If you find yourself walking back and forth as you bake to retrieve items and ingredients, you may need to re-think the location of these things. Store items in a way that makes sense and saves steps. Almost all of my baking necessities are within arm’s reach in this corner. And I am showing off my organized kitchen tour.
I love having my dry goods in these glass containers. With a glance, I can tell if I am running low on something. I found the jars and metal scoops at Wal-Mart. I used to have dozens and dozens of cookbooks. but got tired of trying to remember which recipe was in which book. So, one day, I opened them all up to the one or two recipes in each book that we actually liked, copied them down onto recipe cards, and now I only have a few cookbooks.
I mostly get my recipes from the internet, so I use my iPhone a lot as a “cookbook”.
Yep, my iPhone!
When I see a recipe I want to try that I’ve pinned on my Pinterest HERE, I plop my phone in this vintage sugar bowl (which has long since lost its lid) and have a paper-free means of making something.
If it passes “inspection”, it gets written down and put into My Recipes cookbook. The top shelf holds the least frequently used items, the pastry mat and rolling pin, cookie cutters, and icing. The middle shelf holds the smaller measuring utensils. And, of course, the lowest shelf holds the larger, heavier measuring bowls.
This is the cabinet to the right of the one above. Sugar, cocoa, salt, baking soda, and baking powder are kept here. These are also handy because their lids have a slide closure so I can neatly pour out the contents.
The bottom shelf holds spices, extracts, and my favorite: sprinkles. These are truthfully ALL the items in this drawer, and the only items I use. I decided a long time ago to keep the most-used items because the rest was cluttered.
The lower left cabinet contains all of my casserole and pie dishes. Again, these are all I use and are plenty. The cabinet to the right of the casseroles houses more pans and necessities. The bottom oven drawer below the oven is flat and flat-ish pans. I use the cupcake pans A LOT!
Here’s a tip to keep your pans like-new: wash them immediately after you’re done baking; and put them in the still-hot oven to dry; this reduces rust.
As you can see, the refrigerator is to the left of the baking zone, so I can easily grab the eggs, milk, and butter, which makes a nice work triangle.
I am blessed with an over-sized rolling kitchen island that was once an old kitchen cabinet, now on casters, which I topped with a butcher block table top, and placed four bar chairs around.
I keep the baked goods packaging supplies in here, furthest away from the baking corner, because I use these the least.
If you don’t have a separate pantry, use stepped organizers, sliding shelves, and turntables inside your cabinets. Baskets work well to keep like items together. Labels help the family to know where to store items and make it easier for them to help to put groceries away after a shopping trip.
If you are spending more than a few seconds searching for a particular utensil, then it’s time to purge your drawers of unused items. Ask yourself what is really necessary. You may need less than you think that you do.