My Kitchen - A Well Oiled Machine?

Disclaimer - I wrote this on a Spanish computer in an Internet cafe in Spain, please forgive spelling and formatting mistakes!

I was going crazy trying to cook in my kitchen! Yes I love kitchen equipment but my closet, my attic and my shed are not proper places to store my coveted equipment. Special things like a Le Creuset pot that Jacques Pépin gave me for working on his show years ago. A tea tin from Martin Yan from China, and various other important items, you get the picture. I always wanted to have someone help me organize my kitchen but it was always last on the list. I love those shows about getting organized, where a team ambushes you, tears apart your house and puts it all back together again!  I had my friend and organizer create a workspace in my office about two years ago and it was amazing. 

5 ways to know if you need a kitchen reorg!

1. If you only buy pre-made food because you can't get to your pots and pans.

2.  If you spend to much money buying items you already have but can't but don´t know they are in the cabinet.

3. If you never let your kids help in the kitchen for fear of an avalanche and trip to the hospital.

4. If your phone and take out menus are your best asset in the kitchen.

5. If when you walk in your kitchen you feel defeated before you start cooking.

I was starting to feel all 5 of these things in my own kitchen. I used to make more homemade pasta, breads and tortillas but all my tools had become buried and it was way too much work to dig them. Unless I was developing a recipe I felt as if my creativity had fizzled due to sloppiness.  I tried to do it myself, to organize a few drawers at a time, I thought I was doing so well but I wasn´t because hacking away one mess at a time was not effective. When My friend Diane a home organizer came to dinner one night I found her on her hands and knees pulling apart on of my cabinets. She looked at me and said, "how do you function in here?" Instead of being annoyed I just said, "well I obviously need help." So we scheduled a day for the kitchen to be transformed and I felt relief.  I wish I had taken "before" photos to show you but let's just say it wasn't good. Diane Woodall is amazing, she took apart my kitchen and put it back together again as a well oiled machine I am glad I made the call.  Here are some after photos for you.

My oils and vinegars used to be down below in my island and very hard to see. Now all my go-to ingredients are at eye level for easy access.

Everything is where we can see it now.

Slide out drawers for easy access.

This tall cabinet was full of shoes but now it is full of appliances I can easily get to.

We love paper straws, they are pretty and better than plastic for the environment and easy to reach now in the straw jar.

Look now I have an empty space!