apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I was just thinking I should empty out the freezer to see what was in there . . .
the end-of-summer defrost
in anticipation of the late summer tomato/eggplant cooking/freezing spectacular
: )

Me me me! I'm on a kitchen mission. I was basically thinking of doing something like this anyway, but it would be so much more fun to do with others!

I definitely need to go through my kitchen and get rid of a lot of things and get what is left organized. The cupboards are kind of a disaster...

Sounds like a great month! I've been cooking dinners (with leftovers for lunch) for 4 instead of 2 lately, so frugality has been a big topic on my mind lately. How do you make meals that taste great, are more creative than the basic "cheap eats" recipes I've been finding, and don't cost a fortune? Salmon filets for the family nearly broke my budget! Also, I'd love to read more about preserving summer produce - I'm intimidated by canning, but would like to have local food into the winter months.

I just finished painting the bedroom and the kitchen is next!

I really need to get a new oven, and get my cabinets organized. All I do is get rid of mugs and yet I always seem to have more mugs to get rid of!

How does that happen?

I would love to see lists of basics by kitchen size. I have a *REALLY* small kitchen and so can't keep many of the basics on lists.

I need a new kitchen. :-( I got a new great stove last year. Love it and named him Colin. I need to clean the fridge completely, empty it, dissinfect and clean any spilled and dried milk....

We're gearing up to tile our kitchen backsplash-- bought the tile on ebay last week. Hopefully it will arrive on Wednesday and we'll tile this weekend. It will be a huge relief to cover up the old painted, greasy wall!!!

As for topics, I'm confounded with how to organize my cupboards. Specifically, how can I store my storage containers in a way that it's easy to find the matching lids? And, slightly related, how can I store my pot lids so that they're also easy to find? (My pots end up nesting in each other and then the lids just get thrown in next to them. It's totally inefficient.)

Looking forward to everything you discuss this month!! Thanks!!

Eliza, if you have room on your wall for one of these...
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/94577183

I love mine, very low profile.

Guido,

I actually have one of those, mounted on the inside door of my sink cabinet. The problem is that I have too many pots (and lids) and some of the lids are too big for that holder. It's a great idea though, right? (I just wish they made a drawer insert or something similar for organizing lids!)

I am definitely in need of a kitchen cure -- and a cupboard challenge happens to be exactly what I've got. I live in a rented apartment, so take your remodeling ideas elsewhere.

Coming from Vermont where the rent is oh so low compared to Boston and where my kitchen was about the size of my whole new apartment in Boston, I've gone into a sort of shock. We have a whopping seven cabinet doors, total. Two of them lead to shelving under the sink which has been used as recycling and cleaning products. Down to five. One -- one! -- is used for foodstuffs, with the excess getting piled atop the fridge. The other four are for the abundance of dishes, pots, pans, glasses, liquor bottles and pasta machines we've been collecting over the years.

And as if that weren't enough, we've got about four feet of counter space...if the dishes are cleaned and put away.

Any advice or brilliant idea, beloved design gurus?

ajh-

I was in a similar situation for my first apt in NYC. I had 2 wall cabinets in my kitchen, and no counter at all. It took quite a lot of finagling to figure out how to organize all of my stuff.

Do you have any extra wall or floor space? Is there any way you could fit a free-standing storage unit in there-- on the wall or floor? Shelves?

Can you put anything (like liquor bottles) in another room? I'd try to remove anything that you don't use regularly, put it somewhere you can access when you need it but free up that precious kitchen storage space for what you really need it for daily.

Ooh! Oh! Oh!
I'm signed up for the cure... since it's all broken up into different groups I've been posting around.
I JUST posted over in NY that we should have a Kitchen Cure, since mine needs so much help and I'm sure I'm not alone!
Ok!
Hey all you fellow messy Kitchen Keepers!, Let's do it!
Let's see.... I guess I should start with washing the dishes IN the sink and then move on the dishes on the stove, and move onto the dished on the Counters from there.
I know we start with the floors in the Cure, but hey, I think this is a no brainer of a first step.

I live in less than 300 sq. ft. so my kitchen is a part of my Cure for sure. I'm glad to have a place to address kitchen specifics! especially panty ideas for a single person.. :) can't wait! count me in

OOPS!! *blush* i meant PANTRY
haha

Would love to contribute to this, I'll be watching!

LOL @ pdxcarrie - While I certainly need pantry ideas, panty ideas would not be unwelcome either :D

I am also in a rented kitchen with the worst possible countertop material imaginable: light colored plastic laminate. It scratches or stains if I look at it funny. I've scattered a bunch of silicone mats around to set everything down on, but it ain't pretty.