Last week we asked you to show us just one improvement you made during this fall's Kitchen Cure. Well, we have some photos to show you of your fellow Cure-takers' success in getting their kitchens in shape — just in time for the holidays, too! Here's a peek at a few
If you took the Fall Kitchen Cure, read on. What would make our day is if you would complete a very short questionnaire. It will help us make future Cures even better.
Plus, if you complete the survey (and we have you on record as having signed up for the Cure) by next Wednesday, November 25th at 12pm (EST), you'll be entered in a draw for one of five copies of my cookbook, The Greyston Bakery Cookbook.
Yes, I know: during the Cure we encouraged you to pare down on the cookbooks, so just consider this an offering to those who love to bake, or want to give it as a gift this year.
Click through for the questions.
Hello, Cure-takers! Have you finished out strong in this fall's Kitchen Cure? We bet that your kitchen is spick and span, and all ready for the holidays. We closed out the Kitchen Cure last week with a note of encouragement, but we're not quite finished with you yet. Did the Cure help your kitchen in big or small ways? Do you have a more organized cupboard, like turtalia's up there? Or did you make a big change, like this chalkboard wall?
Either way, we would love to see just one photo from you with one improvement you made to your kitchen during the Kitchen Cure. Read on to submit!
"I think I am done...a great cure!" (deliajude in the San Francisco Bay Area)Well, Cure-takers, if you're not there yet, you're pretty close. You put four weeks of hard work in and, if all went according to plan, your kitchen is clean, healthy and organized. And that means you're ready to take on the holiday cooking blitz with your arsenal in tip-top shape.
There were over 2,400 of you on this journey together and you did amazing work.
How do you store your knives? Do you like to keep them out? Put them away in a drawer? One of the best things I did in the previous Kitchen Cure was to get my knives organized and properly stowed. Are you looking for a good solution for your knives? Read on for five ways you can store knives safely and happily.
A recurring theme during the Cure has been chaos in the spice drawer (or shelf or rack). Which photo above (all from Cure-takers) looks most like your spice collection? First, let's see how many of you are suffering. Then I'll show you a great solution invented by one of our readers.
Hands down, one of the best small-space solutions for kitchens is the addition of a butcher-block island. We have one in our kitchen, and with it, we have a giant space for chopping, rolling out dough, plating big meals, and eating (it's become our primary dining space) plus storage for appliances, large pots, and hanging space for our dishtowels. It's kind of like a miracle.
People participating in our Fall Kitchen Cure are closing in on the final days of the process. If there's one question we've seen again and again it's how to deal with those pesky plastic containers. Stacey Platt, a professional organizer here in NYC, gave me some tips to share with you.
Lately we've been eying our kitchen and thinking about reorganization. (Cure Takers, we know you're with us on this one!) We've always been a bit bothered by where to keep our silverware - there just doesn't seem to be a good place for it. Where do you store yours?
This week's Kitchen Cure assignment is the last one. It's designed to get your pantry restocked with any basics you need, and also any tools or cookware you may be lacking. It's time to get revved up for holiday cooking, and this is your chance to make sure your arsenal is complete. What do you need to replace or supply in your kitchen?
• This Week's Assignment: Restock ingredients and tools.
• Cure Clock: 4 weekends down! 1 week left!
• Cure Takers: 2,400ish
Happy Monday, Cure-takers! How was your last weekend of the Cure? This is the fun part: restocking and perhaps picking up a new tool or two. Did you get some good catch-up work done this weekend? Want to send us a photo of your progress? How does your kitchen feel?
• This Week's Assignment: Restocking Ingredients and Tools
• Cure Clock: This is it! Finish these assignments and meet back here next Friday for the party.
• Cure Takers: Over 2,400
This week is the final week of work. Phew! We will assume you have sorted through your refrigerator, freezer, cupboards and drawers. You have gotten rid of rancid oils, spoiled condiments, and tasteless spices. All the surfaces are clean. Now you're ready to stock your kitchen so that you can actually use it. This week we will focus on the ingredients you need to cook the kinds of food you like to eat. You will also think about any new tools you need and can afford. You'll also have fresh flowers in the kitchen.
How's the Kitchen Cure going? Is your kitchen now neat as a pin? Or do you feel woefully behind? If it's the latter — don't give up! Just do what you can this weekend; just a half hour of purging old supplies and straightening up a utensil drawer can be enough to make you feel refreshed in your space. If you're tackling a bigger project, here's some inspiration from Sara in Washington, who turned an under-utilized closet into a pantry. Read on to see AFTER photos of her great pantry!
With the Fall 2009 Kitchen Cure in full swing, and with this week focusing on special projects, we have perhaps the most perfectly timed kitchen tour for you today. This tour comes from reader Daniel, who "inadvertently" started his own kitchen cure a few months ago. He wanted to just take care of one small problem: a cracked floor. Well, this repair ballooned into a much larger project, but the end result is a marked improvement! Read on for the before and after story (and photos!) of Daniel's Cure-inspired budget remodel.
For those with four-legged furry friends running around their home, there seems to be a unanimous problem — where do you put the pet bowls?! It seems like the answer should be easy: the floor, duh. But in reality, finding a bowl that looks attractive enough to sit out, plus learning not to kick it over during your daily routine, is a challenge.
This week's Cure assignment includes a good bout of deep cleaning, and boy, nowhere needs it so much as our kitchen floor. We are pretty animated in the kitchen, and it seems like there's always something landing on the floor. We do our best to keep it clean(ish) as we go, but it still almost always needs a good mopping.
We're curious how you clean your kitchen floor. Do you sweep or vacuum? Do you use a mop? Or do you get down on your hands and knees with a sponge? And what kind of kitchen floor do you have? Cleaning methods will vary for different sorts of floors. Do you have any especially good tips for removing stuck-on food, old crumbs, and grease?
A small but important part of this week's Cure assignment is to add something to your kitchen that makes it more beautiful. This is not the moment for stripping off the 1970s wallpaper, rather, a little touch of color or life that makes being in your kitchen more enjoyable.
Are you busy deep-cleaning and fixing up your kitchen this week? What small project have you tackled? Here's one very small project that nevertheless can really make a difference in a small cupboard or drawer: organizing your cookie cutters. Cure-taker Carol shows us how she did it!
This Cure-taker in Jersey City says she works on the pantry monthly but it gets disorganized again right away. The first thing I suggested was separate the cleaning supplies from the food.Part of this week's Kitchen Cure assignment is to do a deep cleaning of the kitchen. This got me thinking about the kinds of cleansers people use and where they keep them. As I read through the hundreds of submissions from Cure-takers, I saw a range of solutions, and lack thereof.
This week's Kitchen Cure assignment is to finish up your reorganizing and cleaning, but also to tackle any special projects that need to get done. Do you have a little project that would perk up your kitchen — maybe something you've been meaning to do for a while? Read on to hear a little more about our own special projects!
• This Week's Assignment: Deep clean, beautify, and accomplish special projects.
• Cure Clock: 3 weekends down! 2 weeks to go.
• Cure Takers: 2,382 (Signup closes Friday, November 6)
Happy Monday, Cure-takers! How was the weekend? Did you get some deep-cleaning done? How good does that feel? We love this part of the Cure; all that sweeping, mopping, and cleaning out corners is positively cathartic. We're also working on one or two little upgrades to the kitchen. What about you?
I love looking at the part of the pantry that has been cured. (Amelia, Santa Monica, CA)• This Week's Assignment: Deep Cleaning, Special Projects and Beautifying
• Cure Clock: Closing in on the finish line! Two weeks of hard work left.
• Cure Takers: 2,382 (Sign up closes next Friday, November 6)
It's the third week. How are you doing? I'm so impressed with the emails I'm getting from Cure-takers. You guys are going deep, and I know it's not easy. This week you'll do a deep cleaning, start that special project and add one beautiful thing to your kitchen.
About to toss an old dented muffin tin in the Goodwill box, we changed our minds. Maybe we won't be using it to bake any more muffins, but we can definitely give it a second life as a drawer organizer!
Which common kitchen utensil do you think it is? We actually have two (maybe three) of this space-hogging tool, and as we thought about de-cluttering this week, we realized we never, ever use it. We bet you have at least one in your utensil holder, too...
Yesterday we asked you if you leave appliances out on the countertop; now we're curious about what else you leave out. The counters in our kitchens can become home to everything from potted herbs to an ever-changing herd of dirty dishes. Sometimes it's hard to find space to cut an onion for dinner! Tell us what's on your counter and get a few tips for keeping them free of clutter after the jump.
As you set up a new kitchen or optimize your workspace during the Kitchen Cure, a big decision is whether to keep anything out on the countertop. Where do you keep your toaster, stand mixer, food processor, electric kettle, coffee maker?
• This Week's Assignment: Declutter, Purge STUFF, & Clean!
• Cure Clock: 2 weekends down! 2 weeks remaining
• Cure Takers: 2300 strong
Happy Monday, Cure-takers! The second assignment of your Kitchen Cure is underway — how did it go last weekend? Are your cupboards decluttered? Did you get rid of doubled-up tools and cookware you never use? What was the strangest or least-used cooking implement you discovered?
I have a KitchenAid, 2 food processors (2 more in the basement), a hand blender, a blender, 2 steamers (shall I go on??) (Darci in Traverse City, MI)• This Week's Assignment: De-Clutter and Give Away Kitchen Equipment Plus Special Projects
• Cure Clock: Getting the hang of it! 3 weeks more!
• Cure Takers: 2,300 and counting...
Week Two is here. Now that you tackled your ingredients in the fridge and pantry, it's time to pay a little attention to the equipment piled up in your kitchen. Take a long honest look at the stuff you keep in your cupboards and on your counters. From little stuff like flatware to big appliances. Do you really use that George Foreman grill? Do you truly need three strainers? We'll also be talking about picking a special project to complete during the Cure.
Haven't joined yet? Join here. It's easy and free.
Read on for this week's assignments.
Q: I've been trying to find a best way to store olive oil, since I got a larger bottle than normal and don't want it to go bad. Some sources advise to store it in the fridge... but there's counter-advice on that as well.
What's your opinion? — Anna
I'm a busy working college student so this is what happens. I have made the best of my "kitchenette" but it is definitely in need the cure. (aubreylane in Santa Cruz, CA)Read on for my thoughts on cookbook collecting, more Cure-taker images of cookbook collections, and a chance to tell us how you feel about cookbook clutter.
As the Fall Kitchen Cure progresses, we are seeing a lot of your refrigerators, freezers, and pantries. It's always a fascinating anthropological thing to peek in someone's else's fridge. We're curious: among the cleaning and de-cluttering, what are the things that stayed in the fridge, and what are the things that are always there?
• This Week's Assignment: Clean Out the Fridge and Pantry
• Cure Clock: 1 weekend down! 3 weeks remaining
• Cure Takers: 2,100 and counting...
Happy Monday, Cure-takers! The first assignment of your 4-week kitchen cure is underway, and here's the spot to tell us how it went last weekend. Did you get much fridge-cleaning and pantry-clearing done this weekend? Tell us all about your first steps!
• This Week's Assignment: Clean Out the Fridge and Pantry
• Cure Clock: Liftoff! 4 weeks remaining
• Cure Takers: 2,100 and counting...
Welcome, everyone! There are over 2,100 of you signed up. That's a big number, but don't worry, it's going to be cozy with lots of one-on-one attention. That's the deal with the Cure: if you participate and submit, the community will help you along. I may even show up in your inbox with some advice if you ask me point blank. If you're shy and want to watch from afar, that's okay too.
This week we want to start you on the path of cleaning out your kitchen.
Haven't joined yet? Join here. It's easy and free.
Read on for this week's assignments.
It's a beautiful Saturday morning, but I can't help but peek at my computer every now and then to see how many new sign-ups have rolled in since last check. We're beyond 1500 and that's a record.
Next week expect your first assignment. You can start by throwing open all your drawers, cabinets and even the fridge and freezer. Don't move anything. Now take a photo. Come on. Give us the naked truth. (See mine here.)
Not signed up yet but feel your kitchen is in need of some help? Sign up now!
"Cure your kitchen in four weeks." I make it sound like your kitchen is sick. The majority of kitchens I see, including my own sometimes, have at the very least symptoms of chaos, disarray or atrophy. If yours is suffering more deeply, consider the Kitchen Cure your call to 911. We all could use some help.
This is the place for all Kitchen Cure-related discussions, a free form space for questions, answers, inspiration and links to what you're doing.
Please comment below and feel free to include links to images or sites where you are documenting your Cure. Also, please remember that if you want us to consider your images and commentary for posting, you use the Submission Form.
• Sign Up for The Kitchen Cure!
• The Kitchen Cure Page
• Submission Form (send us your photos, links, etc. documenting your progress)
"There are no drawers and the shelves are surprisingly high, which is why not too much stuff is on the top shelves of my cabinets. It's also why I didn't bother opening the cabinets above the fridge, they are too high for me to reach! Through this cure, I'd like to get my kitchen organized better. I like to keep everything I use frequently to be within reach." (Alison in Brooklyn, NY)