Kitchen Wish-list!

Well the future husband a.k.a. Chris is out of town for the week so I am all alone. I miss him very much! I really don't know how you military wives and girlfriends can stand being separated from yo' man for so long! Chris is gone for a little over a week and I'm falling apart!

Anyway, this leaves a lot of time to myself. And what have I been doing with all this alone time? You got it, Pinterest! I have found some awesome blogs:

a bowl full of lemons

and

iHeart Organizing

The woman from iHeart Organizing has a beautifully organized home with endless inspiration and ideas!

and finally, 

The Nest Effect

I especially love this blog because of Tiffany herself. She is a newer teacher and she lives in a small apartment as do I! I feel like I can really relate to her. =)

I apologize for the newb links. I haven't figured out the whole button thing yet. =/ So with all my time spent on Pinterest and many blogs, I have created a wishlist for my kitchen. Well, not just my kitchen but we will tackle other rooms later! 

First, I would like a menu board similar to the one below. 

No, it is not a menu board in the picture above but I love the idea of different pieces of scrapbook paper to make a slot for each day of the week. 

I do try to plan our meals for the week. Not only does menu planning save money, it offers variety! It is exciting to check the deals in the weekly ad every week. This also allows us to eat more of what is in season since those items are usually on sale. This week there was a special for limes: 5 for $1! Lime bars for us! Mmmm! 

Another item on my wishlist is this gorgeous frame with burlap for writing ingredients or love notes (*wink wink*)!

I love this idea and I have the perfect spot for it!

Finally, I would like some new kitchen towels since I am trying to slowly turn my kitchen colors into black & white. 

Hey, I could have the whole set!

I also would like to get a matching teakettle in stainless steel or black to match the color scheme I'm going for. I think we can all picture this, I don't need to post a picture of a black teakettle!

So what is on your wishlist for your kitchen? Is there a certain item you are missing that is easily obtainable and will really enhance the productivity or design of your kitchen? 

I want to know!

Amber

Operation Kitchen!

Wow, it has been awhile since my last post. Between having a full time job and school, I have been a very busy lady.

Since my last post, I have focused on organizing my kitchen.

I had a couple goals before starting this project:

• Get a matching black crock to store kitchen utensils. 

           

• Organize our utensil drawer that we don't necessarily need instant access to:

• Get some shelves for the inside of cabinets. 
• Find a better storage solution for future husby's workout supplements and protein. Their original containers are so unattractive!
• Buy storage for glassware.

Unfortunately, I did not take "before" pictures of the last three pinpoints. But here are the after photos!

I bought another crock to match the one black crock for $4 at Walmart. 

Again here is a picture of before:

And after!

I learned this tip from the Barefoot Contessa: separate your wooden spoon and spatulas from your other plastic/metal utensils. It looks uniform and organized. She is my idol. A couple Christmas's ago, my mom got me an autographed picture of her!

She watches over me as I cook! I love her!

Okay, back to organizing stuff!

I also bought drawer organizers for our large utensil drawer.

Remember the before? 

And the after!

Nice and organized. The future hubs was very impressed with the new drawer set-up.

Some other areas I organized but neglected to take before photos of were: 

I also got shelves from Walmart to create extra storage for bowls and plates.

I put the future husby's protein and workout supplements in canisters. I never used the flour and sugar I stored in here. I feel I have better sealed containers for my flour and sugar which I need since I do not use these ingredients on a regular basis versus Chris' supplements that he takes everyday. 

And wine glass storage!

And here are a couple areas that I just rearranged:

These are our regular used appliances: crockpot, rice cooker, toaster, wafflemaker and so forth. 

 These are appliances we use less often. 

 Mixing bowls up top and baking pans and colanders on bottom. 

Storage for cooking pots. Unfortunately, one of the shelves broke off and we haven't gotten around to fixing it. Oops!

I am very happy with all the organization I have done so far in the kitchen. There are still a couple areas I need to focus some attention on. 

These are two very sad cabinets. =( These two areas would probably not be very hard to organize but they are both very high up and difficult to organize when you are 5'4''. One of these days I'll have to get off my lazy bum and crawl up here and organize them. I will have to add this to my list of household projects!

Organization has made such a difference in the feel of our home. Just by rearranging items and installing drawer containers, our kitchen has transformed! We created a flowing path in our kitchen versus the maze it was before! 

I hope you enjoyed this kitchen organization post. How do you organize your tiny kitchen? Do you have a famous chef or cook that inspires you? I want to know!

Amber