Saturday Spot: The Kitchn Cure… Again…

A couple of weeks back when we finished our school year and the kids settled in to wait for summer… I settled in and got on with the Kitchn Cure… an annual event hosted by Apartment Therapy’s the Kitchn. Our kitchen is probably the busiest room in the house and it is pretty functional, and at least once a year it needs the Cure, which is more than a clean-out and an overhaul… it finds all those jobs that you really can’t face and then gently encourages you to just start.

The point is, our kitchen was in need of a little help, after our fantastic gifting experience, and I had kept all these dishes on our kitchen counter for about six weeks… just to look at it and enjoy it every single day, I realised that one day we may need our kitchen counters back!!!

So the Cure was just what we needed to get started, to clear out the cupboards, to replace the higgeldy piggeldy with our matching Le Creuset collection. So I had this idea that I would post our progress through the Cure… now the Cure is long over but I realise that I have heaps of posts just waiting to be posted… So here you go, the post where I show you just what’s in our kitchen cupboards:

Day 1: Declutter and Clean the Refrigerator and Freezer. I put the task of cleaning out and decluttering the fridge, about forever… or until it is packed to overflowing with ice and we have to use a lock and key to keep the door closed. I like it empty and the father person likes it full of condiments… together we get by!!! Top tip for defrosting the freezer: Sprinkle it with ice and spray it with water… it’s science and really does speed up the process. Never use a sharp implement to get the ice out… patience is unfortunately the answer.

Day 2: Declutter and Clean Pantry and Food Storage Areas. I have one particular problem area, with so many capable cooks and mini-cooks in the house, our herbs and spices that we love so much can really tend to entropy fast… this has become a weekly task of tidying.

Day 3: Declutter Appliances, Gadgets and Tools… We had to declutter everything to make way for the new – everything out of every cupboard… donate what we didn’t need and find a space for the things we wanted to keep… cupboards sorted!!! I actually enjoyed doing this… really, so nice to have neat kitchen cupboards and not have the counters covered in mountains of clutter. I also discovered that I can’t help myself and have heaps of wooden spoons… they do get ferreted away to make puppets and just lately garden markers… but still… it appears that wooden spoons could well be my weakness!!!

Day 4: Deep Clean. Deep cleaning is really a hideous thought, so much more than just getting through the daily dishes… Deep cleaning is something I would rather leave forever. For us it means cleaning our appliances, things like the toaster – how I loath that crumbly invention and things like the dishwasher… that doesn’t actually work but we use it as a giant dish rack. And if you are thinking that your dishwasher is probably the cleanest place on earth, then take a closer look, you will be amazed at how much gunk gets caught up in the hinges and the bottom of your dishwasher – rather don’t look, it is pretty grim!!! Otherwise, we didn’t clean the oven, it wasn’t on the list and just no. And I do not consider cleaning the oven “deep cleaning” – that goes way deeper than deep cleaning!!!

Day 5: Restock Ingredients. We keep all our flours and sugars and things that need long storage in bins… cleaned them all out and made sure we had stock of all the supplies we use all the time. It is easy when it is all sorted to make sure that your supplies are in place.

Day 6: Consider Appliances, Gadgets and Tools. We did consider our appliances and gadgets and tools and made an investment. After years of having one hot plate to cook all our meals on, we bought an induction hot-plate and what a wonder it is. Heats water up in minutes and suddenly dinner is ready in half the time!!! Rushing isn’t our style, but this little gadget could have us speeding into the twenty first century!!!

Day 7: Special Project. Well our special project was silly really and I only just slightly began it… we have this really annoying metal strip around all our counter tops. We also have eight kids that love to sit on the counter and talk one-on-one with their mother person while she is cooking. The metal strip is always falling off, it has been pinned and nailed and ripped and glued… Well off it came and a little paint. Yes, it really is the little things that are life-changing!!!

Day 8: Bring Fresh Flowers or a Plant to the Kitchen. This is the sort of task that we can handle with ease, a call to the father person and a mention that our kitchen needs some fresh flowers!!! And in the spirit of green-ness we finally began a little worm farm… we are all intrigued and as this is as close as we will ever get to pets… our worms are deeply loved!!!

Day 9: Cook Yourself a Meal. Table for Ten… a daily event. It is so lovely to cook and work in a newly sorted and cleaned out kitchen. The trick is to keep it that way, and clean up after every meal… so nice to wake up in the morning and wander into a clean kitchen and brew some fresh coffee… a luxury indeed.

Day 10: Plan a Dinner Party. Well I am all for rewards and this is a good one, we can think of nothing better than having a group of friends over for a feast…

And what are we using our kitchen for right now… Well Hood #3 is working her way through Yuppie Chef’s Online Baking Course – it’s free, it’s fun and the results are fabulous…

Printable recipes and Top Tips are all being stored away in her first recipe book… really join in it’s a lot of fun. And hosted by the sweetest teacher on earth, Sarah Graham. Not to mention if you go the distance you could just be the winner of a fabulous prize.

When it comes to the Cure, I think we survived… and our kitchen lived to tell the tale!!!