{OrganizedHome} Day 6: A Peek Inside My Kitchen

[Welcome! If you are just joining me now, this is the 6th post in a series called 31 Days to an Organized Home. You can see what the series is all about, and all the posts published so far by going here.]

Today I am inviting you to take a peek inside my kitchen and see how I've turned it into an functional space that works well for our family.  It's a looooong post with a lot of pictures, so if you need to top up your coffee or go to the ladies room, I recommend you do that now...

Okay, you're back?  And ready?  Here we go....

On my fridge I have a chalkboard to quickly jot down groceries I need to get.

Notice the small white dishpan on top of my fridge for hiding dirty dishes.  When people come for dinner I can easily stash the last minute dinner prep dishes in that dishpan to be dealt with later.

I keep a stack of pretty little bowls on the counter to use as prep bowls.

I keep my steak knives from sliding around in the drawer with a strip of magnet wrapped in contact paper. I adhered it to the drawer using double sided tape.

Because my kids reach into this drawer I didn't want the knife blades exposed. I made a cover for them by wrapping a piece of cardboard in contact paper with another strip of magnet on the bottom to keep it in place

I love this solution because it used things I already had around the house!

Dollar store corkboard tiles keep my most frequently used kitchen tools from slipping around inside the drawer. 

My pot lids are held in place by a tension rod placed across the front of a drawer. 

 

  

 

 This cabinet was tricky to get a decent photo of because it's narrow and tucked in the corner.  It holds our barbecue utensils and cutting boards.  Some of the barbecue items are suspended from the side of the cabinet on hooks.

A corner cabinet holds serving dishes and small appliances.

 

The upper corner cabinet holds some breakfast supplies and all of the coffee and tea stuff when it's not on the counter.

  

  

 

 

My island has a small drawer that holds all of my serving utensils.  Again, I've used corkboard tiles to keep things from sliding around inside the drawer.

Some tips for organizing your own kitchen:

1. Make it pretty.  Pretty spaces are fun to keep tidy.
2. Have less stuff than you have room for. If every space is filled, your whole system will break down the first time you come home with something new.
3. Be creative.  You don't need expensive organizing tools in order to have an organized kitchen.

Thanks for enduring the longest blog post in the history of man... 

But wait, there's more!  Remember back on day one of this series when I said there was going to be a linky party for all of you to share your fabulous organizational projects?  Well, I've set that date for Thursday October 27th.  

This is going to be my first time hosting a linky party and I want it to be a great success, filled with tons of organize-y goodness! So please spread the word!   I've even made this nifty little button for you to pin or add to your own blog!

<a href="http://www.imperfecthomemaking.com/2011/10/organizedhome-day-6-peek-inside-my.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-a1itRkh3Bl0/To0fxi1_m7I/AAAAAAAAA8Y/oaYoZHqLCYE/s275/linkybutton3.jpg" /></a>

I hope you will plan to swing by on October 27th to link up your own home organization projects!