Cookaholics Bulletin Board

It must be a male gene...Andy does the same thing. To Andy's credit, I think it's because he knows I'll be tossing things out of the drawer to find what I need if they aren't in their place. He's trying to save me angst.

Amy

I have a "items that process" drawer (aka "things that could cut me" drawer), a "stuff that is too ugly or small to be in the canister" drawer, a pan rack, a cd rack that has been repurposed for spices & sugar & tea, a rice & pasta cupboard, a vinegar & oil & salt cupboard, a baking supplies cupboard, a misc. cupboard, two pan cupboards, a root veggies & spare canning jars cupboard, a "stuff to mix in & stuff to serve from" cupboard, a "stuff to eat off" cupboard, one of those "slim man" pull-out thingies in an old broom closet, and a baker's rack that holds all appliances that don't belong on the floor except the kettle and the mixer. 106 square feet, give or take. I keep lobbying for a sideboard in the dining room (and by "room" I mean the area of the living room that we keep the table in) so I can free up two of those cupboards. It would be nice to get my cookbooks off the dishwasher. Oh, and my silverware drawer is too small for any know silverware organizer to fit. Weirdly, I actually like this kitchen. It could be arranged a little bit better, but it's quite efficient. So what if it has two ginormous drawers that everything gets lost in and two doll-house drawers. At least it has drawers. My first two apartments didn't have any.

C,

I look forward to seeing the pics from Rod's efforts. I'm painfully short on space in my kitchen as I buy too much stuff. You should read about my latest gadget (although its footprint is small, the side equipment I need to buy to support it is not) in my "Ah me...sous vide" thread.

A

Can you put Harrison on a different chore? Seriously, it would be hard for me to describe how things are organized in my kitchen - really hard to describe to a teenage mind.

I reorganize every 2 years or so because my stuff is stored according to frequency of use of items, urgency, and styles of cooking - what's popular right now with me.

It would be easy to say to organize with Harrison but then it would be more from the perspective of the putter-awayer instead of the dirty dish generator.

Maybe have him help you cook then he might get where things are more.

Does this make any sense? However you do it, anything to simplify drawer and cupboard use would be a bonus.

Amy,

I think we've added about 1000 books since you were here. The place is becoming quite cluttered.

Well, I say that. Then I go up to water the plants at our upstairs neighbors'. They've easily got twice as much stuff as us, in the same amount of space.

As a buddhist I keep telling myself (and Kris) that I'm going to throw stuff out. I enjoy getting rid of things. But somehow I always end up with new stuff to replace the old, and then some.

Okay guys,
Rod finished last night.

Here is a link: http://s1097.photobucket.com/albums/g354/Crystaldfouch/

The five updates(I didn't label the pics):

I gained two 12" tiered rollouts under the left side(previously cluttered) of island sink.

I removed the upper shelf from a double 15" base cabinet (Lowes only had the one, and I wanted to test before buying two anyway). The rollouts really help with the casserole size organization(and no,not nearly all the pans are there; there are- few hanging in "fridge land"

I gained utility from the rinky dink 8ishx24 base cabinet. Love this one.

Previously wrong sized insert into knife overflow drawer and generally junk drawer. Cut to fit(Rod shaved about 1/4-1/2inch off the drawer pull side) a beauteous knife drawer. Lost the wusthoff sp?block that formerly resided on counter.

Cutlery drawer. We all know what one looks like. I am getting more of these puppies. Rod "it doesn't line up, are you sure you measured correctly?". I give him the eyebrow,whip out my tape measure. Yep, I measured right. I say..."make it fit, can'tyou use 1/2 inch shims". He says, "yes, dear". He finishes and asks what othersizes they make.


I organize it all and call Harrison down from x-boxing. He gets the drill sergeant routine, cept I didn't have his nose hooked with my fingers while giving him the speel.

Now, let's see if Tim catches what is different.

Wow, Crystal, nice!!! Aren't husbands great (most of the time?)

Excellent and good job Rod.

Hope your drill sgt. routine worked. Once we were leaving the house and I asked my daughter to shut the upstairs hall light off. She immediately started groaning about not wanting to go ALL THE WAY upstairs. The kid is 18 years old and did not realize you could turn the light off from the living room. My visions of Mother of the Year went right out the window.

Mary

Excellent, Crystal. Does he hire out?
Fitzie

Those look awesome Crystal!

Give Rod a big "attaboy" from me!

Amy