Kitchen Cure - The Beginning

This fall Q linked me to the "Kitchen Cure" and I thought it would be fun so I signed up. I dutifully received each week's e-mail assignment and never got around to doing it. Over the holiday Q and I decided that we would do the cure in one big megaday clean-sweep on New Year's Day. (Four weeks of reasonable amounts of labor or one cram session? Easy choice!)

Step 1: Unload
Remove every single item from every single kitchen cabinet (and tops of cabinets). I'm impressed by what good organizers we are that all of this ever fits into our kitchen. We didn't completely remove everything from the pantry because most of it is just jars of canning, which means that it was all cleaned this August/September. We also didn't remove cleaning supplies from under the sink since that was done and cleaned under when we had a plumbing issue in November.



Step 2: Cabinet Maintenance
Q checked all the hinges and tightened where necessary. We cleaned every shelf, cabinet top, and all of the faces.

Step 4: Counters and Appliances
Oven door, microwave, and all surfaces got thorough cleanings. I sometimes forget between biannual-ish cleanings that one is supposed to be able to clearly see into an oven through the window.

Step 3: Sort
We got rid of quite of few things we didn't need - a nice start to the tax-deductible donation pile for the new year. It was satisfying to notice that the last couple years of "simplifying" have paid off though. We don't have too much stuff that we don't use on a regular basis.

Step 4: Reload and Rearrange
A few things got shifted around (dry goods are more accessible and all together, glassware is in a safer, less accessible spot, casseroles are now easy to get to)
Big changes were...
1) getting the knife blocks off the counter (in-drawer holders instead) - I hate cluttered counters!
2)cooking pots/pans are now going to be hung on the wall so short me can reach them. They used to be on top of the cabinets. (Q hasn't quite finished putting up the hooks.)

I'll post finished pictures as soon as Q hangs the pots. I wish I'd remembered to take "befores" but "afters" will still be pretty.