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JennGM
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I'm moving in August to a new house. It has more cabinets, but almost all of them are below the counter. The few that are above are high, too high for daily use. Most of these cabinets have pull-out shelves.
I know Elizabeth puts things in the lower cabinets so the kids can set the table. Is it safe enough to put the glassware or plates on the pull-out shelves?
Anyone have any hints or books that helped with organizing a kitchen? I love having a clean slate, and I know I can do it fine, but I love doing the reading and research for other ideas!
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Elizabeth
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I have the plates on lazy susan shelves in a lower cabinet, right next to the dishwasher. I don't have pull out shelves. The glasses are up higher, mostly because the upper cabinets weren't deep enough for pots and pans and I didn't have enough lower cabinets for glasses and my bakeware, too...For such a big house, I really lack cabinet space. Most of my everyday pots and pans hang too high for even me to reach them--my 6'4" dear, sweet husband hung the pot rack. I'm 5'2". Here's where it gets sort of funny: the same little boy who needed me to put the plates in a lower cabinet fifteen years ago so that he could empty the dishwasher, now puts away the pots and pans because he and his 13yo brother are the only two tall enough to do it  !
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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JennGM
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I beat you by about 1/2", although I may have shrunk over the years -- I'm the tallest girl in our family. One sister is just about my height, the rest are 5' or under. I'm considered the tall one, my mother asking ME to reach into her high cabinets!
That's neat about your boys...you're marking their growth just by the help they can do around the house! My husband (5'9") is hoping some recessive gene will appear in my son and he'll have lots of height. But, his growth charts are not displaying such a phenomenon.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Family in Feast and Feria
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Jamberry77
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Jenn,
My mother always says to "put things where you use them". So you need to have a mixing/baking center where you will be mixing up cookies, meatloaf, etc. That's where you will store your mixing bowls, measuring cups, spoons, etc. Your casserole dishes and baking sheets can be either near the oven or near your mixing center. Also, use divider boxes, divider trays, vertical dividers for baking sheets and 9x13 pans, vertical dividers for pot lids maybe.
I'd tell you more but the rest seems like common sense (like putting silverwear and dishes near the dishwasher).
Congratulations on your new house. My Mom actually had a hole cut in the counter near the sink for meat and vegetable scraps with a big trash can underneath. It's wonderful; imagine cutting up chicken and tossing the fat right down that little hole. She loves it.
Hope this helps.
Love,
Kelly in NC, mom to two boys
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JennGM
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Jamberry77 wrote:
| My mother always says to "put things where you use them". So you need to have a mixing/baking center where you will be mixing up cookies, meatloaf, etc. |
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Interesting that you used this term "mixing center." I finally read a book I've had on my shelf called Kitchen Organization Tips and Secrets by Deniece Schofield. She talks about having centers: sink center, cooking center, mixing center, serving center and refrigerator center, with mixing taking front and center. Each area has its priority tools...but some will overlap.
And then she talks about prioritizing items. A, B, C and D...A and B right there at your fingertips, easy to find and put away, C rarely used, so put in out of way place and D, total waste -- shame on you for even having obscure items like lids that don't go to anything, etc.
And label items and areas. I labeled when we moved in to this house. I put labels on my cabinets and drawers so that people could help me unpack, but also so that we could get used to our new kitchen. I was laughing at myself because I still had some of the stickers up when I sold the house! I don't think the buyer cares where I put my "Plastic Cups."
I was thinking of one item that is definitely a "C" -- my Christmas china. This is a luxury I have due to my mil's generosity. In their family (and it seems all of central and western PA) you had special Christmas china to use during the season. I never had that...but now I do. Right now I put it all back in original boxes, but that seems extra work and takes up too much space...lots of little boxes. How do you store your Christmas china? Do you use china storage like this?
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Elizabeth
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My Christmas stoneware is up on a high shelf in a corner cabinet in the kitchen. At Christmas time, I switch it with the regular stoneware...I'm a bit of a stoneware fanatic .
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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JennGM
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When does your Christmas time begin? Do you put the plates out during Advent?
And if Easter is the bigger feast, and a longer season, why don't I have EASTER china? 
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Elizabeth
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I'm working on a springtime-themed collection . And yes, I break out the Christmas dishes with the beginning of advent. All part of that "readying the environment for the baby" theme...works for me! I  my Christmas dishes.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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ALmom
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I have one set of really nice China - and it is stored in a China cabinet so it is easy to get out but out of the main kitchen area so it stays nice.
It comes out during Christmas and Easter seasons - not until Christmas morning breakfast or Easter morning, except we do use it for a Sedar meal - used to be on Holy Thursday but we transferred it to Wednessday so we didn't have to rush it as much. The kids all love it because it is extra special to them. Whenever we use it, they leave their plates on the table (an unheard of luxury in our house) and I fill the sink with soapy water and clear the table myself.
The 2 yo even eats off the China on these days. (One of the main reasons they don't clear the table - but it does really make the feast extra special for the dc.)
I use different table cloths and napkins for the feasts and decorations. The table cloths are beginning to look really bad, since we have jumbo shells on Christmas (all tomatoe based) and the grape juice/wine for the Sedar - plus grease from the lamb. Anyone have laundry tips for stains!
Janet
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Karen T
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jenngm67 wrote:
Interesting that you used this term "mixing center." I finally read a book I've had on my shelf called Kitchen Organization Tips and Secrets by Deniece Schofield. How do you store your Christmas china? Do you use china storage like this? |
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I'll have to look for that book. I have her book on the Organized Homemaker and it's really been helpful in some areas like meal planning, and my planner in general.
As for china, I keep my regular good china in those cover things. I have no china cabinet, and our dining room is crowded with computer stuff, piano and bookshelves. We eat in the kitchen, even for special holidays. I only get out my china, silver, etc. on Thanksgiving and Christmas usually. When we move I hope to have more room for a china hutch or something similar, if I don't claim all the space for bookshelves.
Karen T
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JennGM
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ALmom wrote:
| I use different table cloths and napkins for the feasts and decorations. The table cloths are beginning to look really bad, since we have jumbo shells on Christmas (all tomatoe based) and the grape juice/wine for the Sedar - plus grease from the lamb. Anyone have laundry tips for stains! |
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I love nice tablecloths and napkins and try to use them frequently. I'm pretty good at cleaning spills and stains...it takes some dedication. I've bought some beautiful yellowed and stain white cloths from antique stores, priced inexpensively because of stains or a small hole and was able to save them.
Key tricks: treat as soon as the spill happens if you can, and then soak, soak, soak! The latter is the hardest part, especially when you need to run the washer so much. But I spray with shout, or Tide with bleach (and white cloths I'll even use the Clorox pen) let it sit on the stain, rub it in, then put it in the washer to soak with Oxyclean and detergent). Cold or tepid water is best...never hot. I'll soak for overnight, maybe a day or two. Sometimes it takes two or three treatments. But never dry the cloth with the stain, or it will set into the fabric.
I just got some stains out of my dh's and son's shirts...I had almost given up after two washes and soaks, and so tried again, with the method above, left them in the washer soaking for 1 1/2 days and the stains had disappeared. Same applies to my tablecloths.
There are also enzymatic stain cleaners I've seen at fabric stores that have individual formulas -- one for mustard and ketchup, another formula for coffee stains. They worked pretty well. Also stain stick formulas work great at treating the stain right away if you can't put it into the washer.
Grease I don't know...Dawn d/w detergent might work well.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Family in Feast and Feria
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: Kitchen Organization
