Spring Organization: My Kitchen Clean-up!

Hi there, friends!  :-)

How are you all doing this afternoon?  I slept in today -- because I was up until five this morning sprucing up my kitchen.  It was in desperate need, and I am so glad that I was able to finish it.  My husband was a dear and didn't mind me banging around pots and pans all night, and I am so incredibly thankful for my new bookshelf that I am using as a serveware display, because that freed up so much space in my cupboards.  I do have to say, the next time we are looking for a place to live (whether it be a house, or another apartment), I will be in search of more cabinet space.  My kitchen is pretty, but it is small and seriously lacking in space to put things.

Although my kitchen is now more organized, I still had to stack things and place things back behind other items.  But that's okay with me, because clearing out everything really helped me to assess what I use the most, and what I rarely take out, and adjust my organization accordingly.  Last Spring, I organized my kitchen but didn't really base my decisions of where to put things on what I take out the most, what I cook with the most.  This, of course, created a problem.  Actually, a lot of problems.  I'm going to warn you -- none of these photos that I am going to show you are staged, and yes, things were piled on top of each other in a horrible unorganized way that I am very embarrassed about.  But, I need to show you the ugly to get you to appreciate the good, so I'm okay with divulging my messes as long as there is no judgment!  ;-)

Also, another problem that my kitchen was having was that there was too much stuff on the counters.  I don't have a ton of places to prep or cook in my kitchen, so I really cleared off that space, rubbed down the granite with my favorite cleaner, and created a sleeker look.

It is safe to say that this entire kitchen clean-up was inspired by something that I bought at Macy's yesterday.

Yes, that's right, we finally purchased a knife block.  Macy's was having their annual One Day Sale, and Grey and I had acquired $75 in gift cards from our wedding.  I actually went to Macy's in search of bathroom decor, but stumbled across this -- something that we have been wanting and needing for a long time.  It was $89 (on sale from $150 because of the One Day shenanigans), so I ended up only paying $24 for it!  It's not the most amazing quality (it's Martha Stewart brand) like our really nice cutlery we got for our wedding; but it is good enough, and it houses our expensive knives that were in their boxes before because I didn't know where to put them!  We are happy campers.

This, of course, started me on some more Spring Organization.  :-)

I started with one of our food cabinets.  This was after I had already emptied out some items, but you can see that the bottom shelf was really the trouble spot.

This is all that I emptied out.  I assessed what items I have, and which foods I use the most.  This was very helpful in making sure that I placed the foods that I use the most in front.

Here is the after.  As you can see, the spices are still there along the bottom shelf, but all of the labels are facing the right way, and there is only one spice behind the front ones.  Eventually, I would like to get those little pedestals for things in your pantry, but I was doing this at midnight, so I couldn't just run out and get something like that, lol.  

I also tackled our other food cabinet.  The middle shelf is all baking items, the top shelf is all canned food (we rarely use any of it), and the bottom is Tupperware and our daily medicine.

This is the drawer where I keep placemats, napkins, napkin rings, and the like.  Very messy.

And this is the drawer after.  Much neater, and with the placemats that I use the most on top!

Ooh, here is a lovely before shot of a cabinet.

And here is the after.

Before

After

Here is the after of what used to be strictly our drinkware and serveware cabinet.  I didn't get a shot of the before because I had emptied it out a lot when I filled in our bookcase for our serveware.  But this is a lot better.

Another lovely Before shot.

And the After.

Ooh, this one's nice.

And After.

As far as the kitchen counters go, I only left things out that either didn't fit in the cabinets, or that I didn't have room for anywhere else.  I made big improvements -- before there was so much on these counters that I could barely cook!

I also updated the little space that I have above the kitchen sink.

Before

After

After

And now, the final kitchen photo...

I am very happy with how organized it is now.  Eventually, I will be placing a chalkboard above the kitchen sink, but for now, I'm really happy with how it has been spruced up!  :-)  It feels like a whole new space, and I made breakfast this morning with no hassle and without forgetting where I put things.   I am a happy girl.

Have you tackled any organizational projects yet this Spring?

love, maria

PS: If you are enjoying my Spring Organizational posts, check out my Laundry Room Re-do here!