On Saturday night, we set out to KonMari our kitchen. We started by taking items out of our cabinets and placing them on our island and kitchen table. It took us part of Saturday night and almost all of Sunday to complete the process of KonMari-ing the kitchen, but it was so worth it!
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The kitchen category for Komono was one of the ones I was least looking forward to, mostly because it is so freaking large! Other than the basement and garage, the kitchen is certainly one of our biggest categories. We did not get rid of as much as I thought in terms of kitchen tools and dishes, but we did have more food items that needed to be thrown away than we realized.
Does anyone else have this problem, where you think something is fine because it is in a jar or can and then three years go by and you realize you still have that jar or can? No, just me? I'll go home now, thanks, byeeee!
We also have what I call a jelly cupboard that used to be at my parents house and it is one of my favorite pieces of furniture in our house. It looks like a vintage blue cupboard that isn't super deep, but can hold quite a bit of stuff. For a long time, we had a lot of miscellaneous paper goods like plates and cupcake papers as well as red solo cups and baby bottles.
The jelly cupboard ended up being a bit of a mess and we just had a ton of junk piled in there. We found some old mail, straws, and a doorstop in there, too. Feel free to cue a facepalm here, we certainly did!
Because the jelly cupboard was full of junk, we never used it and it felt like such a waste of space. As we were tidying through our items, I suggested to Aaron that we not have any kitchen items in there since it is technically in our dining room. I also wanted to challenge us to use our spaces as intended, for instance, the kitchen should solely be used for kitchen items. Therefore, I wanted the jelly cupboard to be used for something different. Currently we have our vases and candles in there as well as two sentimental mugs we do not use and Lydia's old baby bottles that we are saving for when we have another baby.
Through the process of tidying the kitchen, it was really helpful to take a look at the items we have in the kitchen and how often we use them. A huge pain point for us is that when we renovated the kitchen and put our stuff back in, we did not fully realize which items we reach for most often and what location would be best for those items.
The top item that was a pain point was our pyrex containers for leftovers and chopped veggies. We had them in a cabinet under our island on a shelf that was hard to reach unless you bent down and dug around to find the right size. Forget about finding the right lid, that took becoming a contortionist.
We now have those items up in a cabinet that is between the stove and the fridge, which now in the future we realize was the best place for them all along! All of our lids are also in bins and stored vertically by size so that they are easy to locate and match with our pyrex containers.
Another pain point was that we had our pots and pans in two different locations, making it difficult to cook at times. We now have all of our pots and pans in a cabinet to the left of the stove so that they are easy to access when cooking. Our strainers and miscellaneous cooking items are in a cabinet further from the stove, since those things are used less often.
Since I love to bake, it was important to me to have all of my baking supplies in one place. Up until now we have had baking tins under the stove or in a place that was not easy to access, as well as having a bunch of cupcake papers stored in the jelly cupboard in a very disorganized fashion. I had some cookie cutters that had no home, as well as a few cake stands that were not well organized.
Now all of my baking supplies are in one cabinet that is fairly close to the stove so that they are easier to reach. Knowing that all of my baking supplies are stored well and easy to reach makes me more motivated to bake (not to mention the Great British Baking Show is back on Netflix!). Baking is a favorite past-time and with my supplies within reach, I can bake with ease moving forward.
Lydia now has a drawer for her little snack cups, extra pacifiers, and now her utensils are also stored there. Before we had her utensils in a divider with our utensils, but you had to dig around to find what was hers because they were in with our serving spoons and forks. Now her utensils are in there own basket in her very own drawer so that all of her things belong together.
It has taken some time to get used to her items being all in one drawer, but I know that once I am used to it, getting her things from her drawer will feel so much more natural. I am so glad that I don't have to dig around to find a spoon for her anymore.
Our plates and bowls we had in one cabinet and we ended up leaving that cabinet the way it is because it is easy to use and well organized. Our cups and mugs we did go through and reorganize so that they were more orderly since before our mugs were just thrown into our cabinet a little willy nilly. Now we have a more designated way of putting them in an out and also have room for our water bottle and Lydia's cups on the same shelf.
Overall, my kitchen feels so much more organized, as you could probably guess from all of the above ways I have said that I feel more organized! I am really glad that we have been doing this process throughout the house and every area that I have organized always feels so amazing once it is done. Especially in my kitchen, I have seen how much easier it is to cook and bake after a few days, which feels incredible.
Last night I was making dinner and it was so much easier to do, which may sound silly, but it really did make a difference! Everything has a home, everything is stored with like items, everything flows well with frequently used items near the stove and other items being further. The kitchen feels cohesive and welcoming since I know that when I go to make something, I know where everything I need is.
Having done this also makes clean up easier. When baking, I usually try to only pull something out when I need it and then try to put it away right after I use it. Now that the kitchen is tidied in a way that makes grabbing things easier, it takes no time to quickly take out something and then put it back.
Have you KonMari-ed your kitchen? What is your favorite part of having a tidy kitchen? And if you don't, do you think you might give this a try?
xoxo
TBS