Reorganizing & De-cluttering the Kitchen at Home

For years I saved extras in our attic just in case we someday got a beach house.  Well now that we have that second home, albeit on a lake,  and have settled in to it we are clearing out and downsizing what we have in both homes.  One of the things we love about our second house is that we rent it out so we keep it really uncluttered.  We enjoy it so much there because we are not worrying about piles of things to put away.  We love how paired down it is.  We have things there that we love and that we use.  And if things there don't fit into either of those categories then we donate it or give it away.   The house was furnished and named when we got it so maybe some of the ducks and decor isn't necessarily our style but they are cottagey and charming and we have held on to some things b/c they are antiques and feel like they belong with the house.  Will we declutter further?  Probably!  Each time I go there I find myself grabbing something to take home to sell or donate.

I've been on a decluttering binge since early last winter.  We started with both our kitchens at home and at the lake before the holiday.  We felt like our cabinets were getting crowded and realized some things we had in our kitchen at the lake we had never used.  Maybe our renters have used a few of those items once or twice but if they aren't serving us we wanted to get rid of them and make more room.  I find that the less you have the more organized your cabinets can be.   I also like how an organized cabinet looks.   When things are shoved in half-hazardly and look disorganized it stresses out my Type A personality.  I have the Kindergarten teacher's mentality of everything needs to have it's place.  Once you figure out where that is it is just a matter of putting things back where they belong.

I do find that bins and containers are often needed to help organize cabinets as well.  Cabinets can easily get disorganized without any types of systems inside to organize your stuff.  Whether it's in the silverware drawer, pantry or dish cabinets it helps to have bins and organizers to help you organize.  Many people just assume the shelves are enough and wonder why their cabinets get disorganized.  It has been 11 years since we did our kitchen addition/renovation at home.  We realized that you kind of leave things where they are even if the system doesn't quite work for you out of habit.  Our friends just redid their kitchen.  It inspired us to revamp and organize ours.  We emptied every single cabinet and drawer.  It was a mess!  Then we cleaned shelves and drawers and only put back what we absolutely use.  And we moved things around so that it worked better for us and how we use our kitchen.  A few hours of work and we are so happy with the improvements we made.

Even just an extra shelf to allow more room for mugs helps us organize our dish cabinet.
This cabinet had extra drink cups shoved in sideways and I cringed every time I opened it to get out a dish!
So much better! We added a few things to the top shelf that we use when we host guests for ice,
silverware and extra coffee.   

Our coffee station now resides over here.  With mugs right above and spoons to stir in the drawer below.
But first, coffee is definitely our motto around here!

A few extra small containers were added to bring order to our silverware drawer.
When I was little I used to organize our silverware drawer for fun!
I've always been an organizer! I used to organize my mom's junk drawer..it drove her crazy!  Sorry Mom! 

To the right of our coffee station is this cabinet.  The smell of our vitamins was driving our kids crazy plus they were taking over our glassware space.  I moved them all to this lower basket with a divider between Rod and I's.   It's now super easy to grab the basket, take our meds and put it back.   Above that we have tea, coffee filters and extra cream and sugar containers.  There is even space on the top shelf!  Hallelujah!  

Tupperware got moved to a bigger drawer.  Not always perfectly organized because our kids empty
the dishwasher as one of their chores but so much easier to fit it all.   

Bags and wrap got moved as well. Took a few weeks to readjust to where they are but easier because right in the same space as the tupperware for ease when putting away dinner leftovers and making lunch.  

We still have some plasticware that the kids insisted we keep for painting, having friends over,
eating on the patio and having friends in the hot tub.   So easy because down low so our little cousins
can help themselves when they come over too!  

My friend Kirsten was in awe of this cabinet when she saw it.  A lunch box cabinet!  That's awesome she said.  I can never figure out where to put ours!  She has hers in a basket above her fridge.  I might suggest a drawer at kids height for others looking for a spot.  This particular cabinet was an adjustment to our kitchen because of a design change.  We use another cabinet similar to this for spices etc. next to our stove.   For now this houses lunch boxes and drink containers. In the future I'm not sure what we'll use it for?  Coffee supplies?  

We cleared out a ton of cookbooks before our yard sale in the fall.
We honestly just don't use them. We all find everything we need in "the bible" as we refer
to the Joy of Cooking in our house or on the internet or on pinterest.
We just don't cook with cookbooks anymore!  It was so nice to clear out this cabinet and
get rid of the things we don't use. 

This lower cabinet always housed extra tupperware and who knows what else.
Now it is my spot for all my serving dishes which used to be up high.  I had to climb on a stool to
get them or ask Rod to get them down.  I like them so much better where I can see them so
I get to use them all.  I love pretty serving ware and it's fun to mix things up!  

I made this glass display cabinet more of a feature with all white serving  dishes when I was
feeling like I wanted more neutrals in the kitchen.   

All my vases, because a girl who loves flowers needs a lot of different ways to display them!

A perfect example for how containers help you organize.  Bottom shelf has mom's basket.  All those things that I use all the time but don't really have a  place and I don't want them lost with everyone else's stuff.  Mom's scissors for fabric only (no sticky things allowed!), green florist wire, nice pens, glue gun and glue sticks, etc. Mason jars filled with permanent markers (to be used on the granite island only!), paint brushes, paint pens, etc.  The second basket has all our camera gear and the third has bins for family info and warranties etc in the other.  Just adding these baskets and containers to the office area cabinets made a world of difference in terms of organization.  

Our mudroom corner of the kitchen, hooks for each family member for coats and finally a basket for each family member for shoes (poor Rod didn't have one forever!).  Hooks for dog leashes, keys, and a calendar of the kids weekly events.  Contains the mess to one corner and we have everything we need as we head out the door.   

We got this cabinet a few years back on Craigslist and decided to turn it into our bar.  We have a glassware cabinet, spot for hard liquor, small cutting boards for cutting lemons, etc.  

Wine glasses, martini and margarita glasses, copper mugs and fun seasonal wine glasses (my favorite!)

Neat & organized.  Ah!

Under sink storage for cleaning items, clean towels, sponges, etc.   Bins and containers
helps organize the space so everything while crowded is still easy to find.  

This pan top organizer saves the day in this cabinet that we use for pan storage.  I would eventually love to add pull out ikea cabinet drawers to make access to this large cabinet even easier. 

Right now I am reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing by Marie Kondo.   I'm sure it will inspire me to do even more decluttering.  Her theory is that you declutter once and as you are doing this you clear out the things you don't love.  Then you are not cleaning everyday but simply putting things back.  Love it!  

Next on my to do list, if I would just feel good enough for a week, is clearing out my pantry, painting it and organizing it and putting it all "away".  I've had this on my radar for a while so haven't been keeping track of the clutter.   This disorder will make everyone who has some organizing to do feel a little better.  

Yikes!  Get on that already!