In some ways, this seems a bit silly to post Part 2 of our minimalist kitchen with us moving. Every time I move, I have to reconfigure my new kitchen. So, the new house will look very different from this house in how we set things up and what our minimalism looks like. However, I said I was going to post Part 2, so I am going to post Part 2!
In Part 1, I gave you a tour of the main section of my kitchen. Before, we move on to the island and bar area of my kitchen, I wanted to address one reader question, and that is concerning my glasses. I said we had 2 glasses per person, plus extras for guests. One reader wanted to see inside the cupboard, so here it is…
The tie dye cup in the back of the bottom shelf is my Tervis. It has a lid and it is the cup I take with me on the go. Ty prefers the plastic cups you see in the box on the top shelf. That box also holds his on-the-go coffee cups. I got tired of these awkward glasses falling down on me every time I opened the cupboard door! The glasses to the right of the box are the guest glasses. We will often outfit them with a DrinkBand during the duration of their stay with us. (pssst….DrinkBands giveaway coming soon!)
OK, so back to the tour!
On the opposite wall of the kitchen is a bar area. This is my work station, and I still haven’t found a great system for organizing it. So, I guess I’ll start over in the new house! (By the way, the new house has a built-in office area in the kitchen already! Yippee!) The only appliance on the bar is the coffee maker, with the coffee mugs and coffee in a cupboard above it. In the cupboards below I have stored the Vitamix (we have the wet and dry containers), a toaster, a large percolator (for my Festive Hot Punch), storage for jellies and sauces I canned this summer, vases, office supplies (our printer and computers are also on this bar), and a couple of baskets with utensils and small appliances we don’t use often (i.e. electric knife, apple peeler, corer, slicer, etc), and finally, a cupboard for tools.
And then, there is the island. As you see in the graphic, only the Berkey and the knife block sit on the island. (Ty brought me some flowers home that were there that day too!)
Another reader question concerned the knife block and keeping my toddler out of it. Frankly, this hasn’t been much of an issue. I wish I could give you some great training lesson, but the younger crowd seem to understand that knives are not something they are allowed to touch.
The cupboards under the bar contain the following items:
- 2 large & 2 small mixing bowls (we prefer Pyrex)
- canning jars and lids
- a few glass and plastic containers and lids for leftovers
- 3 large bowls for serving things like popcorn or chips to a crowd
- 2 serving trays
- 1 cutting board
- 1 large and 1 small cast iron skillet
- 1 large, 2 medium, and 1 small saucepan with lids
- a double boiler and a steamer for one of the medium pots
- a roasting pan I never use…and for some reason, keep
I do need to mention that we have a large pantry that holds not only our dry goods and bulk foods, but also a couple of crock pots, an electric skillet, a dehydrator, a water bath canner, and an air popper. We also have a large electric roaster that typically gets stored in the basement.
We could probably pare down even more, but I am comfortable with where we are right now. I use most everything in the kitchen on a fairly regular basis (except for the roaster and the dehydrator), so that’s been my gauge of whether or not I “need” something. There are certainly some items I’d like to own at some point (like a larger stock pot), but I manage just fine with the items I have.
And that is the key to minimalism in a large family…do you really need it? Will you really use it? If you find you don’t, let it go.
Need a little help paring down the “stuff” in your kitchen? Nourishing Minimalism (the blog I mentioned inspired me to get rid of a lot!) has a set of ebooks that helps you declutter and live a more minimalist life. – including the one shown below: 30 Days to a Clean & Organized Kitchen.
So, what about your kitchen? Are you a minimalist or do you tend to hold on to things you don’t use (and maybe don’t even like?) I’d encourage you to start decluttering today and head into the New Year “lighter”!
Jillian says
I’m a total minimalist. I can’t stand clutter in any room of the house. I think if someone took a peek into my kitchen they’d be surprised I cook for 10 people. lol. I often don’t have the perfect size pot, bowl or serving dish but I manage. With a tiny kitchen and no dishwasher, I try to keep what I have to wash to a minimum. 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Heather says
So I must confess, I totally had to look up half of you items! Tervis, Berky, and Vitamix to name a few! Reading your post makes me feel a little better about my cupboards! I have most of the same things, though we do have 3 cutting boards. One small which is nice for just slicing an apple or whatever for snack, one wooden for produce, and one plastic for meat. My biggest struggle is useful bowls verses pretty serving bowls, and utensils. We keep a lot of ladles/serving spoons – though we are just changing ministry opportunities and had been hosting a large dinner (our family of 5 plus all college age kids 10+) EVERY Sunday- and I used all! Luckily this home had a water filtration hooked up to the kitchen water line, now we are moving/downsizing and adding new baby- may need to look into Berkey or other water filtration/filter ideas. Thanks for ideas!