Simple Kitchen Solutions

by Paint Yourself a Smile

I’m currently doing a cleaning and organization series on my blog with several of my blogger friends.

As part of that series I wrote a blog post on some of the easy kitchen tips & ideas that work for me. My tips and tricks are not always fancy but they are helpful! Here are just a couple...

simple kitchen solutions, kitchen design

To start with lets talk about those drawers. I love inserts that help organize the contents inside. I've seen many drawer inserts at the store. But my problem was, I was having a hard time finding an insert that fit my drawers perfectly. That and I didn't want to pay very much.

DIY Drawer Inserts...

I measured the width, depth and height of my drawer. Then I purchased a small inexpensive sheet of pressboard. I cut two boards to the height and depth of my drawer with my saw. Then I cut two boards the height and width. I marked where the boards would intersect and cut a grove on each one.

The boards fit together to make a great insert for my coffee drawer.

If you don't have a saw you can do the same thing with sturdy cardboard and a mat knife.

Toaster Crumb Solution

Don’t laugh, but this is actually an awesome solution to keep the toaster from dropping crumbs all over the counter. I started keeping the toaster in this fancy toaster tray (a shoe box lid covered with a drawer liner) because my enthusiastic toast making family couldn’t remember to wipe the crumbs from the counter after their toasting adventures.

So instead of being irritated everyday by the onslaught of daily breakfast crumbs, I enacted the toaster tray solution.

Keep the toaster in the box, the crumbs are kept off the counter, mom doesn’t loose her mind and everybody gets to live.

It’s a win win for all.

And just in case your family is a little like mine, they may need a special reminder to put the little toaster away. You laugh but it works!

Kitchen Homework Station

Crumbs weren't our only issue when it came to keeping the counters clean. Like so many families my kitchen counter also serves as a homework station. To keep the supplies under control I dedicated one pull out tray in a cupboard for supplies. This keeps the kids from bugging me every afternoon for stupid things like highlighters and notecards and it keeps the school supply scavenger hunts to a minimum.

I used a simple cardboard box to keep supplies from falling off the back of the pull out tray. I also use my homemade supply caddy’s from old drink containers to help keep the supplies organized.