Re-Organizing...Again...

Back in January, I organized my cooking station like this. Then I got this lovely little kitchen hutch (read how I got it, here, and her DIY story here), and lo & behold I get to re-organize my most favoritest part of my house, yet again!

So here are a few Before pics to show you how it didn't stay quite so nice...

 This was actually a nice setup. Having my cookbooks right there, was super handy when I needed to quick reference how long to roast a chicken and at what temperature. The top shelf is margarita glasses & champagne glasses that we never use, but I had to have... You know...the practical stuff! And obviously the middle shelf holds the ever-important coffee mugs. What? You don't have the Mickey pants mug? What about Grumpy's? No? Well, you're missing out...

This cabinet was handy-ish. Mostly ish. Top shelf is more glassware - martini glasses (never use), pilsners (never use now that my dad got Hubby these), and wine glasses (use a lot, but they're too high!).
2nd shelf is mixing bowls, ice cream bowls hidden behind my random container of rice, and my tiny chopping board (great for quickie chops like tomato for a sandwich or cilantro for your taco).
Bottom shelf is a cluster of baking supplies, spices, Costco size bag of chocolate chips, with a dash of madness. This was a good way to organize, in theory, back when it looked nice & tidy like this. The best part was grabbing my container of flour or sugar nestled behind the small spice jars... I'm surprised I didn't break any of those spices all over the counter or the floor after knocking them down a billion times. It was probably infomercial-ridiculous... Do your brownies crumble when you cut them? (Insert ridiculously over dramatic demonstration of shredding brownies while cutting them.) P.S. Use a plastic knife to cut brownies. Smooth as buttah!

 This is ah-mazing! Every time I open my cabinet, my fabulous Mickey pants bowl greets me - Anyone else noticing the increasing amount of Mickey pants items in my kitchen? Pornographic? Disturbing? You decide.
2nd shelf didn't get touched, except for a nice shelf wiping.
Bottom shelf...Hallelujah!...baking supplies! I definitely need more OXO Pop Top containers though. One for chocolate chips, baking soda, cornstarch, brown sugar... and many many more! If clear plastic organizational containers were crack, I'd be Lindsay Lohan. Hey-OH!

 A close up of the all that is holy in my kitchen. Now, when I need my flour & sugar, I take out the salt, which I probably already have out anyway. Freakin' amazing!

 The spice section. Ahh...smells like sweet (or spicy, or curry-y) victory!
Top shelf is all of the random glassware that we never use. High, out of reach, clean until it gets dusty again from never-usage.
2nd shelf is still the mixing bowls. The rice that was wandering there went to live in the pantry in the Asian village on shelf 3.
Bottom shelf - SPICES!

A couple of handy pointers:
On top of the white shelf are all the herb-y spices - Basil, Oregano, Italian Seasoning, Herbs de Provence, etc. Powdery savory spices are in front. Sweet/baking spices under the white shelf. H-A-N-D-Y & time saving. Why didn't I think of this before?! Where were you, Brain? Drinkin' on the job, again.
On the giant white topped spices that I have, I wrote on the rim of the lid what it is, since the label is covered by the spices in front of it. I probably could've gotten super fancy & made a label...but I am lazy and prefer instant gratification. However, if I had a label maker, I'd be ALL OVER THAT like stink on a monkey!
The last tid bit is where my Mickey head salt & pepper grinders are. They now live in a Gladware container. I can't take credit for this one. My mom did it at her house &, honestly, I always thought it was a tad neurotic until I noticed how annoying it is to constantly have a little bit of salt & pepper on my shelf. Now I can dump the remnants out! Genius! Thanks Mom! (or was it Dad? Maybe Sis?)


I wrote Before on this pic, but it's actually After. I'm tired. It's late. Throw me a bone, or a coffee...
This doesn't look like a big deal, but it kind of is, like me. I'm kind of a big deal.
(Brownie points if you can name that movie!) Anyways...
Some of the stuff on the left, used to be on the right. And the toaster oven on the right, used to be on the left in the corner. The best part about this is that now, the coffee maker is directly below the coffee mugs! Who woulda thunk it! Seriously, Brain! I'm going to start charging you rental space if you aren't going to pipe up more often with these time saving gems!

Of course I didn't stop there! The kid was napping & I had my mother-in-law on hand to shove some "Babba Joosh" and "Yummies" in his face when he did wake up...
Top shelf is just random stuff... plastic glasses for brewing iced tea out of the Keurig, Starbucks plastic frap cup, extra sippy cups & snack containers, and old school Coca-Cola glasses.
Will's cups got organized in their own little section. Sippy cups and straw cups now live happily in their own separate rows. Hubby's fancy Samuel Adams perfect beer glasses also live here. Kids & beer go hand-in-hand... naturally.
Bottom shelf holds all of our everyday drinking glasses. And our landline. Yes. We still have one (Here's why I'm reluctant to cancel it.) I actually called to cancel it today because I thought my $15/month would be better spent on, well, anything else, but they knocked it down to $5/month to make me keep it. Ok. So $10 extra bucks a month is at the very least a dinner at home & leftovers for lunch the next day. Sha-booyah on the grocery savings!

I know, you're dying to know what I put in this lovely lady. Ready? Can you handle it?
First of all, how awesome does that pile of chocolate chip cookies look? Yeah...Lani's idea. I sent her 2 text pics to have her help me "accessorize" this hutch, and this is what she chose. It was slim pickin's. Obviously it's desperately crying for a white ceramic animal cookie jar. Maybe an owl?

This was option 2. Really?! Mickey's pants, AGAIN! Ok...maybe I need to go to rehab about all of the pants I've stolen from Mr. Mouse. I didn't steal them. I legally own them, but it's still kind of weird nonetheless. It's a cookie jar, by the way. Best Housewarming/Wedding present ever! (wink, wink. You know who you are, friend.) It actually doesn't look too clash-y in this picture, but in real life, it's real clashy. Like painfully clashy.

I have a lot of glassware. Here's where it all lives happily out of little grubby hands' way...
Can I get a HELL YEAH for the canning jars?!

Purrrrrrrrrrdy!

Do you know how you spell happiness?! C-A-N-N-I-N-G J-A-R-S-!!!
P.S. I love how you can see the odd number of wine glasses I have. Only 5? Once upon a time, almost 5 years ago, there were 8.


My cookbooks are living down below. I haven't found anything for the bottom shelf, yet. I will probably move the books to the bottom shelf since now I see that shelf is buckling under the pressure a little bit. Yikes!

Afterwards, this little monkey helped me vacuum! Mr. Independent was upset that the vacuum was too heavy for him to move back and forth on his own, and God Forbid I try to help him. Welcome to Meltdown City. Population: Will. So he got the mini-vacuum wand. Is it against child labor laws to buy your kid a mini-vacuum and have him vacuum the house? Maybe daily? I pay in fruit snacks... (Aw... Here's a trip down memory lane when he used to be terrified of the vacuum...)

Happy Friday!