Kitchen Storage

As a visual learner Pinterest is a big chunk of heaven on earth for me. All those lovely images inviting me to have a designer (on a budget), organized and streamlined home. With a gourmet meal served morning, noon and night, all the while I shall look polished and on-trend while my overachieving toddler sits quietly creating art work worthy of a space in the Tate Modern. We shall then travel lightly to far off lands, staying in fabulous hotels with other beautiful people doing beautiful things. Ahhhh .... the many promises of Pinterest.

I have 56 boards with 3,275 pins. What the heck? That's a lot of stuff to make, buy, try, eat, or covet. There are boards of recipes - indulgent ones with lots of butter and chocolate, and restrained ones on gluten free, paleo, low FODMAP. There are cleaning, storage, decorating and paint color tips; boards about doors and every room in a house. Travel, bucket-list, B&B and cafe dreams all get a board; as do hair-dos, new styles, gift ideas, holiday decor, teaching and ministry. I have secret boards too about ... well, that would defeat the purpose now wouldn't it! It appears I'm a bit of a Pinterest addict. I just need to be careful that I don't exchange the ideals of Pinterest for contentedness with the blessings I have in my 'real' life! 

The kitchen in our current rental is small and I turned to Pinterest for storage ideas. Below are some solutions that have worked really well for our busy family life.

 With limited counter top space Ikea's hanging rails are great. I found the cute tin buckets in Target's $1 aisle - I change them out depending on the season, so I keep an eye out for pretty containers year round.

Having the salt and pepper handy for cooking has definitely reminded me to taste, taste and taste again to check the seasoning when cooking. I've been trying to perfect a low FODMAP tomato sauce for bolognese and herbs and salt and pepper have become my close allies. I'll share that recipe later this week!

Where to put your chopping boards in a small kitchen is always a challenge - they're always falling over if they're propped up and laying them flat is so inaccessible and takes up too much space. I saw this idea below on Pinterest - a wall mounted magazine rack for your boards of all shapes and sizes. It's fantastic! You can grab the exact board you want very easily.

Ikea's magnetic knife holder and another rail keep regularly used utensils at hand. Such a time saver! The little Wallies blackboards are central command post in our house - the menu for the week appears on the top sheet and Miss O's medicine dosages and all the stuff we buy in Costco are on the bottom. The goal - to think about something once. We decide the week's menu on Sunday; either of us can dose Miss O if she's unwell; passing Costco, is there anything we need? I've found getting organized helps remove some practical stresses from our jam packed home.