Welcome to Day 15 of my month long series “How to Organize Your Kitchen Frugally in 31 Days”. Every day during the month of October I will be sharing an organized space in my kitchen with you. My goal is to inspire you and give you ideas on how you can organize your kitchen.
If you missed it, you may want to read why I’m embracing my outdated kitchen. It might give you a little perspective on why the pictures of my kitchen organization won’t be “magazine worthy”, but helpful for real life organization.
Today we’re looking at how I organize my bakeware cupboard and how I made space for my stand mixer.
The other day when I told you how I cut one of my cupboard shelves to make space for organizing wraps and foils, I showed you how we supported the shelf with these brackets:
Well, there is a reason that there are 2 brackets in the picture. One thing I have always had trouble storing is my stand mixer. It’s huge and heavy and doesn’t fit into any cupboard in my kitchen. I could leave it on the countertop, but I don’t like to have too many things out. To me it looks cluttered.
Since my kitchen is old, I decided it wouldn’t hurt to cut a space out of one of my shelves. I realize that this may not be the solution for many of you, but I decided that no matter how much technology advances, in my lifetime, I will probably always have some sort of tall stand mixer and need an easy place to store it. I don’t want it hidden away in my pantry on the other side of the kitchen. I want it where I use it. And I LOVE how easy it is to grab now.
Note: If you are not interested in cutting your cabinet shelf, you could always take it out and make a new shelf with the cutout space using a piece of plywood like I did with my baking pans.
So how did we do it? It was pretty simple actually. I measured the width of the base of the mixer and the length. We marked the measurements on the shelf and used my hubby’s table saw to cut out the space. If you try this, make sure to measure the base, not the top, because you will need the cut out space to be wide enough for your hand to get under the top to lift it out. Then, we attached the shelf support (above) to hold the weight of the front of the shelf. Voila! Now my mixer has a place of it’s very own.
You can’t tell from the above picture, but there is actually plenty of space left on the back of the shelf to store some of my baking pans and a waffle maker.
Under the shelf I keep some of my baking dishes. This cabinet is in my “Food Prep Zone“, so it’s a perfect spot to keep dishes I bake with and use to prepare meals.
If you’re wondering if I keep anything behind the mixer, I do. I keep baking pans that I use infrequently like my springform pan and pie plates. I keep my hand mixer on the upper shelf right next to the stand mixer. The hand mixer attachments are in the gadget drawer right above this cupboard.
In the right cupboard, I keep my crockpot, rice cooker, and my favorite enamel casserole dish. On the top shelf I keep a large serving platter, a bread basket, and a tortilla warmer.
So there you go – a plan that may work for some of you and a few ideas for the rest of you. Tomorrow we’ll be looking at how I organize my corner cabinet.
This is really clever! I am not sure I even have a space to do this in my kitchen, but it is a great solution. That mixer is so heavy. I have tried storing it up higher and I soon realize that just doesn’t work – it has got to be down low!
You are so right, Laura! It is HEAVY. I also used to keep it in an upper cupboard. I was always afraid of dropping it because of the weight of it. This solution has worked great for me. It’s easy to get to and easy to put away.
I love how you make these shelves work for you! Too many of us are just too afraid to ‘cut the shelf’. I am going to start making my kitchen work for me. Thanks for the tips
You bet, Paula! I’m glad you found it to be helpful. 🙂
I really like this idea; I’m going to have to remember this when my husband and I move. Even though I don’t have a mixer (I’m not much of a cook), this might work for my juicer. I really dislike clutter, especially on the kitchen counters!
It could definitely work for your juicer or any other tall appliance. I’m with you – I do not like clutter on my counters and it can accumulate so quickly. Well, now you have an idea to keep one less thing on your counters. 🙂
I know! Clutter stresses me out and I feel claustrophobic. I find it’s just best to tidy-up everyday during the work-week. That way, there is no clutter when you clean on the weekends! I feel very fortunate because my hubby is the same way when it come to cleanliness!
I hope you’re having a happy day,
Lindsey
Great idea! I don’t have a stand mixer, but would love to get one eventually. This can be used for other appliances too, so I’ll keep this tucked away for when I need it. Thanks!
You bet, Pat. This idea is great for heavy, tall appliances that are hard to lift out of upper cabinets. I’d much rather lug something “up” to the counter than try not to let it drop from a high cupboard.
I’ve gotten some great ideas this month so far! Thanks for sharing. I struggle with my corner cabinet and am excited to see new ideas on that too! I have 6 kids, 5 going to school and they decided the corner cabinet was going to be for school stuff. I hate it and took it back yesterday, finally. Perfect timing because now I don’t know what to put there! LOL
I’m glad to hear that some of my ideas have helped you, Tiffany! I hope you enjoy the rest of the series. 🙂
Can you show me how your planner looks and maybe video an example of how you use it? Sorry I am so new at this:) Thank you for all your hard work. I will be buying the planner I just need to find a color printer I can use. Thanks again!
Jennifer
I just tonight gave up and moved my Kitchen Aid mixer to the pantry. I didn’t want to do it because it is heavy and I wanted it on the counter where I use it. BUT, I need that space for fruit and tomatoes and, even though I didn’t mind the look of it out in that location, I do mind having something in front of it. I decided that since I only use it once or twice a year, it would just have to move to the pantry. (I don’t have room for it in the cabinets, although it would fit in my tall, narrow one. But the items there then wouldn’t have a home and I use them weekly.) It is funny, I have one area of counter top that is surrounded by cabinets and the frig and is in the back so that is where items that stay out live and, except for one other small area where the coffee and tea station live – also under a cabinet and bordered by another wall, I keep the rest of the kitchen counter tops (about 75%) completely bare because placing things on them just looks wrong to me. 😀