During a party at my house a few weeks ago, I needed a bowl for one of the guests. My serving bowls are stacked to the left inside a cabinet hanging over my countertop. 
The bowls, being stacked, are heavy and have always been on the side farthest away making them rather hard for me to reach. The night of the party, my friend Mike was in the kitchen too so I asked him to take one down for me. He asked me how I got them down when no one was there with me. I told him I had to climb on the counter or use a large spoon to pull them closer for me to reach. (And who knows how I got that blue glass pitcher lying on its side up there.) He laughed and said, “Why don’t you switch the bowls and glasses around?”
There were a few people who helped me unpack when I moved into my house a few years ago. I believe my mom unpacked my kitchen so it would make sense that ALL of the wine glasses were put in the spot easiest to reach. It had never even occurred to me to move the bowls. Well duh! It was such a good idea, I asked him to add it to my summer to-do list board.
Even though I had to work all of last week, my evenings were fairly open since I didn’t have to worry about school work or grading papers on summer break. I took some time each day I got home from work to complete a chore on my summer to-do list. Moving the bowls was one of those chores. A little bit of cleaning took place in addition to the moving.
Having easier access to them, I was able to spread them out a bit as well. Now they are not only closer, but the stacks aren’t as heavy either. I bought some grapes while grocery shopping this weekend. When I opened the cupboard for a bowl, it was so easy to take one out. It made me laugh to myself that I hadn’t done it sooner. Thanks for the great idea Mike!
I recently did the same thing...I am tall so I can reach all of my shelves aside from the very top one...so it made sense to put the coffee cups there since I don't drink coffee and my husband who does has no problem reaching up there. Now if I can only remember to set up my classroom this way in September!
ReplyDeleteIt'd be nice to have an unpacking do-over after moving into a place and knowing the best way everything would flow. The initial unpacking is kind of down blindly and afterwards who has time to do it again. Good luck unpacking...again.
DeleteIf ever I win the big Lotto(it's €150m now)I'd design a galley kitchen where it comes in one side out the other. Then everything would be where the job required it. Not like now when I need a library step to see some stuff.
ReplyDeleteWhy is there pretty paper on the wall of the top shelf and none on the other two.
Looks good, I take it the cabinet is over a corner and that's the cause of the issue.
P.S. What are those asymmetric dots along the bottom edge and on the 1st shelf. PPS, I rather like that squat red on white one with the timber one in it.
Wouldn't that be great to design the kitchen so it was functional and made sense for the user. My very small kitchen is even smaller since about a third of the cabinet space is so hard to get to being too high up or so deep underneath the counter one has to crawl inside the cupboard to access the space.
DeleteYes, the cupboard sits above the corner of the counter. After I posted the pics it thought I should have backed up a bit for a better frame of reference. Anyhow, the paper on the top shelf was there when I moved in as were the round thumbtacks, it looks like they were used to keep the contact paper from lifting? But I'd don't know...there are a lot of things the previous owner did that make me scratch my head.
Thanks, that bowl is a favorite of mine.
If you stacked those bowls you'd have one kick-ass still-life. Two stacks, one from each shelf.
DeleteI remember not long ago when designers were wittering on about a kitchen triangle where the fridge, cooker and sink were as near each other as possible. But that was just a device to reduce the space devoted and the overall size of a standard home was reduced by that figure. Note the size of what was a standard home in 1950/60/70/80/90/00. In 1950, the kitchen and diningroom were one sizable space big enough to fit a full sized dinner table. By the '90s the space was split, with both reduced. Anything built for the standard family has a kitchen so small more than one in it will initialize full blown agoraphobic psychosis. While in the dining space, more a nook, you couldn't have two across from each other with pushed back chairs.
And that's a shame since EVERYONE ends up in the kitchen don't they.
DeleteHooray! I proved to be helpful! Now how's the rest of that list we left you coming along? HAHA!
ReplyDeleteYou did! A very simple way to solve the problem. Maybe before you leave you can solve some more. :). Ha ha, unfortunately (or fortunately) that's as far as I got with THAT to-do list.
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