Chaos of our kitchen cabinets

Our kitchen base cabinets did not have any shelves in them when we bought the place. Which is a bit puzzling and basically meant that we just piled stuff in there as best we could because there was no good way to organize it (see picture). I didn’t really feel like making custom shelves for them at this point in time so, we prowled IKEA for something that would work for now. I had basically come up dry but then while wandering through the warehouse area on the way out, I came across what they called a “night stand” on super clearance for about $3. It was a small glass topped table that would fit nicely in the cabinets. Not a perfect fix, but at $3 a piece I was willing to give it a go.

After being added to the cabinets

The IKEA night stand turned cabinet organizer

The only thing about this solution that has bugged me is that the legs don’t go straight up and down but have a slight angle to them. It really only meant that I could butt them up next to each other, so not a big deal. For the price it provided a very nice solution to our cabinet clutter.

While at IKEA I also picked up some nice jars for holding my loose-leaf teas. I had started to have quite a few and thought they should have a better home then inside the paper bags they came in. The whole set of 4 jars was only like $5, quite a steal I think.

Jars for tea

Last, but definitely not least, is the shelving we added in the corner to store food, house the microwave, and organize more of my tea/coffee collection. The wire shelving unit on the bottom is from, you guessed it, IKEA for about $30. It is pretty darn sturdy and the shelves are adjustable (which is handy). Please ignore our huge heap of recycling that is cluttering the bottom shelf (good for the environment, bad for good photography). (Pictures below) The wall mounted shelves above are from Home Depot a long time ago. The work very nicely for holding my other teas and assorted coffee accessories, including my new coffee grinder. The grinder is a big step up from the old one, which was a $10 one from the grocery store. The new one gives a nice even grind and has settings for different grinds (big smile!).

So that’s several kitchen updates in one post. Sorry for the long delay. I hope to have the Interior Design: Kitchen page up soon so that you can see our kitchen in all its orange glory.

Shelves

Another view of shelves