One Room Challenge - THE KITCHEN! - Come Join! - Page 4

[MyLittleWonders]

MY KITCHEN PICTURE TOUR
From the hallway, looking in
Oven and stove
Sink and surrounding countertops
Fridge and side counter, plus "desk" area
Fridge and pantry
Inside of laundry room
Inside pantry
Cupboard above pantry
Cupboard above fridge
Upclose of major problem area - counter to the right of the fridge
Continuation of major problem area - "desk" area

WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT MY KITCHEN
It is large enough to fit our kitchen table in there (which is good because there is no way a table would fit in the "dining" room). It has brand new granite counters, appliances, and repainting oak cabinets. (It was being remodeled when we bought the house.)

WHAT I LIKE LEAST ABOUT MY KITCHEN
The flooring is pergo, which warps very easily and is already showing signs of needing replacing from just normal life. It is dark in there because of the entire west wall being backed up by the garage, so there's no possibility of a window going in there. The paint is a more dingy looking tan - something I'd like to change. And the drawers are *very* shallow where you would put silverware, measuring cups, and the like.

MY PLAN OF ACTION

1. Clean up the pantry - overall it's in fine shape and just needs things back in their right spot.

2. "Gut" the major problem area and find a home (or the trash can) for everything there. I only want the KitchenAide mixer and a nice basket for our washcloths on that counter, and nothing on the funky "desk".

3. Clean out the cupboards above the pantry and fridge. These are not being utilized well at all. I would like to keep art supplies up there for hs'ing (the good watercolors and such that are "adult supervision" supplies ), plus neatly store things like spare lightbulbs and appliances that don't get much use (rotisserie, for instance).

4. Get a nice basket for our washcloths (we don't use paper products in the kitchen), and also a nice way to keep the fruit more organized.

5. Figure out a better trash bag and recycle bag solution. I don't like trash cans as they get really dirty, but ds#3 is crawling around so something has to give.

6. Clean out my stash of dishes. I have the ones we've had since we got married, plus some odds and ends from before our wedding. We also have a 4-place setting set of "winter" themed dishes, plus a really cool set (I think setting for 8 or 10) of retro green & yellow daisy dishes ... I really like these (my mom got them from a client when she moved) but we never use them because they are shoved up in the top of the cupboards). So, I need to figure out what we use and get rid of the rest. (And this isn't counting the white china and other 4-person setting Christmas dishes in the china hutch in the other room. )

7. Get a nice big cork board or similar to hang above the "major problem counter" where we can put "treasure map" items plus cute artwork/notes from our boys.

[anthasam]

Originally Posted by mightymoo

I've seen them for sale, so I know what you are talking about. I'll have to be on the lookout for something that seems like it could be used that way.

Ah, ok. I live under a rock sometimes, so I've never seen them for sale

[DawnaRose]

Ok, I'd like to join in too! I was just coming to this section of the forums to look for help with my house!

I'm trying to love my house, but its hard, because its really too small for our needs and we probably can't even afford to move to a bigger house right now anyway... I keep finding things I hate about it and it makes me feel bad.. help me : my house!

---

MY KITCHEN PICTURE TOUR-
whole set here

Standing at back door looking into kitchen

Standing at bathroom looking to back door

Stove, bar, counter

Standing at living room doorway looking into kitchen You can see the high ceilings and windows here. Lots o' sunshine.

pots/pans Dishwasher will probably be put in this spot.

Dishes. Too many, too high, I can't reach the top shelves with out climbing...

Pantry? Too cluttered, too hard to find what I need... too much tea

Tupperware cabinet? messy messy!

Bar thing I hate. Window I love. I wanna take this bar out, and open the whole kitchen/dining area up. DH doesn't want to... :

Drawers next to stove. Filled with junk.

Drawer next to fridge. Sippy cup tops and bowl tops on one side and cookie cutters in the other

Silverware drawer. Most of its clean and on the dishdrain

Under the 'bar'. I hate this spot most. I close the doors, put DDs learning tower up and pretend it doesn't exist... I really wanna just remove this whole thing, but dh doesn't wanna... sigh.



WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT MY KITCHEN

Lots of sunshine.
High ceilings
wood floors

WHAT I LIKE LEAST ABOUT MY KITCHEN

bar thing, seperating kitchen from "dining"

wood floors (they desperatly need refinished)

cabinets are too tall for me, I am 5'2. I can't reach the top shelf of anything!
cluttered "pantry" and cabinets.



MY PLAN OF ACTION -

I want DH to install the new dishwasher and fridge we have... I'm gonna lose a lil bit of cabinet space but I'm ok with that.

I want to paint the kitchen a bright cheerful color. Every room in my house is white.

I want to clean out from under the "bar" and get rid of 99% of crap under there...

I'd like to downsize our dishes and pots/pans, I don't use half of what we have.

Top of fridge needs to be totally clean. I hate the clutter look.

(I'm gonna add more as I decide what to do this month, lol)

**I did sweep the floors, it just doesn't look like it. I need to mop. I'm feeling bad cause it looks so dirty**

[sincitymama]

Todays Plan:
surface clean the kitchen (really really need to do this ) and declutter htings that don't belong to me. Still have some stuff from my IL's having stayed with us, so that needs to get out of the way.

[greenmansions]

MY KITCHEN PICTURE TOUR

I did not clean up much for these because the kids were having lunch while I was taking them...But at least they're up now!

Added pics here:

http://s78.photobucket.com/albums/j1...chen%20Photos/

WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT MY KITCHEN (Include a picture!)
- The view out to the backyard. I can see Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains on a clear day.
- Lots of cabinet and counter space. We did a gut remodel 4 years ago and so it's how I want it to be (within a certain budget of course.) The old kitchen was awful - gold appliances, orange counters and backsplash, decades of sticky grease residue on everything, poorly patched cabinet repairs, holes in the vinyl floor etc. Just bad.

WHAT I LIKE LEAST ABOUT MY KITCHEN
- Stuff cluttered up on the countertops that doesn't really belong in the kitchen but it doesn't have a home anywhere else either.
- The "view" out the window over the sink is into my DH's greenhouse and it's pretty ugly.

MY PLAN OF ACTION - here is where you can be as agressive or laid back as you like. If you want to list a series of goals

I don't have a lot to do in the kitchen (pretty much the only room I didn't vote for in the poll!). The cabinets are well organized except for the spice shelf, and that doesn't bother me too much.

I would like to figure out where to put the stuff that's on the counters, give everything a good cleaning, get rid of a few things that I don't use or have duplicates of. The hard part is that some of those things were gifts from DH's family and he thinks we should keep them. But I can at least sneak them down to the basement for now, and maybe on out of here entirely later.

I'd love suggestions on how to obscure the view to the greenhouse. I have to get DH's buy-in on ideas and have to budget right now to deal with it, but this is a great opportunity for me to get ideas to chew on for later. I'd prefer nothing permanent as the greenhouse will be redone in maybe 5-7years and then it will be nice to look out there.


OK gotta go tend to my kiddos, back later...

[nurturedbirth]

Hi everyone!

I'd like to do the kitchen challenge. Over the weekend (before I saw the challenge) I had a burst of cleaning energy that I put into the kitchen because we were having guests last week and again this weekend. So keep in mind that my kitchen is already better than it's been in a year. I feel like a fraud posting these pictures because they do *not* represent its usual state. Anyway.

MY KITCHEN PICTURE TOUR
I hope this works, it's my first time linking to Flickr. Many of the photos have notes if you mouseover the image:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9058836...7594513171622/

WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT MY KITCHEN (Include a picture!)
We did (or should I say started) a major cosmetic makeover about a year ago so there are quite a few things I like now:
-The under cabinet lights we added.
-The colors.
-The new floor that doesn't smell like cat urine. (even though it's vinyl. marmoleum or cork would have been nice, but were out of the budget.)
-The cabinet doors DH made.

Also some things that didn't change in the makeover:
-The square footage is small but we can fit quite a few people in there to socialize and the 2 of us can pretty much cook at the same time without completely running over each other.
-A good size pantry and good amount of storage.

WHAT I LIKE LEAST ABOUT MY KITCHEN
- The pantry shelves are open and you see them first thing when you walk in the kitchen.
- The fridge sticks out into the space oddly and is white while the other appliances are black.
- Biggest thing: lots of small projects that were never completed from the remodel - second coats of paint not done, drawers not rebuilt, some baseboards missing, etc.

MY PLAN OF ACTION
- Finish trim, trim paint, half door into pantry, and spice board. Some of these are projects for DH . Drawers probably won't get done this month.
- Clean out the fridge, hardcore. As in pull out ever single thing and scrub top to bottom. Throw out dressings, etc we don't use or like.
- Go through cabinets and get rid of extra glasses, sports bottles, etc. I know we have 3 sets of dry measure cups, for example. :
- Sort and organize pantry, wipe down shelves.
- Bonus points if I can make and hang a curtain for the pantry shelves.

[MommyMichele]

MY KITCHEN PICTURE TOUR
I went a little overboard, taking photos beyond my kitchen. With a baby born in November, I've done very little organizing and I'm eager to get back to it.


WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT MY KITCHEN
pantry is spacious
the drawers are pretty well organized


WHAT I LIKE LEAST ABOUT MY KITCHEN
limited counterspace
plastic storage containers avalanche

MY PLAN OF ACTION
With a 3 month old baby so I don't have high hopes of being thorough with this, but I've decided to go for it and see how much I can manage to do. I have recently eliminated a bunch of plastic cups and other things from my cabinets, so now I need to reorganize what's left. It's not just kitchen stuff because as homeschoolers we have a lot of art and science materials which I think are best stored in the kitchen. I'm very open to comments and suggestions.

[MamaFern]

question..

should we continue to update our first post or add new ones about our progress?

[caricandothis]

MY KITCHEN PICTURE TOUR
bb in an hour or so with pics

WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT MY KITCHEN (Include a picture!)
-it's large and open
-my pantry that dh built me

WHAT I LIKE LEAST ABOUT MY KITCHEN
-the color of the countertop, yuck yuck yuck
-the flooring. i liked it when we bought it bc it was cheap and was better than the carpet we ripped up. but i am so ready for something else now.
-the cabinets. i want to paint them!
-my kitchen table/chairs. the table isn't big enough but there really isn't room for anything bigger.
-lack of counterspace. i realize it's more than a lot of ppl have but when you're working on something (cooking) it gets crowded/used up really quickly.
-clutter...everything accumulates in this room!

MY PLAN OF ACTION
-we will be putting down new flooring soon, actually.
-*maybe* paint the cabinets? i dunno.
-de-clutter all the countertops...seems like i do this all the time though!
-get rid of all the stuff that really doesn't belong in this room (like the cd's!)
-re-organize the pantry

will be back in a bit with pics!

[my2girlz]

MY KITCHEN PICTURE TOUR

http://www.flickr.com/photos/92926088@N00/377545680/

WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT MY KITCHEN I really like the space.

WHAT I LIKE LEAST ABOUT MY KITCHEN no pantry

MY PLAN OF ACTION -

1. clear everything out
2. put back essential items

[cece]

Yep, yep me too!

MY KITCHEN PICTURE TOUR
Hopefully this works, why did I try flickr when I already have photobucket? silly me.
My kitchen
WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT MY KITCHEN (Include a picture!)
It has a decent amt of cupboard space for an older apartment

WHAT I LIKE LEAST ABOUT MY KITCHEN
The lack of counter space and the counters themselves. EWWWW. Oh, and the old contact paper which will be changed out pronto.
MY PLAN OF ACTION - here is where you can be as agressive or laid back as you like. If you want to list a series of goals
I just moved into this apartment, so there is a lot of work to be done. Nothing is where it should be, and I need to re do the contact paper. So, first of all I need to decide where to put everything, re paper the drawers/shelves. Then, I need to buy some canisters for storing dry goods. I'll save sorting the junk drawer for a night that involves wine.
Also, decide on a paint color, paint, install shelving above the sink, hang pics. Also, one of those basket dealies for my sponges under the sink would be swell.
Thanks to everyone for posting and the awesome challenge, I love it! I'm so excited.

[mommaof3boz]

Cece-I know this is OT but your family is so beautiful!! Also have you considered a pot rack above the sink area?

[Mooky]

I may have taken too many pictures? My first time using flickr also so I hope it works. I appreciate any and all ideas and encouragement

MY KITCHEN PICTURE TOUR
http://www.flickr.com/photos/6027804...7594514758569/

WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT MY KITCHEN (Include a picture!)
My new floors well a year old but you shoulda seen em when we moved in I like the space and that it is all open and lots of cabinets My house is over 100 years old so not much storage and the kitchen makes up for it a bit

WHAT I LIKE LEAST ABOUT MY KITCHEN
My messy counter tops and poor lighting at night in day it is great because of the windows

MY PLAN OF ACTION
That is the problem I think I'm not sure if I have one
I couldn't get a picture of the worst cabinets though the corners I actually have to crawl into the cabinet to get stuff in or out maybe some of those lazy turner things??

[TwinMom]

Mooky, my aunt has an old house with those skinny corner cabinets, but she put in a two-story lazy susan and now it's SO much easier to access stuff. I don't think they cost very much and it would give you a ton more storage space.

Cute baby, btw.

[TwinMom]

Well, I didn't do anything to further my goals today, but tomorrow I intend to go through one cabinet, not sure which one. A few years ago I completely decluttered the kitchen, had empty shelves and everything, but things have crept back in. I might add some pictures of those overflowing shelves. The worst is under the bar, where we keep things like trays (only one, but it's handmade and I paid a fortune for it, can't make myself get rid of it even though we never use it), poker sets, crates of disposable stuff (cups, plates, leftover party napkins, etc., great to pull out for playgroups), paper towels (I buy in bulk, but they hang around for a long time because mostly we use rags), and a bunch of miscellaneous stuff like coloring books (that nobody uses). If I cleaned out a section of those shelves I could move some of the small appliances that are in the island over to there. Inside the island are things like the hot air popcorn popper, food processor, blender, toaster, GF toaster (I could get rid of the regular one, but it was expensive and has a lifetime warranty, so I'm trying to decide if I could maybe have it replaced for free), etc. Then I could move my coffee maker off of the counter and put it under the island; I use that much more than the toaster or blender, but not every day.

Okay, sorry, maybe that was too stream-of-consciousness, but I wanted to formulate a plan for myself.

[GenomicsGirl]

This is awesome! I so need to declutter my kitchen - I have to straighten it up, then I'll take and post the pics EXCITED! Isn't it sad that I'm so excited about decluttering my kitchen

[MyLittleWonders]

So are we allowed to wait until the 27th to actually start? I think I'm heading to Target or such tomorrow for a basket for our washcloths, maybe a nice shallow wooden bowl for the fruit, and a nice cork/bulletin board. I might go to the hardware store for paint swatches too.

[GenomicsGirl]

MY KITCHEN PICTURE TOUR
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5191946...eted=378297450

WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT MY KITCHEN
The open space & the fact that my kids can have their play area in it
The storage I've added for toys & art supplies (island area and pantry)

WHAT I LIKE LEAST ABOUT MY KITCHEN
I get overwhelmed at the amount of junk hidden behind the doors
Oh yeah - and the WHITE!

MY PLAN OF ACTION
Install a pot rack to get some cupboard space back
Get rid of the junk around my computer area
Organize the multitudes of junk drawers
Organize above the washer/dryer
Organize the pantry
Organize the top of the fridge & use those cupboards for storage
Throw out all the junk that isn't useful

Edited recently to add photos of the junky parts, and to add to my plan of action Now off to get something done!

[TwinMom]

Shannon, I like the cubbies for toys in your kitchen; they blend in with the background. I wish I had something similar for my playroom.

[camotyka]

MY KITCHEN PICTURE TOUR

Full View From Door
Left View
Right View

WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT MY KITCHEN - I have tons of space

WHAT I LIKE LEAST ABOUT MY KITCHEN - The splash paper under the cabinets. If you look close you can see a slab of tile (under the papertowel holder) that I am testing to see how I like it. If it grows on me I'll just have to get some grout and put them up!

MY PLAN OF ACTION - After taking these pics I felt a little better about the status of my kitchen. What I'd like most to do is clean the junk drawers, where DS keeps his cups etc, and the craft cabinets. I also really would like to do something with my lazy cabinets but I'm frightened of the huge one :.