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Ever done a full kitchen clean-out/re-org?

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    Ever done a full kitchen clean-out/re-org?

    I have a week off coming up and something I am absolutely going to do is a complete kitchen clean-out and re-organization. I was cooking something so simple tonight -- marinated chicken tacos -- and I noticed that I was just bouncing around all over the kitchen. It seemed like was just needless zigzagging, which took a little bit out of the fun of cooking.

    I've been in this house twenty years and things have accumulated in the same kitchen cabinets and drawers during that time. Sure, some things make sense -- for example, I have a sharps drawer and a not-sharp drawer -- but the most convenient cabinet to where I prep food has easy access to the stuff I use least. I mean, it has a breadmaker and a kitchenaid mixer! I haven't touched those things in fifteen years!

    Along those lines, I have accumulated a lot of stuff. I went through what I call my Food Network phase in the early-to-mid-2000s. I watched the Food Network every day and it seems whenever a chef had some new saucepan, I had to buy it. I don't need this many cooking receptacles. (And I have an entire cabinet full of coffee cups. I only need like four!)

    So, it is time to do a serious clean out of unused and old stuff. (Moving the breadmaker and mixer, as they are pricey, perhaps to the upstairs storage room.)

    I want my most used stuff to be easily at the ready when I am prepping food. I want to take Mise en place to the tools as well as the food.

    Ever gone through something like this?

    #2
    No, I was going to but then I figured it was easier to just build a new kitchen in my backyard.

    Comment


      #3
      I did a full gut rehab. Does that count?

      Comment


        #4
        My wife owns the kitchen. Her aunt is an interior designer. We (aunt and I) came up with a fantastic plan for the kitchen some years ago. My wife really wanted new countertops. Her aunt and I got in big trouble for trying to convince her that we needed a whole remodel. We have the old countertops still and will likely get a new bathroom long before we talk about countertops ever again.

        Comment


          #5
          Get out of my head, Michael_in_TX. It's not safe in there.

          Comment


            #6
            My GF moved in with me a few years ago. Haven't been able to find anything since.

            Comment


            • klflowers
              klflowers commented
              Editing a comment
              Panhead John, my clothes are in the downstairs closet now. And we have 3 bedrooms upstairs...

            • Attjack
              Attjack commented
              Editing a comment
              We've been together for years and yet just today I found a rubber spatula in the wrong drawer. How do you spend a decade putting a rubber spatula in one place then wake up one day to forget where it goes?

            • willxfmr
              willxfmr commented
              Editing a comment
              I'm very lucky that she is a minimalist as far as clothes go. She has what she wears, and nothing extra. On the flip side, anytime she gets even a little free time SOMETHING is getting reorganized. Closets, kitchen, dressers, whole rooms of furniture will get completely redone just because she "had the time". I've lived in the same house for 20 years and will get lost looking for a dinner plate, because there is no telling where they might be this month.

            #7
            Haaaaa Michael. I’m, we’re, about to go into a kitchen renovation Ourselves. For the most part my wife has been ok with what I want, need, 😬and have. And it’s all over the house. But she’s not too happy about it. sooo hopefully we can come to an agreement about all my stuff. And where it will wind up. Meaning where it will go and be stored.
            Such trying times. 🤦🏼

            Comment


              #8
              When organizing I use the ABCD method. A is the stuff I use daily and put in the most convenient place. B is the stuff I use weekly and goes in the next most convenient place. C is the stuff used monthly and goes in the next most convenient place. D is the stuff I use annually or can’t remember when I last used it. The D stuff gets boxed up with an index to each box. If I haven’t used it in a year it is time to get rid of it. You’ll feel good when the job is done.
              Last edited by LA Pork Butt; October 22, 2020, 11:36 AM.

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              • Michael_in_TX
                Michael_in_TX commented
                Editing a comment
                I like this approach!

              • bbqLuv
                bbqLuv commented
                Editing a comment
                Right ON!,
                I like it.

              #9
              When I was off last winter I got the nesting urge and went thru our kitchen.
              Got rid of all the one off glasses, plates, yo know the last one of a set of eight.
              Thinned out the herd of things that had been put in the cupboards when we moved in 26 years ago.
              If my wife ever figures out what I dumped....big trouble....
              The big one was the pantry, I found canned/dry goods with a best before date as early as 2002
              Half a dozen bags full of food into the garbage because of ridiculously expired best before dates
              Problem with us is we shop with out a list and can't remember what's in the pantry anyway
              We have a dozen cans a beans in the pantry but there on sale buy six more....
              Appears we can't shop within our means

              Comment


                #10
                I reorg the kitchen every time I empty the dishwasher so now wife does not allow me to empty dishwasher. Maybe I need to try a new cut pattern on the lawn so I will be banned from that to!

                Comment


                • bbqLuv
                  bbqLuv commented
                  Editing a comment
                  Like the way you think.

                #11
                About once a year I go and empty every single cabinet, do a deep cleaning and disinfecting. One year the day after Thanksgiving I started emptying the cabinets and when I was finished I had a totally empty kitchen. I removed all the cabinets and the flooring before the wife got back from shopping all day. Needless to say she was surprised and not so happy!!

                Comment


                  #12
                  As commented above, if the space is shared it presents an additional level of challenge. If you ever saw the Doctoral Thesis my bride did for her degree you'd likely be mightily impressed with her abilities in organization. For whatever reason(s) that organizational prowess does not carry over to kitchen/storage arrangement. She operates by a method I refer to as "blonde logic" (yes, she is). Totally indecipherable to me. She's also spatially challenged (more likely impatient in not wanting to spend time choosing) as she'll use a gallon storage bag for half an onion. However, she's a keeper (35 years) so we've managed to come to détente. I take the responsibility of initial layout and periodic reorganization. I try to break it up over time so that it's not such an onerous task. Pantry one month, kitchen cabinets another and so on. I try to keep the pantry set up by product groupings; baking products in one area, ethnic type products in another, and so on. Lazy susans seem to help, not the best for space utilization, but improve on stuff getting lost in the back. A nice label machine helps too if you tend to use sealed containers to preserve. No matter "the plan" there will always be challenges...................I guess that's why we have that thing called "Spring cleaning".
                  Last edited by Uncle Bob; October 22, 2020, 08:27 AM.

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                    #13
                    Nope, we filled everything up, then bought a rolling island thing and filled that up too... now to remodel or buy another rolly thingy to fill up

                    Comment


                      #14
                      No, but I am married, wife tends to kitchen, me to BBQ grill, etc.

                      Comment


                        #15
                        We redid the kitchen several years ago. Everything was organized for about a month. We have one drawer that neither of us is sure what is in it. The spatulas and large spoons are on the top. not sure what is on the bottom. I am kind of scared to look.

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