Organizing Odds and Ends: Kitchen Counter Space

 Fall is in the air.  It’s gorgeous outside!  We spent the morning walking through the farmers market (all 3 of us were walking by the way) and having a family outing at Woodward Park and the Tulsa Rose Garden.  And on of the most amazing thing about clean fall air and open windows in the house is the motivation to get all the crap out of your apartment before that delicious air turns bitter cold and you and all your extra crap are stuck inside for the winter.

My kitchen counter space looked like  this this morning. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UNACCEPTABLE!

So it was off to work today!  Appliances were tucked away back into cabinets they belong in first.  Then I found new homes for several of the items that had been set out and not put back thanks to Evelyn and her love for finding trouble.

Then I reorganized the things that go on the counter normally by functionality!

All of my teas used to hide back by the spice rack in the above picture.  However, I usually actually make my tea next to the microwave because this busy momma microwaves all her hot water.  I don’t have enough time to set a kettle right now, so why not put the teas where I use them.  They are more likely to stay there and be used and put back where they go afterwards. 

Next I moved the spices, measuring spoons and can opener, and rice cereal, black beans, and brown rice over to the stove.  These things get used by the stove most often, so once again, much more likely to get used and to be put back where they go.

So my kitchen counter space is now clean and more functional, but as I was cleaning, I realized I have TWO major problem areas in the kitchen that I don’t know how to fix just yet.  So I am curious to see if any of you have an awesome suggestion for me!

Problem 1: Chargers.  We plug all of our chargers in right here at this spot on the counter.  It’s one of the only “out of reach” places to charge them in our home.  I normally stack everything on top of the knife block to keep the cords out of the way, but I wonder if there is a better way to go about this.

Problem 2: On top of the fridge.  Ugh.  It just looks crowded and bad.  This is where a lot of snack food or food carrying devices end up when they don’t fit in a cabinet or the pantry.  It just looks cluttered and I wish I could figure out a way to store these or organize them that looks a little nicer.