We can't "SHOP at home FIRST" if we don't know what we have at home!
Let's talk kitchen cupboards. When's the last time you have seen the back of the cupboard where you keep the "time-saving" kitchen gizmos? YIKES! How about the cupboard where you keep the coffee cup collection? DOUBLE YIKES! What about the high-up cupboard that you need a stool to reach and a hard hat for your head when you open the door? You never know what will come tumbling out! I don't even want to mention our cookbooks! Eeks!
Kitchens breed clutter. Our kitchen cupboards are the clutter recepticles. Everything from small appliances that have never worked to the broken pickle picker (say that ten times LOL) that keeps poking us whenever we go into the cutlery drawer. All of us have stuff in our kitchens that we don't use anymore. And when we have too much stuff that we don't use, we can't find the things we do use.
I have a high-end mixer that I use to make the best light rye bread I have ever tasted. But when the mixer is surrounded by papers and other stuff, I don't even realize it is there, and I forget to use it. The same goes for the stuff in our cupboards. How many times AFTER a fancy dinner did you remember that you had new napkins and a pretty serving dish stashed away someplace? But you forgot to dig it out. Been there, done that.
If the last time you saw the backs of your kitchen cupboards was on the day you moved in, then this is for you. No one expects you to finish this in one day. Do one cabinet at a time. Get your kids involved. Then you can get two (or more) done per day. Most kids love hauling stuff out of the cupboards. It's the putting away they hate LOL!
Let's Get Started: The Checklist
- Don't even attempt a deep kitchen clean if you haven't done the surface clean. There is nothing worse than a messy kitchen with all the cupboard contents strewn across the floor. YIKES! Quickly clean up the kitchen and sweep the floor. Then you are ready to roll!
- Get your tools out: a trash bag (for all the broken pickle pickers that you find), a box to get rid of the stuff you don't want to keep anymore, a couple dishrags, and a sink filled with hot soapy water. I am also going to recommend a product (I'm ducking here - I don't usually like to mention specific brand names). If you have a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser™, use it to remove the scuff marks left by the pots and pans on your cupboard shelves. If you don't have a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser™, don't go and buy one. SHOP at home FIRST. Check your cleaning supplies, I am sure you have a cleaner that will work just as well. (Note from Cindy: I am not associated with the company that makes the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser™. They have a cool website though: Mr Clean.)
- Select the first cupboard. I start with the one that is the closest to the kitchen entrance way. Then I work my way around the kitchen.
- Empty everything off the shelves. If you find something so ugly, or so broken, or so unidentifyable that you know you will never use it, nor would you want anyone else to use it, TOSS IT in the trash bag. Get rid of it. SHOP at home FIRST does not mean dumpster diving in your own home LOL!
- If you find something that still works, but you have not used in years, decide if it deserves a space in your home. I got rid of the old bread maker when I bought my mixer. The old bread maker never made good bread. However, it baked up some memorable objects that we could use as door stops. I decided to donate it, just in case someone else knew the right magic to make this thing work.
- If you find something that doesn't belong in the kitchen, put it away. If it is last year's Halloween Candy stash, you may be able to snack on it when you are done. Ha ha - check it first LOL - make sure it is not rock hard!
- Wipe the empty shelves with the hot soapy water. Try to get all those scuff marks off. The Mr. Clean Magic Eraser™ works great for this.
- Now, put the stuff you want to keep back into the shelves. I bet you will have more room in there now than you had before.
- Quickly wipe the inside and outside of the door and you are done the first cabinet. Congratulations!
- Only start the next cabinet if you have time (and energy). Remember to toss the trash and get rid of the clutter. Then you will be ready to SHOP at home FIRST, and EAT at home FIRST!
Need some inspiration? Directly from Cindy's Porch...
This isn't going to happen very often LOL! I had three cabinets in my kitchen that have been bugging me for over a year. So, in honor of this article, I followed the ten steps and took before and after pictures. Charlie was my helper. Shhhh, don't tell anyone.
The first cabinet is where we keep the dutch oven (my new favorite cooking pot), our soup pot (it's starting to get cold out there), our pasta pot, and a few other bulky kitchen items. Somehow, the things I like to use have been pushed to the back, and the things I don't like to use are blocking the way in the front.
The second cabinet is actually a drawer where we keep the bulky small stuff. I haven't been able to close this drawer in several months without doing the "drawer shake and wiggle" to settle everything into place. Forget about finding the 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon when we need it!
The third cabinet really bugs me because it has a glass door on the front so everyone can see how messy it gets. I quess that I am supposed to show off all my "good china" and wineglasses in this cabinet, but it is right next to the stove and the sink, so it is much handier to keep bowls, measuring cups, and the cheese grater here. Unfortanely it also collects other things...
Twenty Minutes Later - Wahoo!
I got out the trash bag, filled the sink with hot soapy water and got to work. Success! I trashed the broken chopstick, the bent straws, and the empty TicTac box (huh?). Then I put away the stuff that didn't belong. I moved the meat grinder to a cabinet that we have in the basement (I have to keep the meat grinder because it is used to make Croquettes, a Dutch treat we enjoy over the holidays), and I pushed the crockpot to the back of the cabinet. This poor old crockpot was a wedding gift. I used it weekly when I worked out of the home full time. Today however, I make more use of the dutch oven and the soup pot.
Charlie decided to get into the action too. He was looking for old food crunchies. Yick!
Bonus, I found my favorite vase (it holds nuts in the fall and tulips from my garden in the spring) and a new candle. I put the vase back and moved the candle to the bathroom. The candle gave me the idea for my own private bath spa. More on that later!
Hmmmm, I never found the broken pickle picker...
You never know what treasures you will find until you SHOP at home FIRST! Happy cooking everyone! - Cindy
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