# Kitchen decluttering



## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

What are you doing to declutter your kitchen this year.

Looking for ideas and motivation.

Anyone looking for something? Maybe I'll get rid of mine to you.

3 years ago, I purged my spices. Could be time to go there again too.

https://cheftalk.com/threads/spice-cabinet-tips.101634/


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

So far:
A set of plastic bowls. These are my oldest bowls. They're showing a fair amount of wear, a couple of melts, some plastic delamination for lack of a better word. I'll move my nice metal bowls into prime position and clear up some space. undecided on donation or recycyle for these. They don't have the icon for plastic types so recycle is probably out. Donation still iffy.

Some mismatch measuring spoons whose other spoons are missing or broken.Same for a set of measuring cups--I made a "complete" set from two partials. The extras are going away.

Some short handle rubber scrapers lying lonesome in the back of the drawer. I never use them, and didn't even know they were there.

To the recycle: A blade from peeler. a couple of mystery handles? Strange things lurking in the drawer when one has kids....


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## Transglutaminase (Jan 9, 2019)

Been there, done that!
As for tools/cookware, If I "may" use it again, put in a big tote in in the garage (or attic?) for archiving.
Otherwise, if still usable, and.. will never use again, donate to thrift stores,.. otherwise bin it.
Spices? The bulk spices, I vacuum seal in mason jars & put in smaller bottles as needed.
I've been labeling/date them for the past few years & toss (sometimes) after expiry date. ;-)
Some days ..the garbage bin smells strangely wonderful! ;-)
My 2 cents worth anyway! ;-)


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

It looks like a juvenile emergency toilet seat, but in reality it’s a lot cheaper than a divorce lawyer-and a heckuva lot more practical too.
My city ( Vancouver) “ introduced” residential compost pick up about 5 years ago. It’s illegal to throw kitchen scraps in the garbage, they must be put into a specially provided compost bin. Of course, most people think that composting is code for putting last nights spaghetti under a tree, but I digress.

In any case the placement of the compost bin has been “ discussed” many, many times, and there was no real home for it. So this is what I did to declutter our kitchen


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Not a bad solution.


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## uiocatta (May 30, 2018)

phatch said:


> What are you doing to declutter your kitchen this year.
> 
> Looking for ideas and motivation.
> 
> ...


Actually it was spices the first thing to declutter in my new years resolutions. I had been accumulating this great amount of spices and at the beginning it was making me feel good but very suddenly I felt the opposite. I am a person that in general, normally overwhelms when I have many options to choose from... in the kitchen is the same. So now I'd see countless spices leading to ending possibilities of recipes and I would just feel so confused and unmotivated.

So I decided that I would go back to the basics and start from scratch..... so now I just have, salt, pepper, paprika, onion and garlic powder and that's it. It's been a couple of days now after the "great purge" and it's yielding the results I was hoping for.

I don't know if you are in a similar situation like me but I hope it helps.


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## chefwriter (Oct 31, 2012)

Decluttering. Geez. Where to begin? Spices are too old and too many I don't use or too rarely use.
I am fortunate to have a walk in pantry. Unfortunately it is easy to store unneeded items in like pots and pans I rarely use, various kitchen implements I bought years ago and I think if I see it all the time I might actually use it instead storing them in the attic. 
Then there are all the jars and bottles of sauces, condiments, seasonings, oils and whatnot that I will never use. Not to mention the dried beans, rice and other foodstuffs I bought an embarrassingly long time ago but have never used. 
Then there's the knife collection. Mostly carbon but a few high carbon stainless that seemed like a good idea at the time. I have four knives I use on a regular basis but I keep thinking "you never know when you might need four (Six, I just checked) different slicing knives, or a huge cheese knife, ten chef knives of enormous size, several petty and utility knives, assorted paring knives, three kitchen shears, three honing rods, and a collection of garnishing tools.
Pots and pans.... assorted cast iron pots, several black steel pans, assorted copper, eight or ten pate molds, large Tamis, more stuff than I can remember. 
Okay. now I'm getting agitated thinking about all that stuff. 
So the question is... I don't want to send it all to the landfill so where does it all go?


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Went through the plastic storage containers and lids. Always some surprises there it seems. A good chunk in condition for donation.

Thought about changing the silverware organization but what I was thinking of didn't work in my space.


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Thinking about surplusing a 12 qt pot with pasta basket. I only use it for tamales and I have other options for that. Its primary failure is that it doesn't work on induction. I think pasta inserts are out of favor now mostly. At home at least.


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## kihlman (11 mo ago)

I stumble upon this on youtube. Could relate very well on the spices and pots in the cabinet.



How do you organize your spices to avoid throwing them out just because they are old?


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## Transglutaminase (Jan 9, 2019)

Too many spices? Nahh!


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## cheflayne (Aug 21, 2004)

chefwriter said:


> So the question is... I don't want to send it all to the landfill so where does it all go?


A charity soup kitchen, battered women's shelter, hospice thrift store, salvation army, high school or underprivledged kids culinary program,...


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## uiocatta (May 30, 2018)

kihlman said:


> I stumble upon this on youtube. Could relate very well on the spices and pots in the cabinet.
> 
> 
> 
> How do you organize your spices to avoid throwing them out just because they are old?


"Hiding pots and pans" and "Brooklyn Kitchen" yep,,, those are my two biggest mistakes :lol:........ I definitely need to hang my pots.


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

I have this triangular cabinet that tucks in against the chimney stack that's part of the kitchen boundaries. It's diagonal because you have to pass through here to get to the stairs to the basement.

I initially set it up 20 years ago as the sort of quick access canned and bottled goods. And flour bucket. That worked for the way I cooked then and for kid access to snack things. It collected the kind of pasta I use in small batches {orzo macaroni..} tahini, sofrito recaito. Very much a catchall.

I have moved my Asian supplies into it, and the flour collection. My old Asian cupboard has peanut butter, honey and my pasta bits as well as my Mediterranean goods. Dumped some old cans and expired this and that. 

Should reflect my current cooking practice better.

There's an upper diagonal cabinet I plan to set up for latin pantry. It has some glutinous rice in it that's not out of place either.


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## JohnDB (10 mo ago)

I'm refusing to declutter intentionally....
I know that I have a problem but I want to live in Denial...

Denial is a place....it's a suburb of Confusion. You know....that place on the border between Alabama and West Virginia.


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## chrislehrer (Oct 9, 2008)

I thought Denial was in Egypt?


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## JohnDB (10 mo ago)

chrislehrer said:


> I thought Denial was in Egypt?


That's the place full of guys who think that their comb over is working...or that the hot 20 something in yoga pants would actually entertain the notion of dating a 45+ year old guy simply because of the car he drives.


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