I’ve often said that people who claim that they don’t like to cook actually would like to, if only their kitchens weren’t so frustrating. Sometimes the lighting is bad, or the counters are an uncomfortable height or the position of the stove makes them feel like an indentured galley slave. More often, it’s the little annoyances, like not being able to find the right pod lid. Why do people store lids in that awkward drawer under the oven? And keep lids that don’t fit any pots owned by them in the last twenty years? Do yourself a favor. Clean out that drawer!
I keep the pots that I use frequently hanging from a rack. The once-a-year specialty items (like the stock pot and the food mill) are in a closet.
Yes, this is like Tillie Lays an Egg. Find the hen!
The utensils that I use daily are kept right at hand next to the stove. I do not want to rummage around in a cluttered drawer for my favorite spatula! The container is a trophy for the “Highest Scoring Pen” of Plymouth Rocks. 1894.
Knives are kept safely in this drawer. The wooden block keeps their edges sharp.
An organized kitchen allows me to focus on the cooking. I can’t get into that flowing cooking zone if I have to stop and hunt for a tool or ingredient. I think that some people don’t like to bake because of the five annoying minutes it takes them to find the cloves. That doesn’t happen in my kitchen. I’ve got the spices in alphabetical order. Note that this isn’t extreme – the containers don’t match and I believe that my cinnamon is one bottle out of order.
I designed my kitchen with function as the top priority. But, cooking is fun and so should be your space. This display in the corner of mine makes me smile. I think it makes the food taste better.
Adorei sua cozinha. Também gosto de cozinhar. E amo os animais e principalmente os cats.
Google translates this to: “I loved your kitchen. I also like cooking. And I love animals and especially cats.”
Thanks, Angela! I love cats, too, but I’m allergic. It’s the one animal I can’t have in the house :(
you don’t even have a barn cat to keep the mouse population down?
joyce
My good dog Lily has ratter in her. She even keeps the moles out of the yard!
The silversmith in me says ‘polish that trophy’! But the Antiques Roadshow devotee says ‘maybe not a good idea’. If it’s sterling it could be shined up but if it’s silverplate it’s not so good an idea. You could eventually remove the surface silver. And the tarnished surface contributes to the visual antiquity of the piece.
I have never found a spatula container with the right proportion of dimensions, nor do I have the counter space, so most of my stuff lives in a drawer and I repeatedly dig through to find what I want.
I wish that I could polish it – but it’s silver plate with almost no silver left. That color you see is the base metal.
I have a rooster tea pot. It looks like he is crowing. My MIL bought it for me a few years ago.
Helaine
If you really do want it shiny, it could be re-plated. I’m quite sure there is someone in the Boston area to do that. A jewelry store here in Raleigh has an ‘expert’ come in once a year to appraise such items and recommend care and treatment. (Met an employee of the store in a silversmithing/jewelry class I took and she told me about it. I never took my grandmother’s tea pot in because I decided it wasn’t plated in silver. It never tarnishes!)
I’ll leave it in it’s “shabby chic” state.
P.S. Happy Birthday!! (loved the view this a.m. of Pip and Caper sunbathing on their jungle jim and picnic table. Too funny!)
‘Your fashion tips for animal owners’, is quite the same as for people with toddlers. Very very practical. My 4 year old’s behaviour is identical to a puppy’s:)
At least a dog’s hair stays the same color – I remember those days of having toddler “decorations” all over. Smeared playdoh! Hard to plan an outfit to match that :)