Hearth Flow – Reorganizing My Kitchen (at last!)

So we (“we” – it was mostly my partner, I just put stuff in boxes) cleared out our kitchen yesterday. All the cupboards emptied and washed, and the whole bit. The apartment is, just at the moment, a total disaster. (It’s kind of surprising to discover that you don’t actually have enough space in the rest of your house to hold the contents of your kitchen cupboards, but maybe that’s not so weird after all…)

Now that we can start putting things away again, we’re taking the opportunity to get rid of expired products[1], amalgamate duplicates[2], and reorganize the cupboards so that (a) we can see and recognize everything we’ve got, and (b) so that the things we use regularly all have an easily-accessible Place, and the things we use rarely – like the spare coffee maker we have on hand for Big Parties – are stored in those hard-to-reach places (like the dead-end corner cupboards) that would otherwise go unused.

This is all fine and dandy, and I suspect my Kitchen Goddess[3] will be pleased with the changes and renewed energy/flow in the kitchen. So yay for that one. 🙂

I’m happy that we’re doing it, certainly. 🙂

One thing that I’m doing is getting my Soap and Candles stuff sorted into a neater, more easily dealt-with, package. Before (as in: an hour ago), I had everything in a big cardboard box on the kitchen floor. Which, on the one hand, is fine: It’s all in one place and – relatively speaking – out of everyone’s way. But, as open, available boxes tend to do, it quickly got heaped with cloth bags, pet toys, and other bits and bobs that needed to be coralled. So the “neatness” aspect of my handy cardboard-box solution fell apart pretty fast.

The idea, now, is to keep the “loose” stuff – zip-lock bags (labeled) of citric acid, soy wax, cocoa butter, shea butter, wicks, and (recycled) tealight cups, plus my huge blocks of raw (and gloriously fragrant) beeswax – in my former Bread Box. That being a literal hinged, tin box for storing loaves of bread[4] (for those who haven’t come across one before, since I don’t think they’re in massive use these days).
Up until now, I’ve been using my bread box to store specialty flours like rye, buckwheat, and romano bean – as well as rolled oats and their relatives, rolled spelt and rolled kamut. (I don’t actually have anything like a wheat intollerance/allergy, but I’ve got friends who do, so I like to keep some appropriate flours on hand if they’re coming over for dessert or similar). BUT! Because the bread box is (a) opaque, and (b) kept in the bottom of my cupboard, behind the rice cooker and the waffle iron, I tend not to pull it out very often. Not helpful.

“But, Meliad,” I hear you say imagine you’re saying, “Won’t you still have the same accessibility issue if you’re storing oils and waxes in the breadbox as you were when you were storing flours?”

Good point, my dears, good point.

My theory – and it really is just a theory at this point – is that:
1) Having re-stored my spare small appliances, I now have extra space on our Small Appliance Shelf.
2) This means that I have space to store the rice-cooker, the waffle iron, and the hand-mixer on the Small Appliance Shelf, rather than in the lower cabinet.
3) Which means I have extra space in the lower cabinet where, hey, I can store my soap and candle supplies in an easily accessible way that…
4) … Is also off the floor and not likely to get approrpiated by pet toys, cleaning supplies, or reusable shopping bags. (I hope).

It’s not a perfect solution, by any means. But it is a big help and, with any luck, will mean that we have more room-to-move in our kitchen while also giving me the means to (a) access my craft supplies without having to go digging for them, and (b) access the lower section of my Gorgeous Oak Hutch which contains a lot of my fancy servingware — which, y’know, I’d like to be able to use now and again. 🙂

Huzzah! Everybody wins! 😀

TTFN,
Meliad the Birch Maiden.

[1] So far: one tin of mango slices, two tetra-packs of vegan milk, and the remains of a jar of pine nuts. Not bad, on the whole, and kind of a relief given how much Stuff In Tins we have in stock.

[2] I have so many little bags of baking soda, it’s not even funny…

[3] She handles all things pertaining to hearth, abundance, and stability, but stagnation is NOT her friend (I don’t think it’s anyone’s friend, actually), so getting things sorted and cleared and back in use will probably make her happy. 🙂

[4] My parents got a canister set for a wedding present – it included cilindrical tins for tea, coffee, sugar, flour, and cookies, plus this rectangular tin for bread. The idea being that if you store your bread in a cool, dark place, it will (a) last longer, and (b) be protected from any pets/pests that you have in your house. When I got my first house, I inherited most of these tins. And most of them are in regular use. (The one for tea, while it does hold tea bags, is also full of orange pekoe, which we pretty-much never drink. I’m not sure what we’re going to do about that). I *heart* them. They help me keep my cupboards neat and (relatively) free of Accumulated Bags. YAY! 😀