new kitchen tour, part 2 – a peek inside my drawers

Not those drawers! Minds out of the gutter, kids. 

Welcome to part 2 of the tour of my remodeled kitchen. Today, I'm going to show you all the little organizational details that make me love my new kitchen *that* much more.

I also want to give props to Olive who helped design the layout. I highly recommend her if you need help planning an Ikea kitchen. She went above and beyond.

C'mon in! Let's get started...

Little touches make a big difference. These hooks help me keep utensils I'm using close at hand. I also  hang my camera here when taking food shots for the blog.

The appliance garage keeps appliances out of sight and dust-free, plus keeps counter space clear. I'm so glad I decided to go with open shelving. It makes cooking so much easier – everything is right where you need it....

...Plus, the shelves double as cooling racks! Form meets function.

Peek inside the appliance garage: blender, food processor, coffee grinder, cocoa [I sprinkle it on my soy cappuccino], mini-food processor [bowl is in the dishwasher!] sugar, salt and pepper. And a few more empty shelves.

"A place for everything, and everything in it's place." I love organization, so I bought a bunch of Ikea dividers to help me live up to the adage. Here's where I keep baking dishes/sheets, my rolling pins, pie weights/birds, silpats and various gadgets.

More baking stuff. This drawer houses pie plates/tart tins, glass dishes, my spice grinder and my basic KitchenAid  mixer attachments.

I'm proudest of my junk drawer makeover. Things in containers look neater. Now I can actually find what I'm looking for – what a concept.

Cooking utensils I use often, organized with a smaller Ikea Rationell divider.

I actually have some free space! That hasn't happened in ages.

I have loads of spices/extracts and use them all. This roll-out spice drawer keeps some of them within close reach.

I also have a spice rack next to my chalkboard [Told you I have loads!]. Notice the little hook on the upper left, where I can hang utensils for easy access.

Just below the appliance garage, I have a lazy Susan cupboard where I keep my cutting board and many pots and pans. It looks weird when you open it, but it's a fabulous use of a large chunk of space.

I also got the rollout recycling bins, which stay under my sink. We have to sort our recycling  – paper in one container, and all else in the other. Before the makeover, my recycling sat in bags in a corner, so this is a huge step up for me.

On the right side of the tall grey cabinets, I keep flours, sugars, and other baking stuff, oils and vinegars, dried fruits, and veggies, plus my immersion mixer and paper towels. Left side looks pretty much the same, except it houses canned goods, grains, cookies and another empty shelf.  Center shelf above fridge so far only houses my ice cream maker, since I only use it seasonally.

Speaking of tall grey cabinets, my little monkey, Pablo, already figured out how to get to the top. My loft is his jungle gym.

I can't believe the kitchen is done. Time to paint and get back to normal, whatever that means.