I'm not going to pretend that my kitchen isn't fancy. In pictures, it looks much nicer than up close! But, I can't complain - we've done a lot to update it since we first moved into our home. It was a teeny, tiny kitchen for many years. Then, my husband and I knocked down the wall and got rid of our dining room so we could expand the kitchen! It made a huge difference. I painted all the cabinets {even if they aren't very well made}, we got some new stainless steel appliances last fall, and a brand new vinyl floor - which I LOVE! The lack of counter-space has always been an issue. So, I painted a buffet and put some pretty remnant marble on top to provide more counter-space!
As you can see, paint does wonders! Doesn't it? Well, I noticed that on the right side of the kitchen, everything felt a bit dark and heavy - sort of off balance. The little cart I have had next to the oven is black with a little marble top on it, but we recently got a small wine fridge for my hubby for Christmas and put it next to the buffet and topped it with the remnant piece of marble that was on the cart - it fit perfectly! Anyway, I mentioned to my hubby that I wanted to paint the cart white to help lighten up that area. He told me just to get a new island/cart in white that was bigger since this cart was fixed again and again and wouldn't last another fix. You see, inside that door we have our trash can because a trash can won't fit under our kitchen sink. So it's hidden but easily accessed in the cart but that door had fallen off one too many times!
Well, I found a cool kitchen island/cart on Overstock.com! I don't know if you notice or not, but I've got more counter-space! AND, the white color really helps that side be a bit more balanced with the other side and the dark colors of the appliances.
Now, let me show you why things are a bit more organized over there, too! You see, these recipe books were inside my pantry taking up precious space!
When I first pulled them out they didn't look so pretty though. Am I fussy about it? Yes - I'm not normally THAT fussy, but this is an area everyone comes into when they come into our house since you walk into the dining room when you come into our home. So, I want it to look nice and be practical all at the same time. See what I did there? I bought a cute extra recipe binder from Target {affiliate link}. I also got two plastic magazine files at Ikea. {which is perfect and durable for the kitchen}.
I put the recipe books that were smaller and grouped them together into these two recipe files now. I used my label maker and some washi tape and they look great now!
You can see the back of it here as to how it fit all the recipe books.
I now mostly use Pinterest for all my recipes - which I have pinboards organized by type: Organized Dinner, Organized Side Dishes, and Organized Desserts, plus Organized Slow Cooker and BBQ Recipes. But, in order to keep them organized, I needed a nice system to hold all the "good" recipes that get thumbs up from the family!
Notice that I put our trash can inside the cabinet again - I used the option of taking out the shelf inside in order to fit it.
On top of the counter area, I have a pitcher full of my utensils I use the most next to my stove along with my timer {which has 3 timers in one *affiliate link} and my salt/pepper plus olive oil. Just below the calendar I have my stash of Sharpie pens for color coding my calendar. So there you have it - my little update has made a big difference in my kitchen. How do YOU organize your recipes you find on Pinterest or elsewhere?
P.S. Join me over at The Better Mom today where I'm talking about organizing on a budget!
As you can see, paint does wonders! Doesn't it? Well, I noticed that on the right side of the kitchen, everything felt a bit dark and heavy - sort of off balance. The little cart I have had next to the oven is black with a little marble top on it, but we recently got a small wine fridge for my hubby for Christmas and put it next to the buffet and topped it with the remnant piece of marble that was on the cart - it fit perfectly! Anyway, I mentioned to my hubby that I wanted to paint the cart white to help lighten up that area. He told me just to get a new island/cart in white that was bigger since this cart was fixed again and again and wouldn't last another fix. You see, inside that door we have our trash can because a trash can won't fit under our kitchen sink. So it's hidden but easily accessed in the cart but that door had fallen off one too many times!
Well, I found a cool kitchen island/cart on Overstock.com! I don't know if you notice or not, but I've got more counter-space! AND, the white color really helps that side be a bit more balanced with the other side and the dark colors of the appliances.
Now, let me show you why things are a bit more organized over there, too! You see, these recipe books were inside my pantry taking up precious space!
When I first pulled them out they didn't look so pretty though. Am I fussy about it? Yes - I'm not normally THAT fussy, but this is an area everyone comes into when they come into our house since you walk into the dining room when you come into our home. So, I want it to look nice and be practical all at the same time. See what I did there? I bought a cute extra recipe binder from Target {affiliate link}. I also got two plastic magazine files at Ikea. {which is perfect and durable for the kitchen}.
I put the recipe books that were smaller and grouped them together into these two recipe files now. I used my label maker and some washi tape and they look great now!
You can see the back of it here as to how it fit all the recipe books.
I now mostly use Pinterest for all my recipes - which I have pinboards organized by type: Organized Dinner, Organized Side Dishes, and Organized Desserts, plus Organized Slow Cooker and BBQ Recipes. But, in order to keep them organized, I needed a nice system to hold all the "good" recipes that get thumbs up from the family!
Notice that I put our trash can inside the cabinet again - I used the option of taking out the shelf inside in order to fit it.
On top of the counter area, I have a pitcher full of my utensils I use the most next to my stove along with my timer {which has 3 timers in one *affiliate link} and my salt/pepper plus olive oil. Just below the calendar I have my stash of Sharpie pens for color coding my calendar. So there you have it - my little update has made a big difference in my kitchen. How do YOU organize your recipes you find on Pinterest or elsewhere?
P.S. Join me over at The Better Mom today where I'm talking about organizing on a budget!
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