Just a peek into the rest of the cupboards in our new kitchen. Plus a few more takeaways for you to consider in making over your kitchen! This cupboard is only 15 inches wide, but it is worth its weight in gold. Cutting boards, cooling racks, pizza pans, trays, jelly roll pans and various sized cookie sheets are stored here. I can take one out with ease and not have to move more than one or two pieces to do so. Previously these were all in one pile in the garage storage! Plus more. I got rid of six jelly roll pans. SIX! I have never made a jelly roll and have no plans to ever make a jelly roll. I use the pan once or twice a year for big sheet cakes. I have no idea how I accumulated six!! This little drawer is the other 30 percent of the drawer space in the kitchen. It is next ... [Read More]
Storage
Kitchen Remodel: Create workstations to Improve Storage
The peninsula is the main work space in my kitchen, as it is in many kitchens. Chopping, mixing, rolling out cookies, kneading bread dough -- a lot of food preparation happens here. So you'd think that storage in the peninsula would have to do with food preparation. Like most kitchens, this one falls a little short of the ideal. I like anything that requires less time on chore stuff and makes life easier so come along and I'll show you some of the ideas behind this part of the kitchen storage. This drawer represents a full 70% of the drawer space in the kitchen! The left half is closest to the dining room so that's where the tableware is stored. The right half does indeed have tools for food preparation and is used at the peninsula - ideal! Dividers essential in staying ... [Read More]
Kitchen Remodel: Six Steps to Improve Storage
One of the goals in our kitchen remodel was to improve the amount of storage available. This is the pantry wall. For this wall I wanted it to be storage from floor to ceiling and to make the refrigerator look like it "belongs". We met -- and exceeded -- the goal so much that I'm going to make a separate post on just this wall. Here's how we gained a huge amount of storage space ending with the takeaway for planning your kitchen remodel! Before: the upper cabinets were a standard 12 inch depth. I couldn't even reach the handles on the cupboard above the refrigerator! Because the kitchen was built before the microwave was standard, this was the only bit of counter space available to put a microwave. I actually liked it at this height (have I mentioned I'm not a tall ... [Read More]
Build a Mini Mudroom in Your Garage
We lived here only a very short time before realizing that a house designed and built in 1977 needed some work to make it livable for today! When our house was built, it was a big deal to have a two car garage open directly into the kitchen so groceries in paper bags could be carried in easily. One of the things I have long wanted is a landing place by the garage door because a lot of other things happen around that garage door nowadays! I wanted to be able to kick muddy garden shoes off and out of the way, a place to store reusuable grocery bags and assorted household “stuff”, somewhere to hang caps or light jackets so they weren’t tossed who knows where. In short, someplace convenient for storing things to be picked up and used and returned as we come and go through that turquoise ... [Read More]
Dress up your garage entry
When you park the car in your garage, do you walk around to the front door to enter the house? I didn’t think so! If your family is like most, chances are you come and go by the garage entry door something like 97.3% of the time. I totally made up that statistic out of thin air just now. But think about it – you drive in the garage, everybody hops out and runs in the house to the potty, for a drink, for dibs on the tv remote. That 2.7 % front door usage includes going for a walk, running in and out the front door to play, picking up the mail and other quick forays. We dress up the front door for curb appeal and to make our home pleasant for us. And seldom use it. Especially if we live in a place where winter is a season that makes its presence known! Why shouldn’t we dress ... [Read More]
