apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I need to do the kitchen cure in preparation for planning and implementing a major overhaul and remodel of my 30 year old manufactured homes kitchen/laundry/master bath/vanity. There has been varous water leaks and damage over the years my dad lived in it and now I have to repair and replace big areas of subfloor and floors. Figured I may as well rearrange things to make a more useful living area since I have to move walls to replace damaged areas. The Cure should help me get a better handle on just what I want and need in my kitchen while decluttering and reorganizing the space. At least that is what I hope for. What is your reason for starting the Cure? dianerzebet.

going mano a mano with a space that taunts me with its narrowness and cabinet height.

Just doing my "homework". Living in a decent sized kitchen in Astoria, NY. My makshift pantry situation stinks and I would love for a counterspace fairy to come down and grant me more space...

I stopped dead in my tracks while painting 3 years ago (yes, 3) when I pulled off the tape and 8 layers of paint over some nasty masonite-vinyl-esque-wallboard in the kitchen. I'm ready to tackle it head-on and finally finish what I started! We're also in the midst of a bathroom reno, so my organization in the kitchen has fallen by the wayside for the last 2 months.

I might not finish EVERYthing in 4 weeks, but I plan to make a serious start!

I just bought a house that has a teeny kitchen, and a weird cabinet set up. I wont be renovating the kitchen any time soon, so I need to figure out how to best organize it in its current incarnation for the next 2 years or so.

i just bought my first house in july. the kitchen is a good size (especially compared to my last few apartments) and i finally have a full size range! problems being: a weird layout, lack of counter surface despite fantastic original cabinets, vinyl floor that i loved at closing and now hate, gross wallpaper & a counter top that is literally rotting (we cant even tell what material it once was).

since moving in i took out all the carpet, gutted the bathroom and began the task of replastering and painting everything. the holidays are coming up and ill be hosting thanksgiving and most likely my office holiday party. figured the kitchen cure would help me start the daunting task of fixing up and deep cleaning my kitchen for some serious traffic.

We moved into our 1922 home in February, and since then I've wanted to update the kitchen. It has two big windows, and 2 doorways, so the set up is strange, and the counterspace is limited. I'm a kitchen gadget fiend, so I'd like to go through, weed out what I really don't use, and get the most out of the space I have.

We don't have a kitchen so much as one wall with a sink, oven and stove, etc. and a small hallway with a tiny built in fridge, freezer and cupboards. I love to experiment with different cuisines (American, British, Japanese, Italian, Indian, Turkish) and they all seem to require different equipment, ingredients, spices, dishes! Because we're moving in the next year or two, major restructuring or renovation is out.

I also have a decent sized kitchen in Astoria, NY (hi neighbor lovinart1!). Well decent sized for an apartment I guess.
I have too much crap stacked on top of other crap which makes getting said crap out or later put away a royal pain-in-the-tooshy. So I want to fix that. I also need a deep cleaning.
and because the landlord is basically a big confused company with no standards, my cabinets don't make it all the way to the wall. so there is this abyss, about 6" wide and counter deep, that needs some serious plugging up. I'll post pics somewhere eventually. I need recommendations.

Hello all...

Thanksgiving is a pretty major incentive for me, since it's only my second time and I'll be hosting it for double the amount of guests I ever have before. There will be three of us prepping / cooking at once so everything has to be easy to find.

I'm also hoping to sort out my cupboards properly so that we have room for our lovely wedding gifts. I've got stemware sitting on the countertop since our wedding three months ago because I have nowhere to put it!

Looking forward to a cosy winter full of cooking and eating :)

My boyfriend and I are on the move again in a month, into a new apartment with a much smaller kitchen space (less storage) than we're used to.
I'm hoping that with this next move of ours we can purge some unused and unnecessary kitchen stuffs and start off on a good (organized) foot in our new home.

Looking forward to hearing all the great, creative ideas & participating in this years challenge!

My husband and I bought our 1961 rambler in January and this poor little house spent about 30 years totally neglected. The kitchen is a decent space -- not huge, not a ton of counter space. We bought all new appliances when we moved in, we changed some of the hardware, put some window film on the scratched up sliding door, and removed the doors on the cabinets above the sink. But I've got a ton of equipment I use frequently, and the rest of the cabinet storage just doesn't work great for me. I'm thinking about adding a pegboard pot rack on the basement door, and figuring out how to store my spices better, as well as getting my magnetic knife rack up. Oh, and the hardware on the drawers. And paint. And, a really good clean. All in 4 weeks?!?

Oh, Miss Hi_Fi, I totally understand where you're coming from. My current apartment isn't exactly gorgeous, but it has a tonne of cupboard and counter space in the kitchen. I'm moving to a new apartment at the end of November and I'm going to have to think of something pretty creative, because I'm going to have about half the cupboard space and a third of the counter space. I'm pretty organized to begin with but I'm hoping the Cure will help me improve efficiency even more!

Oh how I need this cure!! :) Our kitchen doesn't have a lot of storage/cabinet space. I try to keep it organized, but I hope that this cure will help in all areas of the kitchen. Hurray!

My kitchen is ugly in every way. I need help! I need to de-clutter and make it pretty. I love cooking and spend so much time in the kitchen I figured it was finally time to help it out.

I'm moving next month too Miss Hi_Fi and LauraMarie! At first I thought I would put off doing the cure until I got settled in the new place, but after thinking about it I'm going to do it now.

My goal is for the cure to help make moving easier by having a leg up on organization, cleaning, and only taking what I will use. No more hidden cans of cranberry jelly that are at least five years old!

I just recently moved (June 1st) and I'm already noticing my kitchen is a logistics nightmare. (that and I'm NOT organized when I cook . . not at all!). Add that to 'not enough counterspace', 'not enough cabinet space' and the fact that I'm a disaster myself? Well . . . it's ALL a disaster. I love to cook, especially for guests, but I tend to get so discombobulated in my kitchen, that I just give up. So I need to find a way for not only my kitchen to function well, but myself to function well in my kitchen!

yeesh. If that made any sense at all.

Hi All!
I'm a renter in Murray Hill and I'm looking to make my kitchen more user friendly. We have a good sized space with one half occupied by a fun bar area with sports memorabelia and the other half is an unoriginal kitchen. I'd like to marry the two spaces without getting to theme-y and also have things that I use most at hand.
Ashley

I suffer from the "you never know when this could come in handy" syndrome. My goal for Kitchen Cure is to put everything to the "Do I really love this?" test and if it doesn’t pass, it's gone.

I am even starting to think about parting with my 15 years of Bon Appétit magazines. I know I will have to look through every single one again before I toss them. In slight defense of my magazine hording, I do actually refer to them now and again. If I find a reicpe online, I just pull the magazine to cook from, but I think it might be getting time to toss them in the recycling bin.

hi all,
i am a busy working college student with a petit kitchen and huge love of cooking. with limited time and resources i am hoping to emerge from the cure with a clean, organized & well stocked kitchen that will aid me in making a plethora of hearty healthy meals as we head in to winter. let's see where this takes us!!

as far as assignment 1 am @ a loss i have no digital camera!! my space is small and i want to be able to incorporate my butcher block/wine rack . my goal is to have a functional kitchen that is kid friendly.
cheers,
v

When we moved in years ago, the house was unfinished. The kitchen cabinets in the large kitchen were about the first items installed in the house. Consequently, all kinds of non-kitchen things got stored here. They haven't moved out. In addition, I have lots of kitchen things that I don't use much anymore, but they have some sentimental value. They're taking up space. I have a hard time getting things out of the bottom shelves. There are two really deep corner cupboards where I put my infrequently used items. When I need something out of there, I feel like telling my husband to hold my ankles while I dive it to get it. The counters are constantly cluttered. They are big flat spaces and, as soon as I get it uncovered, it seems to get covered up again. I need this kick to help me clear it up. Thanks for doing this!

I moved into my house almost 3 years ago and love my kitchen. Yes, I would love an eat in kitchen, but I have lots of cabinets (with pull out shelves) and adequate counter space AND I have easy access to my garage directly from the kitchen. In the garage, I have a wire rack shelf that serves as my pantry and a large metal cabinet that holds all of my small appliances as well as my full size freezer. I need to concentrate on the pantry in the garage as well as the full size freezer. Just about 3 weeks ago I did a major fridge clean and purge. I took a full set of pics and just taking the pics tells me where I need to concentrate.

Remember that scene from Sleeping with the Enemy where Julia Roberts lined up all the cans in her cabinets? I wish my kitchen looked like that. We were supposed to think everything being that orderly was mental. But it was my dream come true. Nice and tidy. I hope the cure gets me there. Then I can start messing it up in preparation for next year's Cure.

Now I'm going to take my starter photos. Gulp. No cheating? Double gulp.

do we have a flickr group to post fotos??

sangeetha

Hi all!

I am a renter with a strangely shaped kitchen who loves to cook and works primarily from home. I have more time than money but I hope that works with this cure. I hope this cure will help me create a well-organized, intuitive space that invites guests to stay awhile. We hold parties frequently and oh did I mention all of the storage in my apartment is in the kitchen? So I'd like to move some non-kitchen items out of my hallway and into a permanent storage home by using my existing storage more efficiently.

I've created a blog to house my process and pictures in one easy space: http://artistmakesgood.wordpress.com/

I live in the suburbs in a new construction home so everything in my kitchen is builder basic but brand new. Also my kitchen is also the place where my family eats every meal, so our dining room table has to squeeze in there. We have plans to replace the flooring and the counter tops, as well as put in wood flooring throughout the house in the next year, but the floor plan and the cabinets have to stay, so I have to make every square inch work for me.

I also inherited a ton of old-school Tupperware and random appliances (a quesadilla machine?!?) from my Mother-in-law that I have no place for, so it is crammed into every spare place in my kitchen. I don't really want most of it but my hubby has some sentimental attachment to it.

I hope the Cure can help me rid my kitchen of clutter and random kitchen junk I really don't need. I'm stating on the first assignment right now...wish me luck!

So I've taken care of the easy part. The food was a no brainer.
Bigger problem, my bottom cabinets have shelves that only extend half the depth of the cabinet.

And a solid half of my cooking tools are relegated to storage in the basement.

Hello!
I would really like to de-clutter and have a clean and well organized kitchen.
I am hoping by participating in this that I will feel more comfortable in my kitchen so that I can bake more :)

I have started a flickr group to help us all out. Remember to keep as much of the conversation here on AT as possible!
(and that linking back to your-or someone else's-kitchen photos will be immensely helpful in each of these comment sections)
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1227993@N24/
(I'm Contemna's Darkroom...)

So, tried doing the first assignment for the Kitchen Cure ... feels TOO BIG!! Intimidating. Need some ideas for bite-size missions ....

Reading Sara Kate's post, I thought that maybe doing a hunt for "bad" food ... moldy, expired, etc. ... might be one.

Did a glimpse in the spice cupboard. Tidied it. But, I'm really not sure how to par down any more, even though I've got more spices than I want/need. Any spice cabinet wisdom? Thanks!

To keep control of spices (since I use the same ones, over and over) I replace these every November. I take a sharpie and date most stuff (boxes & cans included).

I'm a renter with a tiny kitchen as well as being a student who works full time. I'd like to better organize my pantry and spices in order to be able to know what's in the cabinets and find things more quickly. I'm really looking forward to getting my kitchen in better working order! I'm posting my progress pictures to my flickr account http://www.flickr.com/photos/rcalzontzi/sets/72157622637206274/

@designhole - you reminded me of that Simpsons episode where Apu comes to live with the family:

[In the kitchen, Apu stacks cans of corn in a pyramid.]

MARGE: Hmm... Apu, we normally store our cans in the cupboard.

APU: Oh they'll never move that way.

[Bart and Lisa enter and take a can each.]

LISA: Mmm, corn. Haven't had that in a while.

BART: Yeah, delicious corn.

I didn't get to work on the cure last weekend, so I took a day off from work, and I'm doing last week's assignment today. My kitchen is small, and I have too much of everything stuffed into the cabinets. Getting anything that's not right in front requires annoying unstacking things. They shelves are not adjustable, which just adds to the disorganization. I will be having 14 people over for the holidays and to be able to manage to feed that many out of my little kitchen, it needs to be organized and decluttered. I have open shelving available in the basement, and intend to move as much to that storage area as possible, even though it's not exactly convenient.

I'm a professional interior designer, but I'm not good at dressing kitchens. I think I get confused between decoration and cooking. Therefore, I'm taking advantage of the extra help and making my special project decoration for my kitchen island. I'll upload photos. But I need help! It's so enormous and it's our landing pad. So it's always filled with junk.

Advice and links to suggested products are much appreciated.

well am must report that giving my unused items has been very difficult. oddly enough the butcher block/wine rack that i've hanging on to years is one the items that will not appear in the new kitchen. however the waffle maker that has only been used once or twice in the past year or so is the hardest thing for me to let go of . am a horder

Well I was going to say I don't have a lot of gadgets. But I would have been lying. I have a toaster that burns the edges while leaving the middle raw. Any takers? I have an ice cream maker that I would love to use but don't have space in the freezer for the bowl. (Do we have a clean out the freezer assignment, or have I missed it?) A wok the size of a bathtub that we haul out for Chinese New Years parties. A bunch of baking pans I never use, but would love to if they ever invent the eight day week and my mother-in-law's antique waffle iron that you use on the stove top. I love it. I just don't like waffles. . . .I would like to hang up some of the antiques I've got on the walls, but it would involve attaching them to solid concrete. . .
On the other hand, I've purged the pantry and the fridge (and my husband pitched in and wiped the surfaces and bottles, bless him!). Inspired by two boxes of lasagna noodles, we made lasagna. Progress!

Well, I'm halfway done. But I moved a bunch of stuff around and I think the kitchen will work a lot better this way. I moved the pantry to The Closet of Terror, which used to house a nightmare of pots and pans and you name it.

I also reduced a drawers full of food storage containers into one drawer and put my cake pans in there.

I feel inspired to really start baking again.

Now for my special project. I really want to style my kitchen island. It measures 52" x 75". It's enormous. I have a 24" lazy susan in the middle. Does anyone have a clue? I'd like to create mish-mash of coking and baking things - like a cake plate, oils, etc... I never have any time for my own house. I have so shop and take whatever doesn't work back. I'm too busy doing everyone else's house. Can you help me out?

Here's a photo. I put all my before and after photos on the Flickr stream someone created for this. Here's the link to my island photo.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43886990@N05/4040819186/

I just finished the week one assignments. I'm so surprised by how much stuff I tossed; some of it I had no idea had expired years ago! Also, I realized I take for granted the current set up of my kitchen. I never considered the fact that when I moved in I didn't have the experience of cooking in that kitchen; I put things where they seemed to go or fit. Now that I used the kitchen, I have been able to adjust my storage so that it's based on how I use it.

I didn't think I'd get so "into" this process because organization is not my strong point. I'm looking forward to getting my kitchen in check!

Here are my "in-progress" photos (the befores are in another set):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sunnysideupyogi/sets/72157622662742500/

I started this weekend, catching up on week one. I took a good look at some of my appliances that don't get much use and have already sold my extra mandoline, ice cream maker, and blender! In addition, I am giving back the borrowed yogurt maker which I've never used . I went through my tea collection and had some that smelled more like dust than herbs. Yuck.I cannot part with my waffle maker even though it's only been used a handful of times. But at least now I can find it, so I'm more likely to use it. I'm really inspired by this process! For those like me who cook a lot and have a ton of spices, I keep them alphabetical and organize them on MAGNARACKS attached to my fridge. They are awesome., and I cannot recommend it highly enough as a spice rack. http://www.magnarack.com/68.html?sm=16975

We moved not too long ago, and I did a big purge then, so I'm more about organizing things efficiently in the new space. I cleaned out my nasty fridge last week, and organized a contentious cupboard this week.

All of my daughter's toddler feeding accessories (suction bowls, lids, sippy cups, snack containers, etc.) are now all in one plastic bin, instead of randomly all over the cupboard in front of and on top of the stacks of plates. I moved some dishes to a less accessible shelf to make room for the things we use more often. And I used the dregs from four boxes of confectioner's sugar (where did those come from?) to make cupcake icing.

Next task: clearing the random junk out of the cutlery drawer.

I decanted bags and boxes of food into pourable and sealable plastic containers. So now we have one easy to use container of potato flakes (and cereal, split peas, bread flour, etc.) instead of three boxes taking up space. I also went through my tea shelf and took everything out of its boxes, bagged them up, and put them into a large plastic sealable bin. It cleared up half the shelf just by getting rid of all those half-empty boxes.

The cure is utterly satisfying and terrifying at the same time; I'm in a perpetual state of obsession and denial.

What I learned during Week One:
1. If you've ever worked as a food stylist or recipe developer, which I have, you have A LOT of stuff.

2. If you are a woman of a certain age who raised a family, which I am and did, you REALLY have A LOT of stuff.

3. The kitchen cure works best if I start small and by category--I guess that makes me a "dip my toe in the water first" kind of a person. The way in was my spice drawer, which then led me to other areas of the kitchen (including the dreaded pantry) where spices had migrated. Suddenly, i had empty shelves! And, the courage to continue on.

4. Oldest find so far: a half bottle of dark Karo syrup from 1984.

On to equipment!

Hi, I'm late to the Cure so I'm just getting started! I was just laid off and am 20 weeks pregnant, so I may as well start nesting. :-) Plus, my son TURNED OFF my refrigerator Friday night and we didn't figure it out until Monday afternoon, so I spent four hours cleaning it and it looks brand new (which is easy, because it's completely empty now except for a few condiments, a gallon of milk, and a pomegranate)! The rest of my kitchen deserves to be this happy.

What I dread tackling most is the under-the-sink cleaning supply collection. I hardly use any of it anyway!

@sunshine You have the best attitude ever about your fridge! That's half the battle, keeping a positive outlook. As for tackling the cleaning supplies, just think about how much better it will be to get rid of some potentially toxic stuff (esp. w/ the kiddos) and you could treat yourself to a much more pleasant-to-use cleanser like Mrs. Meyers or Method. Often one can do the job of many. Best of luck! :)

Hello Cure folks!

So I just ransacked my drawers looking for unused/duplicate items. I had four pizza cutters! You may be the wrong people to ask seeing as how you're also decluttering, but is anyone interested in the following items: potato mashers, hand mixer, meat tenderizer, meat thermometer, pizza cutters, small graters, flask/perfume bottle funnels, cheese slicer, can opener/bottle opener, tongs, and spam musubi sushi rice press. You probably have to be Hawaiian to want that last one. ; )

If you've got any bakeware you'd like to purge, maybe we could trade.

I'm in San Francisco.

My kitchen... *sigh* We've gently renovated our 1928 bungalow and the kitchen is the final frontier. We have a breakfast-nook-turned-hallway thanks to an addition on the back of the house in the late 60s; we have three doors into the kitchen which makes the kitchen itself like a thorougfare, and a funny angled wall that makes the fridge jut out practically into the middle of the room. And not a lot of storage space either. Bad cabinets, ill fitting... drab. Uninspiring.

My hubby cut out a good chunk of counter next to the sink to give the fridge a different location, and now the place is just awkward.

I want to maximize space and give the whole place a face lift.

Rebecca in Salt Lake City, Utah

I'm terribly behind in this cure, but I'm hoping to do a fair amount of catching up this weekend (especially with an extra hour) One of my goals is to make our storage more efficient and the other is to make the room more cozy. I find we don't spend any time in the kitchen except for when we're cooking or doing dishes. Then when guest come over we spend most of the time in the kitchen (of course), but the space isn't really conducive for socializing.

I've decided my special project is to paint a chalkboard wall at the far end of the kitchen. I know the trend is on the way out, but I really like it and don't want to wait for when we "redo" the kitchen for real since that may be years away. I feel like having a mottled black wall will help warm it up and add interest with a rotating doodle display. Also, at the top of the chalk board wall I want to put in a long shallow shelf to display my collection of vintage toasters and other kitchen gadgets that are currently hogging space in the cupboards. I think the chrome will look cool against the black background.

My special project is getting a adobe-cabin kitchen in shape for use at Thanksgiving by culling the equipment, pans, knives etc from my full-time kitchen. I know that isn't quite "one" thing - but it fulfills my need to clear up my full time kitchen AND make the new-to-me one mine & functional & pretty. Both kitchens have to look like their style - updated mid-century modern at home and a creative country kitchen (open shelving) in New Mexico. The first week I culled home kitchen and searched Goodwill for all that I need for NM. The second I worked on pantry & cabinets at home. The third I cleared, cleaned and put in everything I had found for NM in that kitchen. So all that is left is some more deep cleaning at home. Hurrah for The Kitchen Cure! It got me thinking, working and en route to two lovely working kitchens.

What's going on with the "What every pantry needs: Vegetarian" link on today's post (session 4)? I can click and get onto the other links, but this one brings me to a sign-in that doesn't want me. It's NOT the apartment Therapy sign in but something else. I don't know what it is or how to get on, since it acts as if I have a signin name with it already.

Hello every one. I have just repainted all my kitchen cupboards. I did them two years ago in Cloud White Melamine and they did not turn out the way I expected them to. Cloud White is not as white as my fridge and stove and to me they always looked dirty (and they weren't) I have an open concept condo so I painted them the same colour in melamine as the walls and they look absolutely wonderful. I feel like I have a new kitchen, just have to put a mortgage on the condo and buy some new brass knobs - lol.

I think my special project will be a backsplash with some color since I can't paint (I'm a renter). I think I want to do a black/white/red theme in the kitchen and I was thinking of getting black and white checkered contact paper and using it as a backsplash. Does anyone know if I will be able to remove it in a few years when we move out? I'm thinking googone or something should work, right?

The Vegetarian Pantry roundup link is fixed.