There are projects you can complete with solid satisfaction. You set aside time, work hard, and run a strike through an item on your to-do list. Done.
Day 5 wasn’t like that.
Day 5 fell on what would have been my the birthday of my friend’s dad. (I don’t know if I mentioned this in the past, but he was also a close family friend, my husband’s mentor, and the man who saved us from financial ruin by giving my husband a job when he was laid off a couple of years ago.) It’s a day we’ve all been facing with varying degrees of dread for weeks. I and another friend decided to take Helena out to keep her mind occupied, so I wanted to keep Day 5’s workload light.
I tackled the cabinet above the refrigerator which, after today, I believe is the bane of organized homes the world over. I wanted a Smeg when we did our kitchen remodel years ago. They were unheard of at the time and ridiculously expensive, even more so than they are now. We ended up with a plain vanilla Jenn-Air and now, seven years later, 32% of pinterest is devoted to pictures of kitchens with Smegs. (The other 68% is evenly divided between pictures of baby animals and s’more recipes.)
I used to think the love affair with Smeg could be attributed to the winsome color selection or its soft, almost maternal lines. Not anymore. Now I know it’s because they are too pretty to put in cabinets and too curvilinear to store more than a plant on top. The Smeg marketing plan centers on the fact they make it nearly impossible for people under 5’4″ to stand on their tip-toes, swing open cabinet doors with the tips of their fingers, and shuck crap they rarely use into the recesses of a deep cabinet.
Like a fondue pot. Pill cases. Christmas cookie plates. Disposable platters from a party. Extras you don’t use for your clutter enabling refrigerator such as wine hammocks, extra shelves, and egg cradles. I laid it all out and turned my back on it for a few minutes because I knew the best I could do on Day 5 was to put some items in the donation pile. The rest would have to go back into the gollum’s cave above my refrigerator until I could empty out all my cabinets and take a proper inventory.
I cleaned the cabinet instead, which I highly recommend you try in your kitchen if you don’t do this already. It’s oddly satisfying. Kitchen cabinets get disgustingly greasy, especially if your cabinets have shaker rails and stiles like mine do. This is something I normally do every six months, but for some reason I’ve fallen behind schedule. I did the one cabinet today, but the rest are on my list of things to do this month and that, my friends, will be a happy day for me. You won’t believe the difference! In person! It will probably look the same in pictures, so don’t sit on the edge of your seats.
Eventually, I could avoid the inevitable no longer. I tossed and donated what I could. The rest went back into the cabinet. The bags and lunch pails went in neatly, but the refrigerator extras just sort of collapsed into a pile of dejection and lost hope.
I brainstormed what I could store in that cabinet once the kitchen is completely purged and organized. I read about storing alcohol up there, but you have to drink it often and regularly or it will spoil from the heat of the refrigerator. We just aren’t big drinkers. I could put a couple of small appliances up there, but they would have to be ones I use infrequently since I will need a step ladder to reach them. I have a spot for cookie sheets and platters already, but maybe that will change once I reorganize the kitchen.
A small part of me harbors a secret hope that once the kitchen is organized, this cabinet will remain empty and proud. Whenever I’m feeling blue about something around the house I’ll step up on my ladder, open the doors, call out a hello into the deep and wait for my echo to call back, “Job well done, William’s Girl.”
New here? For the next 31 days Im living according to a famous William Morris quote. You can learn more about the project here.
Ah, the great cabinet-above-the-fridge conundrum. We use ours to house specialty glassware (Christmas, historical glass, etc.) … so I only have to climb atop a chair a few times a year. :) And now that you mention it, it really needs to be cleaned. Thanks for reminding … sigh.
As for your friend, big events are always the hardest. I’ve been thinking about her especially as the season changes; I’m sure she’ll remain close in my thoughts and prayers.
Great job!!
Did you know that you don’t have to keep those refrigerator extras? They aren’t something you love and you aren’t using them….so donate them, too!!
I didn’t know you could donate them! I’ve held on to them because (1) I thought I should and (2) didn’t want to toss out the plastic. Where can I donate them?
I would donate them to Goodwill or another charitable organization that can resell them. The ice cube tray and egg holder would easily be of use to someone else in their fridge. Not sure what your other items are, but I think someone could still use them in another fridge. I do agree…don’t throw out the plastic!
Wine sling? Is that like a baby sling so you can take the wine with you where ever you go?
Look at the bottom of the picture where everything is on the floor. See that gray, plastic curved thing? It’s a shelf attachment that you put in your fridge. It holds wine bottles so they lay flat and chill properly. We aren’t big wine drinkers and I always considered it a waste of space regardless.
Ah! Learned my new thing for today!
I use the space above the fridge to store all of my various cake pans. I enjoy baking, so I have several choices. Precisely, I use that space because 1) the areas adjacent to the stove are occupied by items I use more frequently, such as your standard cookie sheet and muffin pan. And, 2) because we already have a bar cabinet, where we store this little item:
http://www.infiniumspirits.com/brands/zaya
I highly recommend you try this. We have sampled pretty much most of the rums out there, that one can purchase in the U.S. And this is one of the finest. No restaurant will ever carry it. It’s not cheap (~$45/bottle), but for wine drinkers, that’s nothing….and this bottle will last a while. This one can be sipped over ice, or it is very yummy in Coke Zero. It will lift your spirits!
How about taking the doors off and using those cabinets for a display of pretty serviceware like cake stand etc or cookbooks?
I keep the crock pot and my cake pans in my over the fridge cabinet. My cabinet is small, I have been thinking of ways to get a bigger one up there without having to remodel the kitchen. I hate my cavernous lower corner cabinets. They are pits of useless space where things go to get lost.
Love this series you are doing!
The Smeg is cute, but do you think it is practical? It looks too small for us, like it looks like a fridge Jeff would have in the garage. Full of beer.
And good job with the cabinet, I can’t believe that all came out of that tiny space!
I used to think it wasn’t practical, but last year my mom’s fridge broke and she had to use her old school late 70s model in the garage–and still is! She has a similar one in Lake Tahoe. And you know what? Those big ol’ doors and deep interiors hold a TON. The freezer on top? So convenient! Sometimes I think we change things just for the sake of change.
I don’t know if I would buy a Smeg today, though, unless I could be convinced I’m paying for more than a brand name.
I cleaned all the grease off/out of our hood/microwave recently, and felt so smug because I took it all apart. Then I compared the sparkling whiteness to the REST of my kitchen, and sighed sadly.
I have no idea what is in our over the fridge cabinet… I’m afraid to look.
I know the feeling! I cleaned out the filters in our above-range microwave a couple of weeks ago, and I was so smug you would have thought I performed brain surgery on a deserted island with a butter knife and palm frond threads for sutures.
Do you have the metal ones? I got them as clean as I could with grease-fighting all purpose cleaner, but I don’t really feel confident that they are as clean as they SHOULD be.
Yes, and I even let them soak for a while. I still don’t think they’re that clean. Regular and consistent cleaning is what’s needed, unfortunately.
Definitely don’t let that chore (the cleaning your above range microwave filters) go… I, for some reason, didn’t realize you were supposed to do that until my microwave about blew up! Apparently the exhaust fan is also the way the microwave gets it’s ventilation too… My mother never owned a home, so I never knew the first thing about how to care for one, until I started paying attention to things like that. LOL! It was a hard lesson learned. We used a 30 yr old microwave of my FIL for a few years until I just bought myself a new one for Christmas last year.
You have some great advice here! Above ours I keep the largeish tupperware we use to take baked goods to places where you take baked goods. I also keep my cake stand, my teapot and in the odd spot I can reach, my mixer. (The small hand held kind. I keep it in its box so the cord is contained.)
I found your blog via the Nester’s link up. Love this series. The effort you are taking is close to my heart. You are an excellent writer, too.
Thank you, Alana. I’m leaning towards storing my 13×9 pyrex dishes and some other large casserole dishes up there. I’ve looked at a few kitchen and organization sites, and I’ve seen some neat little racks that might work. Fingers crossed.
I use that cabinet to store my holiday kitchen stuff — like Christmas plates & mugs and seasonal candleholders, etc. I have quite a lot of that stuff, and it feels good to have it all in one place.
That’s a good idea. I don’t have too much, and it beats nagging my husband to get it down from the garage.
I can tell this series is going to be my new fix. I just caught up on the last 5 days in about 10 minutes. I hate it when I do that. I need to learn to slow down and savor. Even worse, I fear I will live vicariously instead of jumping in myself.
At any rate, thanks for jumping in first. I’ve got a toe in the water and maybe, when I realize the water isn’t too bad, the rest of me will follow. You’re an insiration!
This series is so inspiring. Thank you so much. LOVE IT. I have little hoarder corners everywhere, and this cabinet no mans land is the WORST. I could probably blindfold myself, throw everything into a box, seal it and run it over to goodwill and never ever miss a thing inside. Popcorn popper? Pshaw. Whoever thought that was a necessary item? (wedding gitf). Waffle cone maker? Also a wedding gift. I hate to sound ungrateful, but honestly……
At my house the above the refrigerator cabinet has been the ideal place for cleaning products that would normally be kept under the kitchen sink. I never had to worry about my toddler son getting into the cabinet, nor did I have to put a child-proof gadget on the lower cabinets. The refrigerator is a counter depth model and so it’s not a hassle to reach the upper cabinet.
Loving your William Morris series. :>)
Great idea Conny! My fridge is counter depth too, but my cabinet is deep and difficult to reach. I must be short than you…or at the very least not nearly as graceful! :)
I hate that cabinet too.
I keep my lesser used baking items there – a large stash of cookie cutters, muffin papers, and the cookie press. I *try* to prioritize all my cabinet space based on usage, so items that get used most often are the easiest to access. It works for the most part.
I also have the spare ice cube trays up there and a very large cake dome that rarely gets used but is too beautiful to throw out.
Love your blog!
I think that you should re-visit that cabinet in a few weeks and move at least half of the remaining items on. If you have not used them ever, or for a long time it is likely that you probably never will again. If in the future you find that you really did need that item, just go and buy another, chances are the newer model will be better than the one you dispensed of anyway. I find it is not often that I regret getting rid of something and it feels sooo good to create space and order!
Keep up the good work :)
Thank you for posting your to-dos as you check them off the list. I’ve been tackling some similar to-dos and it’s been motivating to read your posts :)
I’m finding your series very inspiring! There are several projects around my house that need doing plus a garage that has boxes still packed from when we moved, 2 years ago! The cabinets in my kitchen are similar style and i hate them. The bottom cabinets get so dirty quickly but because we’re renting I can’t exactly redo them, even though i don’t think the kitchen has been updated since the ’70s.
Great job getting a task complete on an emotional day!
I so DESPISE the cabinets over the fridge. Who ever thought that was a good idea? My sister is an interior designer and cannot answer my question.
As usual, your writing is excellent, but you win double awesome points for these two lines in particular:
“…now, seven years later, 32% of pinterest is devoted to pictures of kitchens with Smegs. (The other 68% is evenly divided between pictures of baby animals and s�more recipes.)”
“The bags and lunch pails went in neatly, but the refrigerator extras just sort of collapsed into a pile of dejection and lost hope.”
Thinking of your friend, and glad she has good people around her for support.
That’s the perfect insight in a terahd like this.
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