http://unclutterer.com/discuss/forum/kitchen The community for people interested in home and office organizing. en-US Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:27:26 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q http://unclutterer.com/discuss/search.php http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/how-many-photos-are-on-your-refrigerator#post-45241 Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:59:12 +0000 shutterbug 45241@http://unclutterer.com/discuss/ <p>I know its an age old debate. I love photos on the fridge, I like them everywhere. But my spouse hates the cluttered fridge door look. </p> http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/pantry-envy#post-45387 Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:19:25 +0000 ninakk 45387@http://unclutterer.com/discuss/ <p>I can't remember whether we have discussed this pantry before, but I haven't participated in that case, so here goes; a link found during my bookmarks cleaning frenzy:<br /> <a href="http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/green-style-the-prettiest-pant-111952" rel="nofollow">http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/green-style-the-prettiest-pant-111952</a></p> <p>My first reaction is always to gasp of admiration, but lately I find myself thinking there's almost too much of it. The jars are very pretty and inviting for sure (let's not discuss earthquakes, though, since it's obvious they are not suitable in such an environment), but does an average household really need as many cans and jars as here? I guess I might not be that much of an adventurous cook, dabbling in many kitchens? </p> http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/tupperware-he-dubhockeysticks#post-43386 Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:11:12 +0000 Dano22 43386@http://unclutterer.com/discuss/ <p>My girlfriend is a pretty busy gal and is not in love with doing organizational/mundane things--me, I like to be organized. She has giving me clearance to take over a few areas in her house. I have chosen tupperware since she has a ton of it, uses it frequently and it provides constant clutter.</p> <p><a href="http://i39.tinypic.com/b4x17q.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://i39.tinypic.com/b4x17q.jpg</a></p> <p>Seriously...</p> <p>I really liked the idea Robin floated here: <a href="http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/tupperware-everywhere" rel="nofollow">http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/tupperware-everywhere</a></p> <p>Just not exactly sure what she used.</p> <p>Any tips for this space? I intend to do the obvious removing/recycling of the old and cover or bottomless. But I would like her to be able to reach for a bottom and then to easily locate its cover.</p> <p>Thanks.<br /> Dan </p> http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/tea-advent-calendar#post-39359 Sun, 27 Nov 2011 19:43:02 +0000 ninakk 39359@http://unclutterer.com/discuss/ <p>As announced in the Pantry thread, I have made an advent calendar of my tea collection with the aim of decluttering before they go bad as well as stopping my tea hoarding. I have no idea of when during the day I will make my cup, but out of eighteen sorts of tea sixteen fit this purpose perfectly. Some I will have to (am allowed to, I should say) drink more than once during my 24-day calendar, but I will raise a cup for those of you who celebrate on 25 December.</p> <p>Join me in this challenge to enjoy the fruit of labour in some distant part of our beautiful planet! It does not matter what you believe in as long as you believe in the philosophies of this forum; everyone is welcome. If you want, you can share what you opened and drank each day. </p> http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/good-knives#post-39554 Tue, 29 Nov 2011 17:17:50 +0000 ninakk 39554@http://unclutterer.com/discuss/ <p>Yesterday I decided to start getting rid of mediocre knives, which are plentiful and non-favourites. Slowly I also want to invest in a few really good knives. Which brand is your favourite and why? Which knives do you use and which don't you need at all? Thanks! </p> http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/tupperware-everywhere#post-38581 Thu, 17 Nov 2011 23:08:00 +0000 Athenaii 38581@http://unclutterer.com/discuss/ <p>Hey guys,<br /> This is my first post! I've been sitting back and just reading others posts for several weeks now, and finally have decided to make my own.<br /> For starters, I've been working in my kitchen the past two days now, trying to decrease clutter. The one issue I've run into is with my Tupperware. I went through most of it and threw out what was old, falling apart, missing a lid.<br /> Now the issue is storing the rest. Right now i'm keeping it in a bar/hutch-like thing beside my kitchen. Here's the situation though,I have everything so hyper organized in there that when something comes out of my dishwasher, id rather throw it on top of the hutch than get on my knees, move things around, just to get the containers into their proper place in the stack.</p> <p>How does everyone else deal with their Tupperware issues?<br /> Anything helps!</p> <p>Thank you! </p> http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/tupperware-nirvana#post-39340 Sun, 27 Nov 2011 16:50:36 +0000 minneapolisite 39340@http://unclutterer.com/discuss/ <p>Has anyone reached it? Please share your favorite products and organization tips. I am fed up with the Tupperware avalanche that occurs every time I reach into the cupboard! </p> http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/minimum-condiments-list#post-15068 Sat, 27 Nov 2010 17:56:57 +0000 wrennerd 15068@http://unclutterer.com/discuss/ <p>I just discovered that Hoarders (which I read about on this blog but hadn't yet seen) was available via streaming on Netflix, so while I was baking this week, I watched the whole first season, and felt a pressing need to wipe down my sticky refrigerator shelves. While I was in there, I started disposing of condiments right and left. Ordinarily, I don't worry much about expiration dates on those, but I decided to start with a fresh collection. In the interest of keeping them to a minimum, I decided not to replace anything I can mix up using other available condiments. </p> <p>For example:<br /> No honey mustard, since I have mustard and I have honey.<br /> No chili sauce, since I'm pretty sure it's ketchup plus something else.<br /> No A1, since I'm guessing it's ketchup plus Worcestershire sauce.<br /> No BBQ sauce, since I assume it's A1 plus honey. (More or less.)</p> <p>So my question is:<br /> What condiments are necessary, and what can you make from what other basic pantry items?</p> <p>Here's what I currently stock in the fridge door:<br /> Ketchup<br /> Dijon mustard<br /> Mayo<br /> Soy Sauce<br /> Worcestershire sauce<br /> Horseradish (grated, not the sauce)<br /> Dill relish<br /> I have Teriyaki sauce, but I have a feeling I might be able to make that one too.</p> <p>No salad dressings, since I make my own... </p> http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/martha-unedited#post-37884 Sat, 05 Nov 2011 16:57:31 +0000 Ella 37884@http://unclutterer.com/discuss/ <p>Let me preface this post by saying that I really do love Martha Stewart, through all her ups and downs. I even subscribe to two of her magazines. </p> <p>This morning she made a live appearance at Macy's, for a cooking demo and book signing. Attendees who spent $75 on either her new book or her line of cookware were seated in chairs up front. The rest of us rabble stood in the rear. From back there, I could see only the tip of Martha's blond head, but the big video screens showed everything clearly. </p> <p>Martha was accompanied by Sarah Carey, editor-in-chief of "Everyday Food" (tightly wound-up like she was on speed or a whole lotta caffeine). Sarah did the lion's share of the work, but "together" they made Braised Chicken with Dates...<br /> <a href="http://www.pbs.org/everydayfood/recipes/braised_chicken_with_dates.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.pbs.org/everydayfood/recipes/braised_chicken_with_dates.html</a><br /> ... and a rustic pear galette. Only the privileged persons seated in chairs got to sample the goods.</p> <p>For the first 10-15 minutes, Martha focused on promoting her cookware and kitchen gadgets, many of which were cluttery uni-taskers and all of which were made in China, but it's those low worker wages that enable Martha to emphasize the competitive pricing of her stuff.</p> <p>Then the cooking began. And the banter, although not all of it good-humored. Having watched her TV program for years, I was rather surprised that she was more than a tad coarse and ungracious. The TV show effectively edits out those rough edges. There was, I felt, an excess of griping criticisms about prepwork that had been done beforehand... that is, done by other hands, not by Martha or Sarah. I lost count of how many times Martha said: "I would NEVER do THAT." </p> <p>She told about a gardener who threw out the seed packets after planting spinach seeds, and how angry she was about it since she saves and catalogues every packet. I'm sure the poor fellow was sacked. And she joked ruefully about her period of "home confinement," which got a good laugh through the crowd. </p> <p>Overall, she seemed rather a Ms. Cranky-Pants. Was it just a bad day? Or is that the real Martha "Everyday"? I didn't stay to meet her... think instead I'll just stick with the edited version for TV and the magazines. </p> <p>All that being said, it was fun and interesting, and I'm still a steadfast fan. The bonus of being there live was that the food did indeed look and smell marvelous. And I picked up some new tips about making pastry dough and peeling ginger.<br /> Thank you, Martha. :) </p> http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/an-uncluttered-diet#post-31128 Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:20:35 +0000 ArtGal 31128@http://unclutterer.com/discuss/ <p>I have been on a mission (due to a health crisis 2 years ago/diagnosed with Celiac's Disease) to modify my diet to bare essentials. It wasn't easy initially and I felt REALLY cheated and deprived, however, now it is a breeze because there is SO MUCH at the grocery store that I don't even have to look at...this makes my shopping trips incredibly quick! No fast food, no processed food. Simple, easy food prep. Thirty-plus symptoms and maladies that I had for 47 years began to disappear within 7 days. For me, it is a win-win situation! :)</p> <p>Current Food List:</p> <p>Fresh, frozen or canned (organic when possible) veggies<br /> Fresh, frozen or canned (organic when possible) fruit<br /> Organic chicken, fish or bison<br /> Nuts<br /> Olive Oil<br /> Gluten-Free Flours<br /> Gluten-Free Tortillas<br /> Organic Milk and Cheese<br /> Gluten-Free Condiments<br /> Green Tea<br /> Stevia or Izze Carbonated Drinks (occasionally :)<br /> Gluten-Free Ice Cream (also occasionally :)<br /> Dark Chocolate (more than occasionally!!!)</p> <p>I thought it would be hard to come up with a varied meal plan (didn't want salad EVERYDAY), but it has been quite easy.<br /> Going out is difficult, but not impossible...and we only go to places that we know will take care in the food prep...and they are WONDERFUL about it!</p> <p>What have you done to un-clutter your diet? What works, what doesn't? Why did you do it? </p> http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/gas-cooktops#post-35029 Thu, 15 Sep 2011 00:52:29 +0000 Carlyn.Faith 35029@http://unclutterer.com/discuss/ <p>I’m planning to purchase gas cooktops and was wondering how much Btu should Gas cooktops have? And which of the two cookstops (Gas cookstops and Electric cookstops) works best at home? </p> http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/tea-boxes-and-other-half-opened-containers#post-11204 Mon, 06 Sep 2010 13:02:14 +0000 EraserGirl 11204@http://unclutterer.com/discuss/ <p>no matter how i rearrange the cabinets i keep coming back around to 5 or 6 boxes of tea bags. any suggestions on what to store the bags in so i can discard the boxes? it would have to be air tight - like a click clack storage container.</p> <p>half open boxes of pasta bug me too, so i started using the storage containers instead of the cardboard boxes. when the storage container gets low, I put the residual pasta in a ziplock bag and refill the container with another pasta. And I make sure to use the ziplock bag up 1st.</p> <p>i just haven't found the equivalent container routine for tea bag packets. 8( </p> http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/how-to-organize-plastic-bags-other-bags#post-8637 Sun, 01 Aug 2010 12:53:47 +0000 eternalvoyageur 8637@http://unclutterer.com/discuss/ <p>I know there are plently of plastic bag dispenser ideas, but this question is a bit different. I keep several sizes of plastic bags, and also ziplocs, fabric pouches, and big &amp; small paper bags and huge plastic shopping bags. I need to have an overview of them, so that I can find the right thing when I need it.</p> <p> Do you have a bag center ? What does it look like ? Any ideas for me ? </p> http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/getting-family-members-to-re-use-drinking-glasses-to-prevent-glass-clutter#post-6463 Sun, 13 Jun 2010 07:10:21 +0000 detroy 6463@http://unclutterer.com/discuss/ <p>My kids tend to get drinks (mostly water) many times a day, each time using a new glass. At the end of the day the dishwasher is so full of glasses that there's not enough room for everything else (even worse when they leave them all over the counter and sink). I tend to use one water glass for most of the day, I set it aside on the counter so I know its mine. When I try to get the kids or my husband to do the same (pick a glass, maybe different from another person's glass, use it and set it aside), they may try for one day but the next day its back to zillions of glasses. I don't like to nag, especially about something as silly as drinking glasses, but how can I get them to re-use glasses? Any ideas for saving and identifying each person's glass? </p> http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/leftovers-and-tupperware#post-32669 Mon, 22 Aug 2011 07:37:05 +0000 bbthepi 32669@http://unclutterer.com/discuss/ <p>I am new to this forum, and perhaps this has been discussed....BUT, I would like to find environmentally friendly containers that store easily. I need them in a variety of sizes so soup can be frozen, chicken can keep in the fridge and lids do not multiply without corresponding matched containers. Suggestions? </p> http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/getting-rid-of-the-dishrack#post-17451 Sat, 08 Jan 2011 20:48:29 +0000 becelia 17451@http://unclutterer.com/discuss/ <p>Trying to get rid of the Dishrack with a capital D. We are remodeling our kitchen and have a dishwasher already. The dishrack sitting on our counter was a holdover from another house where we didn't have a dishwasher. It becomes an unsightly storage magnet holding items long after the dishes are dry. I'm inclined to go cold turkey getting rid of it, but my sweetie is rather attached to handwashing. Any ideas on how to phase out the big D? </p> http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/justify-your-kitchen-unitaskers#post-1004 Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:56:28 +0000 opadit 1004@http://unclutterer.com/discuss/ <p>I hope this turns out to be a fun, lighthearted topic!</p> <p>On the Unclutterer blog recently, Erin posted about <a href="http://unclutterer.com/2009/12/16/unitasker-wednesday-fingertip-oven-mitts/">fingertip oven mitts</a>, which she and a number of the blog post's commenters agreed were silly unitaskers. In response to one commenter, Erin expressed that she thinks that the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Back-to-Basics-Jar-Lifter/dp/B000FKEUUQ">jar lifter</a>, a tool that many home canning enthusiasts use to handle hot jars, is a unitasker, and that she prefers to use her silicone oven mitts. I answered in jest that Erin can have my jar lifter when she pries it out of my "hot, scalded" fingers. It's a unitasker that I can't do without!</p> <p>Today as I was doing the dishes, I considered some other kitchen unitaskers that I'm not willing to give up. Here they are:</p> <p>(1) A heavy, restaurant-grade saucepan that I use only for cream sauces, and only infrequently for macaroni and cheese: I keep it because I'm less likely to scorch the sauce with this pan than with the similar-sized, lighter weight pan that I use for other meals, almost daily.</p> <p>(2) A copper bowl for beating eggwhites: Nothing touches this bowl except for eggwhites, and I can count on one hand the number of times per year that I do something that requires beaten eggwhites (e.g., two or three rhubarb pies early in the summer, with a meringue topping). But I won't give it up! Never!</p> <p>What unitaskers do you harbor in your kitchen? I don't mean like your can opener, or your (horrors!) toaster that is not also a toaster oven, or your knife sharpener. Do you have a pan that you use for only one thing, like my macaroni and cheese sauce pan? Or a bowl that gets used for a single task only a few times per year, like my eggwhite-beatin' bowl?</p> <p>Please share! </p> http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/couple-spends-675-to-furnish-home-good-or-bad-idea#post-30305 Sun, 24 Jul 2011 09:48:17 +0000 Parsifal 30305@http://unclutterer.com/discuss/ <p>What do you all think about <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/First-Person-How-675-ac-4080764329.html?x=0">this</a> article written by a couple who furnished their home for $675?</p> <p>I find it interesting that almost half of what was spent on furnishing the home was the TV and entertainment center alone. If I had $15,000 to furnish a house, I sure wouldn't spend $7,500 on the TV! I also think the title is rather misleading since they were apparently given a fair number of serviceable items by friends and family at no cost. </p> http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/getting-rid-of-wedding-china#post-30546 Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:45:52 +0000 Vivace 30546@http://unclutterer.com/discuss/ <p>I've seen some threads in the past where you folks were able to make good suggestions for places to sell specific items, so I figured I'd see if you can help.</p> <p>My fiancee still has the wedding china from her first marriage. She's ready to part with it, but it's a big, expensive set and a still-popular design and I figure there has to be a good place to sell it for a decent amount. Any thoughts on what the best place to do this would be? eBay? Craigslist? Is there some specialty website for this sort of thing? </p> http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/my-first-decluttering-step-the-coffee-maker#post-21421 Thu, 24 Feb 2011 06:32:40 +0000 esarbanis 21421@http://unclutterer.com/discuss/ <p>Hi all,</p> <p>I am new to the forum, but I can't wait to share my first decluttering experience! To be frank, I have written all about it in my blog, so I will just sum up here.</p> <p>I had an espresso/coffee maker combi machine which occupied valuable counter space in my kitchen. It was a good machine, but a clutter magnet, as everyone seemed to leave things on top of it. It was very irritating to have to clear the machine every time, just to make a cup of coffee.</p> <p>So, I gave that away (to my wife's sister, to be exact) and bought a sove top espresso maker and a hand press for coffee. The two of them occupy a small amount of space in the drawer. </p> <p>The result, is more space on the counter, but not at the expense of coffee. </p>