of my seldomly-used equipment (like a souffle dish I’ve used all of one time!) is taking up valuable real estate, while my beloved slow cooker is stored in the basement and requires some effort to haul out. I think I need to change that! Enjoy the eclipse with your girls!
Brittany Dixon says
Yes! That’s exactly where I was. My dehydrator had a prime spot and I use it maybe a couple times of year? It was driving me crazy! Good luck on your overhaul!
Kris says
Looks great! I need to organize my pantry! So what do you do with the girls when you take on an all day project like that? Do they help? Or do you have a babysitter? My 3 young boys tend to slow down my projects.
Brittany Dixon says
They started off helping, maybe for an hour or so? Then they went off to play on their own. We ate lunch around 1:00 and by 2:00 I waved the white flag and they watched Hercules while I finished it up. Usually tasks don’t take quite this long, but the kitchen was a doozie!
Kelli H says
It looks great! I was actually jealous the day you were doing this. I’m really hoping to focus some time in our kitchen too before baby decides to come but I’m running out of time!
Liz says
Oh my gosh, OUR GARAGE! We moved here in November and we have a massive garage. Anything that didn’t fit in our house went straight to the garage. My husband has so much random stuff everywhere down there and it drives me insane. I also want to do my closet. Since I had a baby, had huge breastfeeding boobs, lost a ton of weight accidentally, and NOW I’m back to my normal size, I can finally clean out my closet. I hung onto everything because I wasn’t sure what would happen to my body, so now I just need to try things on and get rid of it if I won’t wear it.
I love my food processor and my crockpot. I use my crockpot at least once a week. I also LOVE my green pans from Costco and Target (not the cheap ones from the infomercials- those were shit). I love how you organized everything. I never even thought about putting the kid stuff down low. That makes so much sense!
Brittany Dixon says
Oh my gosh yes to the crazy closet! For so long I had smaller size and bigger size clothes because my body was in limbo from pregnancy and nursing too. Haha, I didn’t want to let anything go!
What are your favorite crockpot recipes? I need to get back into the habit of more crockpot meals besides salsa chicken 🙂
Maria says
You are speaking my love language! I watched with envy on Instagram as you tackled this space. One of these days I’ll have the time and energy to do the same with my kitchen, but we are still in survival mode over here. Not that I’m complaining (after all, I have to to comment here. Ha!).
We move quite often, so we haven’t accumulated too much overflow. So that’s my solution. Move every 1-2 years. I hear California is nice (hint hint) or you can meet us in Colorado? Deal?
Brittany Dixon says
I literally got shivers thinking about the day we have to pack up the house. And though Colorado is my happy place, my mom wouldn’t have it so I guess we’ll have to stick to just visiting you and getting those snuggles from N! 😉
Carole says
I would love all your storage space….right now I have very little counter space, little storage and most of my kitchen stuff is in storage…can’t wait to get it all back once we move into something bigger. It would make my husband so happy if I could keep everything organized…but with a 3 year old and 18 months old not always easy. I use my nutribullet a lot for smoothies, hand held mixer for soups and my instant pot (from hard boiled eggs to slow cooker and pressure cooker). I need to get a new medium size food processor because mine is too small and not working well anymore… any one you like? Unfortunately in my house, it seems there is always something that needs to be organized!
Brittany Dixon says
I think I have a Hamilton Beach food processor (I’d have to double check when I get home) and it works quite well for my needs. I don’t use it very often but when I do, it seems powerful enough to handle what I need it to and they are usually available at reasonable price points. This is not the one I own but I think it is similar: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008J8MJIQ?psc=1
Laura says
I was forced to do this last summer when we had our cabinets painted, and as you say the finished product is wonderful! I ended up giving away about a dozen martini glasses which were taking up a ton of prime kitchen cabinet real estate… I guess I used to have a lot of martini parties back in the day 🙂
Hope you enjoyed the eclipse! We were on the road 10 hours yesterday but saw a spectacular total solar eclipse in the Nebraska prairies, not a cloud in the sky. Totally worth it!
Marie says
OMG! your idea for moving the kids plates and cups to a lower cabinet is genius! My son can’t ever get his own cup to grab water without playing American Ninja Warrior on our countertops to get it! I have a similar cabinet layout and I’m going to switch their stuff out this weekend! thank you for such great ideas!
Tracy says
I’m in the same organization mode right now! Something about back to school and the redecorating projects we have going on gave me the urge I think. I’ve done my refrigerators and walk-in pantry and my kitchen cabinets are next! Feels sooooo goooood! On to the kids’ rooms after that 🙂
I could not live without my Blendtec blender! I use it multiple times a day. Worth every penny.
CAFFAHOLIC says
so i finally made up my mind to must follow this…and luckily i did…turned out to be super awesome for my kitchen…thanks for sharing this 🙂