What Does Your Kitchen Say About You?

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I store stuff in the oven...my full sheet pans, pizza pan, things that are too big for my itty bitty cupboards.
 
I have a very tiny apartment kitchen.

I added a couple of bookcases to store dishes and canned goods.

It reminds me of a 1960's Hippie style let it all hang out kitchen, flour power! :ermm::ohmy::LOL:

I don't store things in the oven!

Grandmother used to keep her frying pans in the oven. It was a time when pilot lights helped to keep the cast iron dry. Remember pilot lights?
 
I keep my deep fryer in the oven and my mesh grill pan in the broiler (which I never use). The only one that peeves me is the fryer, as it takes up a lot of room to move about when I want to use the oven. I'd like to set it on a burner, but it crowds the burner next to it.

My kitchen says, "At least it's clean where it counts" about me :rolleyes:
 
I sometimes stick something in the oven for storage for a brief period but the oven is not a regular storage spot.

As to what my kitchen would say about me...
 
We store foil wrap, used parchment paper and a 3 litre Demeyere sauce pan & cover in the dish washer, protect some of our counter tops with silicon rubber baking mats and have a few 1 litre ceramic beer steins on the counters filled with spatulas, brushes, and wood implements.
 
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The only thing in my oven is my frying pan. My cookie sheets are stored in a small place beside my fridge. On my countertop next to my sink is my mixer, can opener, large food processor. On the other side of my sink is my coffee maker and coffee canister. On the small counter next to the stove is my utensil holder with wooden spoons and spatulas and salt cellar. On the other side of the stove is the microwave. Everything else is in cabinets. On my little movable lower counter is my toaster oven. Things that I use daily are available in a second.

My wrap products are in a holder on the inside of a cabinet door. My paper towel holder is also on the inside of a cabinet door.

Because I am so short, dishes I use frequently, are on the first shelf. Bowls and other larger items are on the second shelf and requires a stool to reach them. Baking items are also on the second shelf. Measuring cups, etc. The top shelves are for storage. Some shelves are empty.

My kitchen says I am organized for the convenience of use. Things I use frequently are at my fingertips. :angel:
 
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I only store my 1 piece of cast iron in my oven. DH made sure I had enough cabinet space when he designed my kitchen that I would pretty much need all of Crate and Barrel to fill it .. and you know what .. I did fill it up LOL
 
We have quite a big kitchen and a walk in pantry, so the only thing we really have in the oven is an oven tray, as we have lots of storage space in our kitchen, which is all full now though
 
My kitchen knows better than to talk about me behind my back. :LOL:
As far as storing stuff in the oven, You gotta do what you gotta do. I always look in the oven afore I turn it on to make sure there ain't nothin' in there. Especially if I am cooking at a friends house.
 
My kitchen at first would tell you that a neat person lives here. Then upon close inspection, a baker. I'm lucky to have 2 pantries (a converted coat closet for one), so I don't keep any appliances out except for the Kitchenaid, and the Tassimo coffee maker.

I have hooks for a whisk, stainless measuring spoons, and stainless measuring cups on the wall, near the Kitchenaid. These are things that I use very often and I like to have them at quick reach. I have more of these things in drawers for when I am doing lots of cooking.

I have put a lot of thought into orgainization. I don't like digging through cabinets looking for something, so small things are corralled. I have a 2-2 tier carousels for spices, one for sweet and one for savory. There is a plastic box where I keep the bulk pouches to refill the smaller bottles. I use loaf pans to corral my extracts and flavorings. All of this is out of site when the cabinet doors are closed. I have some deep pockets in my cabinets that are impossible to reach without getting on a chair, so there is nothing in those parts of the cabinets, wasted space, yes, but it turns into a Bermuda Triangle for lesser used things otherwise.
 
My kitchen at first would tell you that a neat person lives here. Then upon close inspection, a baker. I'm lucky to have 2 pantries (a converted coat closet for one), so I don't keep any appliances out except for the Kitchenaid, and the Tassimo coffee maker.

I have hooks for a whisk, stainless measuring spoons, and stainless measuring cups on the wall, near the Kitchenaid. These are things that I use very often and I like to have them at quick reach. I have more of these things in drawers for when I am doing lots of cooking.

I have put a lot of thought into orgainization. I don't like digging through cabinets looking for something, so small things are corralled. I have a 2-2 tier carousels for spices, one for sweet and one for savory. There is a plastic box where I keep the bulk pouches to refill the smaller bottles. I use loaf pans to corral my extracts and flavorings. All of this is out of site when the cabinet doors are closed. I have some deep pockets in my cabinets that are impossible to reach without getting on a chair, so there is nothing in those parts of the cabinets, wasted space, yes, but it turns into a Bermuda Triangle for lesser used things otherwise.

I have never been accused of being neat, my kitchen would be the first to give me away! :ermm::ohmy::LOL:

I do keep learning from the folks at DC.

Zhizara clued me in to the idea of using plastic shoe boxes to corral the many small items in my cupboards and even in the refrigerator.

That has helped to create the illusion that I am neat and organized!

Now you have inspired me to tame the Bermuda Triangles that lurk in my small apartment!

The best place for those items in the top of the closet and in the upper cupboards of the kitchen is the charity shop!

Thanks for helping me see the folly of keeping them!:idea:
 
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Thanks, Aunt Bea! :blush:

I also use two of the boxes in the freezer, stacked on top of each other. When I have one of them empty, I just nest it in the other waiting for more stuff.
 
I use plastic bins in the upright freezer in the basement. Two on each shelf except the bottom. I have a shelf and a bin in the freezer over the fridge. Things are still a mess.
 
How many people store stuff in the oven? My mom does. It's a PITA.

Mom does, a fact that, with the stresses we were all under my last visit, had totally been erased from my mind (I'm 58 and haven't lived under my parents' roof since I was 18, although I cook there often). I usually do all the cooking when I am there. I turned the oven on to preheat it, then went to the back of the house to help with Dad's oxygen or bathroom or some such, and the next thing I knew smoke and smoke alarm shrieking. THEN (this is how flustered we all were, we were bringing home Daddy for his last month), after she got the alarm to shut off, she reached into the oven to grab her skillet, etc, without a pot holder! "MOM!" I screamed. It wasn't a major burn, but at her age, the skin is so fragile! Let me! It was the cast iron skillet that was the big smoke culprit because of the "seasoning", which burned and smoked. What a mess.
 
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I guess my kitchen would tell you that (a) I do, in fact cook, almost every day, often twice a day. It isn't going to ever be one of those kitchens you see where you know they have all the bells and whistles and the only people who ever use it are the caterers! (b) That I live in a 160 year old house -- outlets in wrong places, uneven wooden floors, windows propped open, no exhaust fans (c) that I'm not on an unlimited budget! But basically that we're practical people who save for the occasional practical update, but functional is the name of the game.

Oh, and that I like colorful stuff!
 
I'm organized in a disorganized sort of way. :LOL: The layout is wrong, there are way too few cupboards (man, I miss my old kitchen with it's lovely Merillat pull-out shelves in the base cabinets) and too little counter space. I've worked around some storage issues by re-purposing a room divider Himself made when we lived in apartments. The lovely arrangement of 2x4s and shelving boards are against a wall and they hold some necessities and useful but decorative items. Our one closet on the first floor was changed to a pantry and I store most of my frequently used dry goods in there, along with a couple of small appliances. And I used to keep my cast iron in the oven but kept forgetting it was there and would remember when it was hot and I would open the door to load my food to cook. :ermm: It now sits on top of my toaster oven. :rolleyes:

My dream is that when we move back home I find a very nicely kept house that is in desperate need of a kitchen make-over...and is priced accordingly. The problem with those listed as "completely updated kitchen!!!" (what is it with realtors and !!!! marks?) are updated by someone interested more in looks than functionality. If I could build just one more home (we've had three built so far) it would be a kitchen with little satellite rooms off of it for sleeping, bathrooming, and socializing. Heck, the KITCHEN would be for socializing! With a fireplace in it.
 
Mostly, ORGANIZED CHAOS. Book cases, hanging pot racks, metro shelving, full cabinets, stuff on top of the cabinets.

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