Mission Organization: Kitchen Part 1

I feel like I have a fairly organized house…it’s decent, but can be so much better.

One of the areas that has been driving me nuts for a while now is the kitchen countertops. On top of the normal kitchen items, there’s also a build-up of items that I would consider office type paperwork. We don’t have a real kitchen office/command center, so things build up and drive me insane. Ideally, I’d love something like this:

But I don’t. I have this, two areas that collect crap:

Then, right before Christmas Josh needed to upgrade his work computer and voila…we have yet another laptop. This one he insists be kept in the kitchen or living room. BARF! This pushed me over the edge and I’ve been searching for a solution ever since. One that doesn’t involve a remodel!

I scooped up a nice cube system at Michaels yesterday for 40% off, assembled it quickly last night, and did a little rearranging. I’m very pleased with the results.

I now have a little command center, I’ve freed up some counter space by the bar stools, and the flour & sugar make more sense in their new home. I’ve got a few more things I’d like to tack to complete my kitchen office transformation (new home for the napikins, re-claim the junk drawer, etc), but I feel relieved everytime I walk into the kitchen now and don’t see all that clutter.

Next up, the spice cabinet. EEK, it’s a mess!

Spice Cabinet before