Yesterday I got to do something I’ve wanted to do for nearly four months. Get all of our dishes out of the guest bedroom closet and into their permanent homes in the kitchen cabinets. Yes, I was nerdy excited to put things away. What can I say, organizing is the jam to my peanut butter.
You can see in this post we already had our main dishes in the cabinets. But you’ll also notice we had a few unpainted shelves.
I finally got my arse in gear and primed and painted said shelves. Which means I had a place to set the dishes. Before I started putting dishes in the cabinets, I hauled everything out of the guest bedroom and set it on the counters to assess the situation.
My process of arranging the dishes is very similar to arranging a bookshelf. Most often used items are easiest to reach, which for shorties like myself is the bottom shelf. Least used things up at the top. That means you, gravy boat.
Of course I couldn’t just toss things in there. Nope, I didn’t want a block of white ceramic and then another chunk of clear glass. I made sure to mix glass with ceramics on the same shelf and staggered going up.
Don’t be fooled. I moved things around several times until I landed on the right spacing (gotta maximize) and layout.
Everything from the stack of plates up will have glass door fronts, but we’ll cover the ugly mail and toaster up with a solid door front.
But that little elephant there? Yeah, he came from the Dollar Tree. It’s a cute little bank for Ben to toss his change in instead of leaving it on the counter. Everett often asks to “pet el-phant?” A few loving strokes and he’s done. Wait, that sounded reeeeealllly bad. After petting it a few times, he walks off and carries on with his day. When we get the big kitchen projects out-of-the-way, we’ll build dividers to separate the mail and cover the electrical box. Gotta get some doors first.
Who else likes to organize cabinets? I know I’m not the only freak one. How do you prioritize your dishes? Do you have a cute bank?
Stephanie Phillips
/ January 26, 2012Dude, we have the same toaster. Must mean we’re sisters separated at birth or something. Or that Target sold a few thousand of them back in ’05. Whichever.
I do like to organize my cabinets, but with my 1954 cupboards and total lack of space, it’s not quite up to my standard. I also sold my china hutch recently (in favor of eventually getting a sideboard) so there’s fine china and crystal crammed in every spare inch of space.
Oh, I’m totally having an anxiety attack thinking about it.
I can’t wait to see those doors up! I think the glass doors are going to take the whole room to the next level. I LOVE glass front cabinets!
Laura
/ January 26, 2012Will there be doors on those cabinets? Or are they intended as open shelving?
Katie
/ January 26, 2012So cute!! Just found your blog through your comment on YHL. I love the little ruffled white bowls!
ourhumbleabowed
/ January 26, 2012Hey Stephanie! We are sisters separated at birth. You didn’t know that?!? Haha. Maybe Target did sell a few thousand. We got ours just after we got married. I know exactly how you feel about sub par cabinets. Try not to freak our about it. Once you get a sideboard, you’ll have that space back, right? We had the same problem before we renovated the kitchen. Sure they didn’t look terrible, but the layout was awful and everything was crammed in. Oddly, we’ve got fewer cabinets than we had before, but more space. I can’t wait to see the door up either. Or built for that matter.
Hi Laura! Yep, we’ll add doors. We’ve just had cold weather (imagine that, winter in Montana is cold?!) so Ben hasn’t been working in the unheated garage. Fingers crossed we’ll get started this weekend!
Hi Kaite, Thanks! So glad you found our blog! Check thrift stores for bowls like those. I’ve seen them several places, but World Market has new ones, too.
Thanks!
Amanda
Laura
/ January 26, 2012Oops- just read, “Gotta get some doors first.” My bad!
Sarah-Nadine
/ January 26, 2012Love how it turned out and I love your new kitchen. Can’t wait to start our kitchen remodel (first we have to finish the bathroom). Glad to know that I am not the only nerdy one. I’ve been thinking of my new kitchen cabinet organization for the past few weeks.
Enjoy and very nice work
Corie
/ January 26, 2012Oh yes, I love organizing cabinets! Who doesn’t?
I organize ours the same as you… most used stuff is easiest to access. We have a lot of open shelving and even though I change things up all the time, the stuff we use on a daily basis always stays in the same spot.
Looking good so far, I can’t wait to see them with the doors up!
mandy madison
/ January 26, 2012Looking good! Excited to see the finished product!
melissamevans
/ January 26, 2012I LOVE to have my cabinets organized. This isn’t the greatest photo, but this is my kitchen cabinets…where we store all of our dishes.
http://melissamevans.wordpress.com/category/kitchen-happenings/
…one day, when we move and have a bigger space….I’m dreaming of a china cabinet.
I love looking at these pics of your kitchen…all those cupboards and their spaces are GORGEOUS!! You guys have done amazing work!
Amy @ Lovely Nest
/ January 26, 2012I’d love to have a reason to organize our cabinets, but ours are all solid front doors, so everything is hidden. It’s organized, but just not pretty and styled on the inside. I’d love to have a glass front cabinet or two someday!
ourhumbleabowed
/ January 26, 2012Hi Sarah-Nadine, Aww, thanks so much! Your bathroom remodel is just a warm up for the kitchen. It’s good practice.
I’m glad I’m not the only organizational nerd. I’ve been planning another little kitchen organization project and I’m totally geek excited about it, too. Can’t wait to share once we get it done!
Hey Corie! See, it IS fun! I don’t know that I’ll be able to reorganize too often because we’ve got limited space, but it was fun. And seems to be functional right now. Can’t wait for glass doors, too! Hopefully this weekend we’ll make some progress.
Hi Mandy Madison, Thanks! We can’t wait to share the finished kitchen.
Hey Melissa, Ooh, your cabinets look great! It’s odd how fun it can be to organize. And thanks so much for your amazingly kind words and encouragement throughout the kitchen reno.
Hi Amy! Depending on the style of your cabinets, you could cut out the center of a few, pop glass in and voila! Just a thought…
Thanks!!
Amanda
Shirley
/ January 26, 2012You kitchen looks really nice love how the cabinets turned out
Ashley@AttemptsAtDomestication
/ January 26, 2012Love how it’s all coming together! Gorgeous!
Ashley S.
/ January 26, 2012So fun! The kitchen is really looking so fabulous!
I feel like organizing dishes can be difficult… I always put them in one way and then end up changing them around later. Sometimes it takes you a while to figure out the best way to organize. But for someone who enjoys organizing (sounds like you do too!) it can actually be a lot of fun!
Becky
/ January 27, 2012I’m loving the painted insides of your cabinets…so fun! And I love your toaster cubby. I can’t stand having appliances on my counter, (except my Kitchenaid…that is just cute!) so the fact that you planned an outlet in that space is perfection!
I like to get moved in, put things where I think they may go, then fine tune over the following months when I figure out how I move around my kitchen. I’m constantly tweaking the placement of things. It never ends!