31 Days of Decluttering, Day 26: Pots & Pans in the Kitchen

Are you decluttering your home, too? I’d love to be able to share your success story with the KOAB community! Please submit the before & after pictures of your decluttering project.

before cabinet

I owe you guys an apology: I forgot to take a “before” picture of today’s project* — but here is the outside of the cabinet that I worked on decluttering for today’s post. (*Hangs head in shame.)

Hooboy, this pots-and-pans cabinet was a royal mess. The stuff was packed in there so haphazardly that the mere act of opening the doors caused half of it to fall out on you.

And considering that I had Pyrex pans in there… well, you can imagine how dangerous that was in my kitchen!

Things had gone from bad to worse over the last two months and I kept thinking I really had to reorganize. But when my husband said to me last week, “Hey, what’s the deal with that pots and pans cabinet? It’s really a disaster!”, I knew it was time to act!

I actually only got rid of two scratched up, teflon-coated pans and one broken springform pan. The rest of the organizing came in the form of relocating and reorganizing.

spin around cabinet

We have two spin-around corner cabinets. I have reorganized and reconfigured them at least three times since we moved into our house in August.

(Which reminds me — has anyone else noticed that it takes a good year to figure out the best way to use your home’s storage space? Thinking back on our previous home in Kansas City, I realize that the same thing happened there. I kept tinkering and tinkering with those trouble spots until finally landed on a set-up that worked!)

Back to this kitchen and those spin-arounds. This one was way underutilized – I had my pareve pots in there (those black ones on the bottom), but it was otherwise empty. I decided to move all my “stovetop” stuff here — i.e. the dairy and meat pots and pans. We have more dairy than meat, so the pareve joined the meat stuff on the bottom shelf.

reorganized cabinet

Meanwhile, in that trouble spot cabinet, I created “inside the oven” zones — the flat/large meat pans are on the pull-out on the left, while the dairy ones on the right. Above, I used one of these handy pan organizers to “shelve” four of our cake pans, and stacked the rest to their left. On the left top shelf, I have all of our Pyrex stacked together, with the lids along the back of the cabinet.

pull out drawers in cabinet

The cabinet has looked like this for a week, and so far, we’ve managed to quickly and easily put things away from the dish drain or dish washer.  I’m calling this one a success (though ask me again in 4-6 months – I might be tinkering again. 😉 )

Have you been working on getting a better handle on the stuff in your house? Please join me for the 31 Days of Decluttering challenge (which is stretching out of to be much longer than 31 days – oops!)! Everyone is welcome!

31 Days of Decluttering

Day One: Decluttering the Toy Storage Closet
Day Two: Decluttering the Top of a Bedroom Dresser (Finish What You Start!)
Day Three & Four: Decluttering the Master Bathroom
Day Five: Decluttering My Desk
Day Six: Join the Decluttering Challenge
Day Seven: Decluttering the Computer
Day Eight: Decluttering the Night Stand
Day Nine: Decluttering a Kitchen Counter in Less than 10 Minutes
Day 10: Decluttering a Bedroom Closet
Day 11: Taming the Paper Clutter
Day 12: Decluttering the Coat Closet
Day 13: Decluttering the Linen Closet
Day 14: Reader Share: Decluttering the Play Room
Day 15: Reader Share: Decluttering the Front Hall Table
Day 16: Is Clutter a Sensory Issue?
Day 17: Decluttering the Kitchen Cupboard (Food Storage)
Day 18: Clutter & Decision Fatigue
Day 19: Decluttering the Kitchen Pantry
Day 20: Reader Share: Keeping a Decluttered Pantry
Day 21: Decluttering the Spice Drawer
Day 22: Decluttering the “Her” Master Bedroom Closet
Day 23: Organizing and Backing Up Digital Pictures
Day 24: Declutter the Tea & Coffee Cabinet
Day 25: Decluttering the Home Office

Comments

  1. First of all, I am really enjoying following this challenge! I just wonder – how is the toy storage closet (day 1 of challenge) doing? I find that my decluttering is a never ending process as soon as I go through my house to declutter everything – I need to start again….

    • Hi Reba! Thanks for your question. You are so right. I say it’s like dishes or laundry — as soon as you’re finished, it starts piling back up again.

      The toy closet is doing really well, actually. I have had to straighten it out a few times – but it never takes more than a couple of minutes. In fact, I’d say that has been one of my most successful “decluttering projects” in this series. Since the closet isn’t overpacked with stuff, it’s pretty easy to see where everything goes and simple enough to “reset” the space. I think that’s definitely a factor of having gotten rid of SO many toys over the last two years. Maintenance is easier when there’s less to maintain!

Leave a Comment

*