Thursday, February 21, 2013

Kitchen Contentment!

                     
  I am so glad you have came back!  I want to take you to the kitchen and share some of my "work smarter not harder"  makeover.  I am sorry that I do not have before pictures. ( Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I would be sharing this journey publicly!!)  But I am sure it is not hard to imagine, you know....ever so slowly opening the cabinet door so the plastic containers do not fall out?  Well, that was how it was here anyway.  I remember one time in particular hosting a church dinner and thinking I was on top of it because I had put out a couple of pie servers before hand.  Imagine my surprise as well as embarrassment as I squeezed into my small kitchen filled with guest going thru what seemed like a sea of drawers looking for more pie and cake servers when much more desserts showed up needing them  than I was thinking.
  I started with going thru and getting rid of things that I did not use that much.  Some I donated and some I trashed.  There were a few things like Moms turquoise mixing bowls that I knew Amanda was eying so I passed them on to her.  Once again I thought of the things worth the splurge to help my kitchen work better for me.  And tried being resourceful in solutions.
  Sure I would love a huge dream kitchen that had all of the bells and whistles that you see on tv but alas I live in the real world where doing things yourself and on a budget is the norm. I am blessed with a sweet husband who is very handy and if he can (with in reason) will try to build what I come up with.  But since regaining order,  I can truly share that I am contented in my small kitchen and it works just fine for me now!




 This is the cooking side of my kitchen.  Our cabinets are married some from the house being built and some added in remodels over the years.  We used paint and trim to fool the eye.  There is a tutorial that Country Sampler published on how to do this when our home was featured in the Christmas 2011 issue.




 The black cabinets on the counter Mike built to resemble Antique spice drawers.....

Hide the microwave and coffee pot.

The pantry boxes stacked on top keep things like tea bags and splenda easily at hand.

This is an antique bobbin box that makes a great place to store our knives.

The pots and pans rack were a bit of a splurge at Lowes but so worth it.  I have them in almost all of my lower cabinets and they work great!  It is a lot less expensive than buying new cabinets made like this!:)
 Love the under the sink caddy, on the other side is a matching trash can rack.


I got my grandmothers corningware off of the top shelf and put it where I can get to it easily.  Somethings cannot be improved on....oven proof, dishwasher safe, straight from the fridge to the microwave!
I found this expandable silverware drawer very reasonable at Marshalls
Just an example of how every drawer in the kitchen functions now.

One of my favorite organizers is this spice one from Walmart made by Rubbermaid .(It was only around $14.00.)
Being vertically challenged the pull down function is awesome!
Another use for mason jars as well as a carpenters box tray.  Don't judge us too harshly, we are the spoiling kind of grandparents here!  You could easily put healthy treats in place of the candy!  You may not get the big smiles and hugs we get how ever!!lol
A five dollar piece of sheet metal glued onto the back of a cabinet door keeps things tidier on the outside.
A  great chocolate box Mike found me one day at the flea market keeps some of my wooden bowls from looking too cluttered
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This is the back side and shows how I keep all of the salt and pepper shakers in an old cheap cheese box.  I cant stand how the pepper grinder leaves pepper every time you set it down, this way it stays contained to the box.

     I will share the other side of the kitchen next time if you are interested.  I hope you have enjoyed seeing my contented little kitchen and found something useful to take with you. Thanks again for visiting  our home...be it ever so humble, there truly is no place like it.






















12 comments:

  1. Love your kitchen! I have been looking for the nice expandable drawer organizers. I need to find a Marshall's! Everything looks great, Deb! Can't wait for the next post.

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  2. Your kitchen is beautiful. I love the jars full of candy. Darbee would have a fun time with those! :) We are redoing our kitchen right now and I love the slide out pot shelves. Might have to check in to those. Everything looks great! Thanks for sharing and I can't wait to see the other side. HUGS
    -Holly

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  3. Your kitchen is wonderful! Especially love the pieces your husband built to hide the 'shiny stuff'. It all looks great, and I can't wait to see the other side as well. By the way...those treat jars look just fine to THIS Grammie!

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  4. I am so proud of all your organizing. It is wonderful how neat you are keeping it and how smoothly it goes when we have our dinners. They will love the other side of the kitchen.

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  5. Your kitchen is gorgeous. I have the pull out drawers from Lowe's and love them. My kitchen is small and I have to make every space count. Thanks for sharing your organizing ideas.
    Blessings,
    Sue

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  6. Thanks for the tips, Deb! Can I fly you to Md. to do mine? I am not that organized. Your kitchen looks wonderful and SOOOO functional.

    ~Judy~

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  7. LOVE ur kitchen Deb and how neatly you have everything organized! Congrats on your new blog too!
    Hugs Libs

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  8. LOVE LOVE LOVE your kitchen, Deb!

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  9. Just beautiful! Can't wait to see the other side...

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  10. Hi Deb, I read your post from my phone when we were on vacation but it wouldn't let me comment so here I am. Love what you have done with all of your cupboards and drawers. I got some good ideas from you. Sorry I missed you and your Mom, I saw alot of Clinton though. I hope to see you in July when we are back down there.
    Linda

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  11. You kitchen is so beautiful.
    Love your old boxes and Blue Ball jars.
    Love the idea of filling them with candy.
    Thanks for sharing.
    Hugs
    Tam

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  12. Forgot to say...
    Great job organizing.
    That is something mine needs Badly.
    Tam

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