Kitchen Anniversary Clean OUT!

Last year we did an entire kitchen gut and remodel. You can follow the story on the blog, starting here, Whole House Remodel: Kitchen--Finally!

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We are in our late 60's and we did the entire thing ourselves....with help from friends and family. We assembled and planned an IKEA kitchen. It was a dream kitchen designed for big family meals, canning, baking, and a love for crazy amounts of vintage stuff. 

When we moved into the kitchen after four months of construction---ALMOST---everything I could possible want to use fit in all the planned storage. We decided to keep everything that fit, and purge those items not used after a year.

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Well, it's purge time. I'm not an organized person by nature, so along with a cleaning program, I began on the drawers last week. The section above had been designated everyday dishes and casual entertaining a year ago. 

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Drawer 1 is the everyday silverware and casual serving ware. We entertain family a lot. Usually under 12 people. I cleaned this out reorganized a tiny bit. I've used dividers in this drawer and don't regret this at all. The drawer basically stayed organized for the whole year. (I did pull a lot of pushpins, screws, nails, toothpicks and some paper bits out of here, though)

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Drawer 2 Before----I use paper plates and plastic plates as buffers. The bowls and small plates all stack very well, so there's no shifting to speak of.

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After cleaning and re-stacking the drawer, I have space in front, perfect for some bags of napkins, I use for quick use if someone pops in for a cup of coffee or desert. My casual dishes are mixed blue and white, and a few red, vintage as well as new. I have a stack of green anchor hocking bowls, I wish I could find more of.

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These paper napkins were found here and there in the kitchen, so I organized them and used them for the front space of my Drawer 2.

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This works, and I will continue to use the paper plate dividers, until I come up with a better (redo) solution. Purchased dividers would be expensive and wouldn't be the correct sizes anyway.

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Drawer 3 was filled with casual serving pieces, bowls, and my Chopper/mixer case (I use that a lot, 

right above on the counter). This had lots of odds and ends stuck in there---that didn't belong. 

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No. 3 empty--this is a huge drawer, I have one IKEA divider holding everything.

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While the drawers are being cleaned, I mineral oiled all the teak handles on my mid-century Scandinavian serving pieces and some of my wood bowls. These get a work-out all year long serving the extended family. They are unbreakable so no one has to worry about breaking anything. Formal dining is lovely for holidays, but for a Sunday cookout not so much.

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Drawer 3 completed: I alternated glass against plastic/metal/or wood. Rearranged with the odd pieces pulled out and there is lots of room and it's all easily accessed by the drawers.

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Surprisingly, I have used everything in this drawer way more than once this year. Some things weekly.

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This vintage platter---I'm moving to the living room buffet housing the formal dinnerware. I had pulled it out for the holidays before we put up the Christmas tree, as it was hard to get into the buffet with all the holiday decor surrounding it.

I started next on the island which has two cabinets of 3-30" wide drawers.

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This is my cleaned top drawer in what I called the baking cabinet. Very little left this drawer and very little had to be moved. Zoning drawers is the best way to stay neat. YES, I use everything here often. We do 'family' (sometimes 4 family) baking or cookies, pies, pizzas, and canned applesauce.

The box on the left is my silicone pastry pad. I have mixed and matched dividers in here. The cup of batteries are for my scale and auto-mixer for pot stirring, which I don't leave in the appliances.

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Drawer 5 is the middle drawer and has mixing bowls, glass and plastic measuring bowls, my blender stick, battery pot-stirrer, rolling pin, caulk gun cake decorator, two antique sifters, and all the tips for cake decorating, corn syrup and two containers of shortening. I have thought of dividers for this, but after using one for awhile I pulled it out to utilize all the space.

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This is the purged stuff from the 5 drawers---well, the napkins were reorganized, the plastic serving pieces/bowls actually belong on the back porch cabinet. The rest will be dealt with or filed. 

Not too bad for an unorganized person for a whole year.

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NOW---BEFORE--Drawer 6 with baking supplies, well, it's a disaster. Basically, I bought too much stuff to do at Christmas and then it didn't get it done...sigh. So--I have to tackle this which has to be organized---in a better fashion--for the next post, or.... 

maybe AFTER I bake Valentine's goodies!

Thanks always for visiting. 

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question.

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown or anywhere I shop.

 Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. 

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Sandi

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Farmhouse Kitchen Reveal:Part 2

I'm going to share our lighting, the sink wall and the island.  

These two central schoolhouse pendants give tons of light. The white globes reduce glare and it gives a warm light with the LED bulbs we chose.

The back on the left are the  exhaust fan lights. I had been cooking in the dark with light sources always behind me. The back lights on the stove lasted a year and then conked out.

The new kitchen did not align with the existing light box, it was off center and too close to the fridge. So, Hubby, built this long box from the ceiling headboard with trim and finials that match the woodwork in the rest of the house. Inside is the new wiring hooked into the old electrical boxes.

Now the entire kitchen even the eating area is centered. It wasn't before.

The existing refrigerator is only a few years old, we chose to use it and build it in. The overhead cupboard is deeper and is finished off on the right side with a floor to ceiling panel that matches the cabinetry, a filler piece has been added since this picture. Now the upper cabinet.

I really don't have to get on a stool for this, as with the organizational racks from IKEA, we used 5, all my flat pans are organized. This will work unless something gets pushed back. I really love this. If you bake, can, or cook for crowds, this organization is wonderful.

Hubby finished off the back hall with wainscoting from bead board. My antique and family collections are displayed here. Down the stairs is a section with bbq tools, etc. on the right.

I'm going to look for a great GREEN recycling bin in wood or tin for here. 

We recycle tons of stuff and sadly fill one up every two weeks with just the two of us.

My roaster shelves are still there. Wall treatments are still up in the air here and on the eating end of the kitchen. 

Starting on the sink wall, we have the coffee shop. I still haven't made the magnet/picture to go on the coffee pot. We use this machine constantly, in the afternoon I have instant hot water for tea. It's ugly but super! 

The cabinet above holds our teas and coffees and servers.

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Below is our metal shelves that are currently holding large bowls, strainers, breads and vegetables.

I could have done a smaller cabinet, but on paper we had room for this. I'm going to look into all one color bins. But this is what I had without new purchases. 

Next to the right is MISCELLANEOUS drawer. We are still trying to find things. So right now this is the status of this drawer. Eventually it will be edited and reorganized. I hope to have all the things that I used to keep on the fridge in here.

This drawer looks a mess. Mostly because I have ALL my towels in here. These will be edited. 

A bucket of markers, soap and sugar substitute. Clearly drawer this needs some work.

Nothing like a photograph to show you glaring deficiencies you ignore.

The bottom drawer is deep and has some odd things together in here. Three crockpots, my graters, a bin of jar covers and some odd stuff, and the extra dish strainer which doesn't fit under the sink. 

Paper bags will eventually have another spot. 

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This is what the sink usually looks like, always in use. Our old dishwasher is on the right, and is so quiet now that it is properly built-in.

We love the Vinyl Plank floors, but I chose some rubber backed rugs for spills and for safety. We are seniors and falling or slipping on water/grease is not a good idea.

The sink is oversize on the left and smaller on the right where the disposal is.

Under the sink, we chose pull-out bins on tracks for garbage and kitchen garden waste. THESE are worth every penny---silent and just slide back in. Plus behind the waste bin is our soap box for the dishwasher, out of sight from little ones.

Here they are pushed in. And the hardware is silent and runs so smooth.

To the right is a small cabinet with everyday glassware in it. The next cabinet area has glass doors.

This holds some treasures and on the bottom shelf my everyday mis-match blue dishes with a sprinkle of reds.

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The counter top here keeps changing. This was an early picture before the tile.

I have six pictures of this area from the last month, and all different. The only thing consistent is the cookie jar and my favorite enameled tray. I'm going to find a spot for the chopper, though I use it almost everyday.

This cabinet is the dish/serving cabinet the drawer is 36" wide, but shallow---again you can't pile it deep. Here's the layout. Since it is to the right of the dishwasher it is really easy to put items away. So far, for a month it has stayed neat and organized. 

The bottom drawer holds serving pieces, while the next drawer holds smaller plates, bowls and some serving bowl pieces.

Here is the cabinet lighting during the day on low. 

This is on high...LOVE the lighting. Its warm and welcoming and we leave one section on at night.

I'm officially in love with the glass door cabinets. I know they will evolve, especially when I get into all my antique bins I still have in the basement/garage.

The island is the heart of the kitchen. It is the WORK area. So it has to function. The countertop is 5'x4' butcher block. The cabinetry consists of two 30" wide cabinets with three drawers. On the stove side are three stools which will be red or maybe replaced with white ones. Not sure yet.

The left cabinet is the baking cabinet. Top drawer is actual two drawers one hid inside the other. The top one holds all my measuring tools, spatulas, mixer tools..etc. Very handy. 

The second holds bowls, supplies, sifter, hand mixers and large measuring cups. I have a divider for here, but haven't used it yet. The square bins clam unto the side bars and hold smaller items

Here is a full view of the top drawer with the scale in view also.This drawer is working very well. 

This drawer is also convenient, I may find a container or two to control the corded items.

Now my bottom baking drawer needs some help. The black box is my hand mixer, the box may disappear if I can work the contents to the drawer above. Round canisters are useless. I hope to have matching bins here eventually. My large pantry bins were too tall for this drawer.

To the right in the lower drawer are all the small baking pans, a set of clear bowls, apple bakers and some miscellany. The divider is working well here. We will see what happens as it gets used more.

The middle drawer holds just food storage, rolled products, jar covers, bag clips, and garbage bags. It really is nice everything in those categories are here. 

I'm using one divider to control the items. 

So far, after we use the excess, 

I'm confident the drawer will be neater and less duplicates will clutter it up.

We looked at all sorts of knife drawers. I settled on these dividers, instead. So far it is working well. Anything sharp that cuts anything resides here plus the can opener and garlic press. 

This is really handy for the work station. 

I hope you enjoyed a trip through the almost finished/organized? NEW Farmhouse kitchen. We still have some choices to make. I will save that for another time. 

Resources: 

Cabinetry-IKEA

Cabinetry lighting-IKEA

Countertops-Menards and IKEA

Hardware-IKEA

Flooring: Menards

Bead board Ceiling: Menards

Exhaust fan: Menards online

Flooring: Menards

Dimensional Subway tile: Home Depot

Elbow Grease: Three Seniors and Family

Thanks always for visiting. 

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question.

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions or posts. Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle

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Farmhouse Crafts and Decor

Sandi