One of my goals for February was to clean out 2 of my kitchen cabinets. Today, I’d like to share the result of my efforts.
I chose to tackle 2 cabinets that are not your typical everyday use cabinets. One cabinet houses mixing bowls, stand mixer, electric skillet, crock pot and some other random items. The other cabinet houses platters, food scale, egg cooker and other items that are more special occasion use.
One of the tricky issues with this cabinet is that it is one big hole with no shelves. This lends itself to wasting “air” space. It looks like there may have been a shelf at some point but not since I’ve lived here.
This second cabinet is twice as big with a small shelf in the back and a broken drawer falling into the cabinet.
As usual, my first step is to pull everything out!
As I pull items out, I set aside those for donation and throw out anything not worth donating. Like many people, I have way more than I actually need. For example, I had 2 Pampered Chef steamers, a small and medium sized one. I don’t steam that often but I decided to keep the medium sized one and donate the smaller one.
MAKING PROGRESS
With the cabinets empty, I decided to tackle a task that has been on my to do list FOREVER!! Looking a this broken drawer has been mocking me for years………yes, YEARS!! On and off, I have spent time looking for the piece that I needed and could not find it. I talked to staff at Home Depot, my local Ace Hardware and of course looked on Amazon. This building is over 30 years old and cabinet hardware is much different now. I had kept the piece with me in my purse forever but when I had an idea about how to fix it, I COULDN’T FIND THE PIECE!!! It should have been in my bedroom on or in my nightstand but try as I might, I could not locate it.
I’ve said before that doing other building and repairing tasks in my home often helps me do others. I thought of a work around that actually worked!
So, the drawer is now fixed and it’s time to put the stuff away. This is really the mid point and not the end because cleaning out one area always leads to others needing to be done as well.
AFTER (for now) PHOTOS
FUTURE PROJECTS
I am determined to continue with this project until all of my cabinets are not just cleaned out but also that what I keep are items that I use regularly or for special occasions.
FINDING THINGS
Don’t know how it happened but I found the missing drawer piece!! It was NOT in or on my nightstand. It had fallen and was UNDER my nightstand!! I’m not going to do anything about it at the moment because my fix is working. However, if I need it I know where it is!
Cleaning out kitchen cabinets is not fun but it is rewarding. And, it is one of those tasks that does not take a really long time. It takes longer to figure out how things will go back in than it does to remove them all. I’m actually looking forward to continuing. Stay tuned for what happens this month!
Are you organizing or cleaning out anything? Share in the comments.
