Operation, clear the counters

If you noticed from yesterday's post our kitchen is looking a lot more tidy and less cluttered. Well once the cabinets started getting paint, I realized our counters could use a little organizing as well.  Here is the corner in our kitchen where our microwave has been taking up valuable real estate for quite some time. About 5 years now.

On top of the microwave lives our phone, cord holder, hand sanitizer, as well as a few other things that would get left there. It was time to find a new place for the microwave.

And here's a sight for sore eyes and a potential place for the microwave. I always wanted a built-in microwave, but currently we just don't have the space for one.

So all of this mess was going to get organized and I was determined to find a spot for the microwave in our pantry. Pretty much everything came out so I could throw out expired food and combine certain things. There was surprisingly a lot of things that got tossed or put in a different, more logical place. Like serving dishes can now be found in our china cabinet.

Once everything was removed, Joe drilled a hole at the back of the bottom left cabinet for the microwave plug to fit through. This is a close-up of the outside.

Here is a view looking behind our fridge so you can see the little hole that will lead directly to the plug behind the fridge.

Here's the view on the inside of the cabinet. The diameter of the hole is about the size of a quarter.

After vacuuming up all the dust, the microwave fit nicely on the bottom shelf! With plenty of room left on the right for cereal. Yay. Happy Day!

And look at the extra space on the upper shelves.  It really does pay to organize stuff.

I'm not OCD or anything, but lining canned goods up really helps when it's time to cook.  It makes it a breeze to find things.

The best part of putting the microwave in the pantry is all the free space left on the counters.  I'm loving all the space for food prep and cooking.

Here's a reminder of what the counter looked like before.

And here it is now.  Yay for more space!

The microwave in the pantry has been great. It's not inconvenient which was one of our initial concerns. Nor does it pose a fire hazard since there is a plenty of space on all sides and we leave the door open when we're using it.  It's also been nice not having food get trapped underneath it from the counters.  This should cut down on hidden crumbs for the night time bugs to find!

Happy Friday! Have a great weekend. As for us, we'll be tearing down gutters, installing back doors, having our house painted, kicking off t-ball season, and joining in on a family potluck.

xo
Cathleen