I’m always curious about houses and love seeing what’s lies behind the front doors of houses I admire.  Walking through open houses and estate sales is my idea of a fun day.  On a creepier side, I even enjoy getting glimpses of the interiors of homes while driving at night.  Come on, you know you do, too.  Don’t confuse that with stalking or walking up and peering in windows.

Part of the appeal is just seeing what the homes look like.  It’s also interesting to see how people live in the homes, as each person has a different style, set of needs, and way of using the home.

In that vein, I thought I’d show where and how things are stored in our kitchen.  Our pantry holds the bulk of our dry goods.  Baskets on the highest shelf (not shown) hold bulk spices that we use to refill our containers.  The next shelf down has a basket of chips/crackers, nuts, peanut butter, and dried fruit.  Below that is the microwave and canned goods.  Another basket holds oatmeal, snacks, and extra cereal.  The last shelf is dedicated to extra condiments, oils, vinegar, produce, mac and cheese and rice.  At the very bottom are the heaviest items like juices, protein powder, and the bin holds dry pasta.

Rotating just to the right are the double ovens with a drawer below and cabinet above.  The cabinet stores our vertical items like serving platters, cookie sheets, and cutting boards.

In the tall drawer below we store large baking dishes, muffin pans, our food processor, and the crock pot is normally in that open spot.

Our glass front upper cabinet stores our most often used dishes, keeping the daily use items closer to the bottom.

In the drawer stack below the glass cabinet is our junk drawer, as well as our overflow storage.  Glass baking dishes, pie and loaf pans, and coffee supplies aren’t used too often around the house, so they’re handy, but not in the central area.

The top drawer of the stack nearest the sink holds sponges, towels, foil, and storage bags.

Kids dishes and food storage containers are in the middle drawer, with extra foil, bags, straws, water bottles, and lunch containers below.

Typically, we do our prep work on the left side of the island, near the cooktop.  To keep everything as close to the work area, the knives and utensils are directly below.

Pans and a salad spinner tuck away in the middle drawer while larger pots and lids live below.

Directly below the left side of the cooktop, and just to the right of the work surface, is our trash drawer with a recycle bin and extra bags.

Lunch supplies and snacks are within arms reach of our lunch making spot.

Under that are the small appliances we use on a regular basis, including the toaster, waffle maker, and blender.

Baking usually happens on the right side of the island, near the pantry and ovens.  Again, to keep things handy, the top right drawer stocks our spice jars, labeled on the top for easy finding, but are easily refilled when low.  A few baking specific utensils are also in here along with oven mitts and a small recipe binder.

The middle drawer has mixing and serving bowls, a few cookbooks, and hand mixers.

Storing the baking staples in the bottom drawer has been so handy.  The red lid containers hold white and wheat flour, sugar, brown sugar, and chocolate chips.  A few round containers have powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and baking soda.  Containers with flip lids keep cereals fresh, but handy for the boys to pull out.

Across the kitchen, near the breakfast nook and dining room is this built-in hutch.

It’s stocked with liquor, drinking glasses, and extra serving pieces.

The left drawer keeps the boys’ art supplies close at hand, but not in the main area.

The other drawer is stocked with napkins, candles, bottle openers, and other randomly used items.

If you’re a nosy house lover, I hope this post satisfies that curiosity.