A Change of Plan

Tuesday afternoon, I was planning on wrapping up some parcels ready to send off, but instead got sidetracked into making more progress on the kitchen declutter, which was long overdue.

I had been sifting through different cupboards and shelves on and off over the weekend, but it was the crumbs that had accumulated in the cutlery drawer that were the final straw.  I couldn't stand seeing them every time I opened the drawer (the cutlery drawer is directly below the bread/cutting board) and I just had to do something about them.

In the end, I decided to clean the corner of the kitchen from the fridge to the bread bin.  This included the spice racks and pan cupboard, that I had previously decluttered, the cutlery/crockery drawers, the oven/hob/utensil rack and finally I had a good sort out and clean of the baking drawer.  In between all of this, I cooked us up a Shepherd's pie for supper.

I must admit that I got myself a bit frayed around the edges, trying to do too much at once, but once it was all done, it felt good.

Here's a picture of the corner I tackled, once it was done.  For the moment, I can't really get this area any more minimal than it is now, as everything remaining here gets used regularly and is where we can find and reach it easily.  I could put certain things in cupboards, but then there is the question of finding room for them all, but to be honest I'm fine with them out for ease of use.

You'll notice that the cooker hood is nice and shiny clean.  It felt good to remove the accumulated layer of grease from here.  The extract filters are currently in the dishwasher awaiting a clean too.

Probably the worst part of the job was cleaning out the baking drawer. I'm not really into baking all that much, but Little Bird does like to have a go every now and then and bless her, she's not the tidiest, so it was looking a bit of a mess with lots of spilt flour.  I managed to spill even more in the process, but the finished result was pleasing, if still a little messy.

I did actually throw out a couple of old bags of flour, as there were small insects crawling around in the bottom of the drawer and in the flour, which in any case was very old and out of date.  I'll replace it with some new flour, when I need it.  I few small bits and pieces got added to the CS box too, to add to the monthly total which is definitely mounting up this month.

Finally, I'll leave you with a picture of my now lovely and clean cutlery drawer, which has removed a daily irritation from my life.  Yes it is still rather full, but we do use virtually everything in here and I really don't know a safe way of throwing away old knives, so I tend to just keep them all.  

Something else will no doubt start to irritate me now and motivate me to clean another part of the kitchen.

Slow progress, but progress never the less.