JAZ

I know a couple of people suggested putting a shelf in the dining room, which seems perfectly reasonable when you look at the floor plan. In reality, though, the dining room is really more of a nook -- it's small. There's room for my bar and a small table, and that's really it. One thing that I forgot to mention earlier is that I've put up display shelves, which you can see in the first photo; I also put a couple up in the living room. They hold my nicer glassware, which I use only rarely. It's nice to be able to display it but have it out of the way.

I'm still considering the possibilities for a pot rack or bar, but in the meantime, I tackled the two drawers flanking the range. As I mentioned, I pulled out a lot of tools that I either don't use, or don't use very often. Here's the first batch of them (I added to the pile as I got more ruthless): Here's the scary drawer before: And the not-so-scary drawer now: I bought a cheap plastic expandable drawer divider, which didn't fit lengthwise into the drawer, so I had to put it in sideways. I'm not crazy about the divider itself, but it'll do until I can find or make a better one. The drawer now holds cocktail tools in the front compartment, with the cooking and prepping tools and serving pieces filling up the rest of the space. I moved some of the tools to the drawer on the other side of the range because that's where I do most of my prep, and it seems to me that they'll be more convenient there. Here's the other drawer before: And after: I moved the smaller drawer divider into this one. It's much too small, both in total size and the compartments. I'll look for a replacement, but until I find one, this is better than nothing. I also bought a storage cabinet for my deck where I'll move some of my cookware. I'll take some photos of that tomorrow when it's full. When I was buying the storage cabinet, I saw some two-tiered pull-out drawers designed for cookware (this and this). They were pretty cool, but both of these units are much smaller than my cabinets. If I could find something similar in a bigger width, though, I think they'd be great.

Last year at the IACP conference, Mr. Cutlets and John T. Edge were on a panel about (surprise) the hamburger. We thought it was strange that of all the elements of burgers that were discussed in the seminar, no one mentioned grinding beef. So afterward, we ran into John T and asked why they hadn't addressed the issue of grinding one's own beef. He answered that he had his butcher grind meat for him; it was clear that that was the end of the issue for him.

Washington State University (where I went to college) has a dairy and creamery that makes several very good cheeses. Its signature (and best) is called Cougar Gold. It's reasonably priced and while not terribly exotic, it is a good local product. WSU cheese

So far, I've taken Chris's advice and gone through the scary drawer and pulled a lot of stuff that I don't use, or don't use often. Some of it will probably go to Goodwill and some I'll keep elsewhere. I might pull more stuff, and will take photos to show what I'm discarding or moving. I should probably explain why I have so much stuff. When you work for a cookware store, you make no money but you get freebies from vendors and you get great discounts on cookware. You get incentive gifts from vendors for selling merchandise. I also belong to IACP, which occasionally gives members free stuff too. This explains why. for instance I have so many whisks, as Erin noticed. I have three non-stick skillets and a non-stick griddle, all of which were vendor gifts. I won't go on, but you get the idea. I know, I know -- poor me. But here's the thing -- if you had the chance to get free stuff, would you turn it down? If you had the chance to get a five piece set of Mauviel copper for less than $200, could you pass it up? I couldn't, so here I am. I suppose I need more willpower.

This is a big draw for me, because that's exactly what I have to do. It's not that I can't fit my cookware in those two cabinets, but what I find is that in general I use the bigger pieces more, and the dynamics of cookware cabinets pretty much dictate that the big pieces are always under several other pieces.

What does this mean? They can't be sharpened?

Linda and Maggie, thanks for the tips. I'll definitely add a trip to Ikea to my itinerary. I've never had a pot rack, so I'm undecided about whether I'd like one. There's one in the kitchen at work, but I'm not crazy about it because it's just a little too high for someone of my height. I can get the pans down, but can't always put them back up without a step stool. On the other hand, if the rack is over the counter between the kitchen and living room, height isn't such a big issue. I could have it low enough to reach, but wouldn't be hitting my head on it.

Several points come to mind: As Chris pointed out, batching cocktails is handy for parties, when you're making a lot of the same drink at once. When we teach cocktail party classes, for instance, we always mix pitchers of whatever drinks we're serving beforehand. We don't dilute the mixture usually; we just fill shakers with ice and add the mixture, then shake and strain out into the glasses. But to do this at home for one or two people seems odd to me. Making a cocktail -- even the most complex -- just doesn't take that long. Measure a few liquids, add ice, shake and strain; we're talking, what, two minutes? As far as kitchen tasks go, it's pretty fast and easy. Certainly the return on investment is high. Second, mixing a batch of, say, martinis might make sense if that's all one drank, but that's not what I do. I like choosing different cocktails, and rarely drink the same thing twice running -- rarely do I even drink the same cocktail from one day to the next. If I mixed a batch of a particular cocktail, I'd feel obligated to drink it every night, so it wouldn't go bad. That sounds boring to me.

Irishgirl, I've seen those and wondered how well they'd work on the side of the fridge. Good to know they stay up, and I'll definitely keep them in mind. I can't fit all my spices there, but I might be able to free up one of the spice turntables, which would be great. Plus, looking at my kitchen with new eyes, I've realized that I may be able to fit a spice rack on the strip of wall by my prep area -- maybe not the magnetic one you have, but something. Thanks!

I just realized that I haven't posted a photo of my main dish/glassware cabinet. This is above the area where I keep the blender, food processor and mixer. It's also above the dishwasher, which is why the dishes and glassware are there. It holds my "everyday" glasses and dishes, plus quite a few extras. As I mentioned, my dinner plates and pasta bowls are too big to fit there, so those go here: This is the top part of my pantry -- it's the deep cabinet at the hall end of the kitchen. This is probably the most frustrating space I have to deal with in the entire kitchen. I installed pull-out drawers in the lower cabinet (see below), but with the upper pantry cabinet, the upper shelf is too high to make a pull-out drawer efficient, and for the lower shelf, I don't think the drawers would be strong enough to hold my dishes. So, behind the dishes on the lower shelf and especially behind the toaster on the upper shelf is a whole lot of very inconvenient space. On the lower shelf are some things that are too long for any other cupboards -- rolling pins and long tongs. I also have some dishes at the back that I don't use often, but that's about it. The lower pantry cabinet is much better: I couldn't find pull-out shelves exactly the width of the cabinet (of course), so I store narrow items along the sides. I recently invested in several of Oxo's square and rectangular canisters, which have made the shelves a lot neater. I love these canisters. The lids seal and release easily and they fit together nicely. Plus they come in a good variety of sizes and shapes. I would love to have more pantry space, but I'm fortunate to live right next to a grocery store, so I can get by without stocking up too much. But if I could figure out a way to use some of the upper cabinet space for pantry staples, I'd be happy.

Anna, I love those shelf separators. I have one (see below), but should get more. Thanks for reminding me. And the hook trick might work for a few tools -- I'll have to think about that. I see a visit to the Container Store in my future. Continuing on. . . Two more cabinets that hold prep tools, bowls and such are above the counters on either side of the stove: To the left: I try to keep the things I need most for prep in this cabinets. I wish I had space for a wall mounted spice rack like I used to, because as you can see, the spices take up a ton of room (there's even a third one in my pantry). There are also prep bowls, measuring cups and some baking dishes there. And the right: Here's the one shelf separator I have, on the top shelf. Some of this Tupperware/Rubbermaid could go elsewhere, because although I use the smaller containers pretty regularly, I don't use the larger ones. I know I have enough bowls for the entire city of Atlanta, but I've gotten used to having a lot. I probably need to figure out which ones I use the most and move the others to the closet. They're currently stacked so deep it's a pain to dig through and find the bowl I want. I also store extra cocktail equipment here, since this is where I make cocktails. Here's the cabinet above the stove, where I keep oils, vinegars, sauces, etc. This actually works pretty well for me, although to reach the back row of bottles, I either have to pull out the step stool or get the barbecue tongs. Overall, these cabinets aren't too badly organized. When I moved in I put a fair amount of thought into what I'd need close at hand, and I did a good job with that. Mostly, it's more of what Chris mentioned earlier -- too much duplication. But as always, more suggestions are welcome.

Of course you're right that there's stuff in there I don't use, and I always think I need to go through it and pare down the contents. I promise to do that this weekend, and I'll show you the results. I do use the two cocktail strainers, though. Here's the thing: After living for most of the last 20 years without a dishwasher, I'm reveling in the luxury of having one. I love my dishwasher and take full advantage of having it. This means, for me, having two of many tools that I use frequently -- one can be in use and one can be in the dishwasher. So there are two citrus squeezers, two cocktail strainers, two (okay, maybe more) sets of measuring spoons and cups. There are, as Erin noted, way more than two whisks, but I really do use most of them regularly.

Richard, I like the idea of storing less frequently used items in a patio closet. I don't have anything built in, but I'm sure I can get a small Rubbermaid or similar storage unit, and I have room on the deck. It's right outside the kitchen, so it wouldn't be too far away. Do you think cookware would be okay exposed to outside (winter) temperatures? I guess it would be fine, right? As for your second suggestion, I do have a shelf in the W&D closet, and use some of it for some large Tupperware bowls and my old dish rack. Now that I have a dishwasher, I haven't used the rack in at least a year, so that's probably a candidate for the Goodwill box, which would free up some more space. But the "planning desk" is my office, such as it is. No room there for cookware; it's filled with books and files. And as far as "thinking outside the (kitchen) box" goes, here's a shot of my old microwave cart, which now sits in the entryway, just around the corner from the desk: It holds serving pieces and some pasta bowls that I don't use very often. The drawer in the cart holds a box of steak knives and some linens: The bedroom closet also holds some cookware and appliances (well, an old printer too -- you can ignore that): And just in case you thought the scary drawer didn't have enough in it, here's the overflow in one of the bedroom nightstands: This is mostly specialty bakeware and candy-making equipment. I don't use it often, but I do use it. So although these items aren't candidates for Goodwill or eBay, I don't need them to be at hand in the kitchen. The extra nightstand is as good a place as any, I think.

Thanks for the suggestions; it's given me something to think about. We can revisit the rack issue later -- I actually already have some less-used kitchenware stashed in other places -- but for now, I think it's time to get to my stuff. Some photos: This is the cabinet to the right of the stove (under what I termed the secondary prep area above) This is where I keep the bulk of the cookware that I use regularly (the hole on the top shelf is where my Le Creuset 5.5-qt. oven goes; it was in use when the photo was taken). The main problem with this cabinet is that since everything is stacked and heavy, it's always a pain to dig out the pan I need. And the drawer above it (I call it the scary drawer): This is the black hole where tools go when they enter the witness protection program. From the photos above, you've seen that I keep quite a few utensils and tools in crocks, but obviously I have a lot more. I try to organize this drawer, but it doesn't seem to stay organized. I need lots of help here. On the other side of the stove (my primary prep area) I have more cookware in this cabinet: cookware 2 This has ended up the place for cookware that I don't use too often, and other stuff I don't know what to do with (the teakettle, for instance). There's a set of Mauviel copper cookware in there, for instance, which I don't use regularly because I'm lazy -- I hate to polish it, and my Demeyere cookware can go in the dishwasher. The drawer above it, where I store sharp things -- slicers and graters, food processor blades, that sort of thing. Also thermometers. Under the oven, I keep some non-stick pans, splatter screen and a few other flat items: On the other side of the kitchen are two more cabinets with miscellaneous cookware/prep tools: This is the cabinet to the right of the sink. It's the place for "things with holes" (an organizational trick I picked up from my sister): This where strainers, colanders, food mill, ricer and stockpots live, plus other miscellaneous stuff that ends up there, like a gravy strainer. Also, for some reason, paper bags which I always seem to think I'm going to need but rarely do. Guess I should toss them. On the other side of the sink, past the dishwasher, is a small cabinet with sheetpans, racks and the like (the empty paper towel rolls on the top shelf hold rolled up silpats). Also some miscellaneous bakeware. I'm actually pretty proud of this cabinet -- it works well, holds a lot and stays organized. If all my cabinets were like this, I wouldn't be here asking for help. I'm running out of time this morning, but I'll be back with more this evening. Please feel free to comment on my kitchen cabinets and drawers with any suggestions you might have, or add your own kitchen organizational troubles. In other words (I've always wanted to say this), Talk amongst yourselves.

I dug up this floorplan from a brochure I got when I was looking at the apartment complex. It might help illustrate why that corner area at the end of the counter is problematic for shelving. I'll see if I take some pictures tomorrow that make this more clear, but for now I'll just try to explain it. From the corner of the kitchen counter to the patio door is only 32 inches. The bookshelf I have there now is only about 11 inches deep, plus since it's short, it can fit under the overhanging counter. With it in place, there's about 25 inches from its edge to the door. If I had a taller shelf, it would stick out even farther, because of the overhang. Because of the screwy angles in that area, a standard tall Metro shelf in that space would leave a passageway of less than 20 inches. Does that help?

Before I go any further, I want to mention that I realize my kitchen, when compared with one like Erin's or some of the tiny Manhattan kitchens on the topic she linked to (or even some of my past kitchens), is not really small. And I don't want to make it sound like I hate it, because I don't. Sure it's got some flaws; if I'd designed it, I'd have done some things differently. But it's much more than adequate. What I'm trying to do is to make it as useful as possible, given its limitations.

I do have a small wooden bookshelf there. The problem with a taller shelf in that spot is that there's not much room between the corner of the counter and the door that goes out to the deck, so while a short shelving unit works okay, a taller one would make it a very tight passage. I'll keep that in mind. I kind of like the openness between the kitchen and living room, but I might be able to find something for the end of that counter. Oh, I'm going to get to that! It's a big part of what I want to do in this reorganization.

Now, on to some details. After I explain how I've tried to organize things so far, I'll talk about further challenges. Here are the four main counter areas I have. My coffee machine is tall and fills from the top, so this is the only area where it's practical -- no upper cabinets to get in the way. This stretch of counter is the largest, and in some ways would be the best main prep area, but several factors make it less than ideal. The main problem is that it's right in front of the dishwasher, which means that the cabinet above it and the drawer under it really have to be reserved for dishes and flatware. Also, I prefer to prep closer to the stove. So I use it for appliances mostly. For the reasons I mentioned above, I keep these three appliances out. I also use my deep fryer here -- it's convenient to have lots of room for breading foods before frying and draining afterward. I also use it for things like cooling baked goods or drying produce. It's an area that tends to get clogged up with extraneous stuff, but I try really hard not to let that happen. This is where I do the majority of my prep work when cooking. It's got better lighting than the other side of the stove, and it's more or less across from the sink, so it's relatively easy to get back and forth without spilling or dripping on the floor. As I mentioned some time ago here in a knife storage topic, my solution to not having space for a magnet is this great block by Eva Solo. Because it's not angled, I can fit an amazing number of knives in not very much space (I can post some close-ups if anyone is interested). If necessary, I can push it back out of the way. I keep kosher salt, black and white pepper and garlic (in the blue container) out here for convenience. Also some of the utensils I use most often. The main problem is a lack of space. When I have a lot of ingredients to prep, I have to move them to the other side of the kitchen as I finish them, then move them back when I start cooking. It's not the end of the world, but it would have been great to have a bit more space here. On the other side of the stove is my secondary prep area. For some stupid reason, there is no under-cabinet lighting here. The stove light helps, but that's the big problem with this space. Also, because of an electrical glitch that the maintenance department can't seem to fix, the outlet here keeps shutting off. It's really annoying. Both because of these limitations and because it's next to the refrigerator and hence ice, it's evolved into my cocktail prep area, which explains the bitters hanging out at the back of the counter. As you can see, I keep another crock with more utensils here as well. What I've been trying to do recently is to get the items I need the most often closest to the areas where I need them. It's a tough battle though, as you'll see.

Welcome to my kitchen reorganization project! First, some background. I moved to Atlanta just over two years ago from San Francisco, from a small apartment there into a different small apartment here. In some ways, my new kitchen is much better than the old one -- full sized refrigerator, dishwasher (Woo-hoo!), much better range, plus more counter space. But it's got some odd design flaws, which I've been trying to deal with. I've done some obvious (or maybe not so obvious) things to minimize the flaws, which I will talk about as we go along, but I need help. I've been working in cookware stores off and on for ten years. This means that I have a lot of cookware, kitchen tools, dishes, and glassware. (Some would say too much.) "Normal" people would have no trouble fitting all their kitchenware in my kitchen, but that's why I'm turning to you -- I need advice from not-so-normal people: kitchen geeks. Along the way, I hope everyone else with kitchen challenges will join in with their own problems so we can come up with more general kitchen strategies. To start, here are three shots that I hope give you a fairly complete picture of my kitchen. (I just want to say here that I thought hard about how much to clean up before taking these photos. In some of them, the counters are abnormally clear; others show a more normal state of affairs.) Sink side (tidied up) Stove/refrigerator side (not so tidy): Whole kitchen You can see that it's a typical apartment galley kitchen. The raised counter above the sink side divides the kitchen from the living room. The dining nook is at one end of the kitchen, which you can see in the first photo (all you can see is part of the bar, which now lives in the dining nook. There's also a table, which you can't see in this photo). I'll post more photos later, but for now I'm just going to jump in with some of the problems I'm hoping to find solutions to. There's no wall space to hang anything. I used to have a magnet for my knives and shelves for my spices mounted on my walls (photos below*) but I can't have either in this kitchen. There's no place to hang a rack for cookware. The wall above the cabinets on the side with the stove houses a heating duct, so there are no studs to anchor a rack. Besides, I rent and there are ominous statements in my lease about attaching things to the walls. There are only four drawers. I'm used to more. The upper cabinets are all just under 12 inches deep. My dinner plates and pasta plates are 12 inches wide. That means I can't store my them anywhere but in the pantry. This sucks, and uses up valuable pantry space. While the pantry shelves are deep, the back recesses of them are difficult to access. I've installed these great pull-out drawers in the lower ones, but for various reasons that doesn't work with the upper ones. It means I have a lot of lost space there. I have some issues with a lot of stuff out on my counters -- I don't like to keep canisters out, for instance. I keep three appliances out (blender, food processor and stand mixer) primarily because I have no place to put them, and even if I did, they're too hard to haul out and put away every time I want to use them. And my coffee maker and grinder stay out because I use them every morning. But what's out now is about as much as I want out. The raised counter between the kitchen and living room ends up being the repository for all kinds of stuff, despite my best efforts. (You'll see, for instance, that there are a bunch of small Le Creuset "mini-cocottes" sitting there, which they've been doing ever since I moved in. In my old kitchen, I had a display shelf where they lived, but I don't have anyplace to display them here. One could argue that I should just store them or sell them on eBay, but I love them. They're cute. I feel that there has to be some way I can display them.) As I said above, I don't like clutter on my counters. Ideally, this space should be free of stuff. I have a lot of stuff. Did I mention that already? *Old kitchen photos: Spice rack Knife bar Now, I've read this great topic on strategies for small kitchens and have picked up some tips, but with my lack of wall space, the best suggestions there aren't practicable for me. I'll get into a lot more detail as I proceed. But for now, what are the problems you've had or overcome in your kitchens? Any advice for me, specific or general, as I embark on this project?

So, I finally picked up one of the Oxo strainers last week, and although I'm still getting used to it, I do like it. It's a little small for some of my shakers, but so far that's the only downside.

If you make small amounts of sauce, this isn't necessarily a good strategy. Trying to reduce, say, a cup of sauce down to half a cup is okay in a 1-qt. saucepan, but really difficult in a 2- or 3-qt. saucepan -- there's so much surface area you the reduction is virtually impossible to control and you can easily end up with a light coating of syrup in the bottom of a pan instead of a sauce. I have a .75-qt Bourgeat saucepan that's idea for just enough sauce for one or two people. Much better than my 2-qt. Mauviel.

Mydogbites2 is right about the thermal mass. The oven in my old apartment was new -- I saw it installed -- but I'm sure it was the absolute cheapest oven available. Maintaining a steady temperature was impossible until I put in a HearthKit insert. The difference was amazing. It takes longer for the oven to heat up, because the stone absorbs so much heat, but once it does the temperature is steady and even. It does reduce the amount of usable space in your oven -- it's not an issue for me, but it might be for you. In that case I think a thick pizza stone or tiles would help do the same thing.

That's it exactly -- they save lots of time. I wouldn't use frozen if I wanted, say, to pickle them, but as has been mentioned, they're great for soups and stews. They're my onion of choice in chicken and dumplings.

I used to be able to find them regularly in San Francisco. I've found them here in the Atlanta area, but not at my local Publix, which annoys me.