I am starting a new blog series. Marie Kondo Monday’s. Today we are talking about Kitchen Organizing Tips! I have shared her book before “The magic of Tidying up” (I listened to it on Hoopla for free). Well, she now has a new Netflix series, called Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. I personally loved it. She might be the cutest little human ever. So kind, polite, smart, pretty, thoughtful…I love her! My favorite part of the show- seeing how she greets each home, I cry every time. It is such an attitude of gratitude. An action of showing that- this home is enough and what I have is enough! I read the book, but being able to visually see how the homeowners make a pile of ALL of their clothes, makes sense to me now. I did not do that step when I organized my home the first time (even after reading her book). But being able to see ALL that you have in one spot visually impacts you. Putting everything together also makes you realize you don’t really need another pair of jeans or more mugs. That is my biggest take away today. It is import to make a pile and see the similar items.
(PS- you can shop everything at the end of this post too)
Marie Kondo Organizing the Kitchen Ideas-
One of the homeowners husbands had passed away on one of the episodes of Tidying Up. She had not cleaned out his things yet, even thought it had been a couple years. It was a powerful episode (episode #4). He liked to cook and use all sorts of spices. Her kitchen cupboards were full of spices. I am sure most of them were outdated and also SHE never cooked with them. Removing those spices out of the cupboards and make a pile, she could quickly decide what she wanted to keep and what spices brought her joy to use! Bonus, it created so much cupboard space!
Spice Jars in the Kitchen and Bulk Food-
Last night we took out all the random spice jars out of our spice cupboard and they were in another cupboard too. Examined the dates (one we called our baby, since it had been with us since 2009! You guys! That means we moved it 2,000 miles from Utah to Connecticut and at that point it was already outdated. That makes me laugh so hard. Anyways. I bought THESE matching jars that fit in our spice cupboard and really got them in check! (I labeled the top of each jar with the label that came with the jars, but realized I wanted to see the names in the front. I used my favorite label maker, find it HERE).
We also removed all the larger plastic spice jars that you get at places like Costco. And decided right then we would not buy BULK spice jars again. I mean, we are not a restaurant or a large family. Chances are they will loose their flavor before we even get to use them up! I love being able to get smaller amounts of spices at places like Whole Foods or in Utah we have a store called Winco and it also saves from wasting plastic jars. (I did write dates on the bottom of each jar).
I remember in Marie Kondo’s book she talked about not buying food in bulk. At first thought I was against that, because I grew up with the mentality to have food storage for emergencies for a a rainy day. So I would be the one to buy multiple of each item or buy in bulk. But having food that you don’t use before it goes bad is not smart. Or having food that takes up too much space that you have zero room for is not smart. (We do have a lot of extra water in our basement and also back-up of essentials and some extra food).
Paperless in the Kitchen and Turkish Towels-
We do not use paper towels, paper plates, paper napkins, paper straws, etc. We have been eliminating the use of plastic bags, plastic wrap etc. I regularly rotate thru our dishtowels and cut up any that have stains and use for rags for cleaning. We roll Marie Kondo’s folding method and actually roll our dishtowels in a drawer. And fold our cloth napkins and put in our cupboard. I have about 24 cloth napkins. I do not iron them. I fold them nicely as soon as they come of the dryer. I do a load of laundry a day so I just toss them in the wash.
Every new season I get new dishcloths. One or two. It is my reward for going paperless in the kitchen and with cleaning. A new dishcloth just brings me such JOY! And I am beyond joyful with the new set of dishtowels I just got, Turkish Dishtowels. I personally try to go for darker when I can, they last longer. THIS one is my favorite!!! Comes in other colors too. (Save 30% on Turkish Towels from Olive and Linen HERE use code NESTING30!)
Turkish Towels Tips-
Turkish Towels do get more adsorbent the more you wash them. You can even soak them in water overnight before first use. It loosens and opens up the cotton fibers allowing them to soak up more water! And the biggest bonus they are lint free!
I also decided to us a larger Turkish Towel in our kitchen! Anyone else get drove crazy when the dishtowel is constantly on the floor? It just slips off when someone looks at it wrong. So a larger Turkish Towel that is on the thin side is a good option.
PS- Another way I use Turkish Towels is to wrap up our Artisan Bread! We toast our bread after day one, so wrapping it up in a towel is a smart option so it doesn’t get moldy. And wrapping a loaf of bread in a Turkish Towel makes a great gift.
Save 30% on Turkish Towels from Olive and Linen HERE use code NESTING30!
Everything has a place Another great tip is to make sure there is a specific place for every item in your home. This means when something is out of place you can easily put it back where it should be. It also means that when you need to find something, you’ll know where to look. One benefit of decluttering is that you uncover things you thought were lost or forgot you had. And you actually start to use these things.
Kitchen Counters and Shelves-
Marie Kondo believes in a cleared off kitchen counter, dressers and really any open surface. I am actually a partial believer in that. I like balance. I like using items that we actually use as decor. Instead of just filling up my counters with accessories that have no function or purpose. If one surface has stuff on it I like the surface next to it to be clear. Since our kitchen is small I do have things on the counter that we use.
I keep a marble tray on our counter that has the oil we cook with daily, matches, spatulas and scissors I use daily. Plus a recipe we use often and of course a plant. We also have glass jars with coconut flour, almond flour and regular flour. I used to be against a toaster out, until I bought THIS Smeg toaster, it works great but I bought it because l liked how it looked.
By our stove our Kitchen Aid Mixer is always out (no room for it anywhere else) so I use it as a banana holder too. Then to the right I have two jars that hold small food items (emergency packets etc).
Our small eat-in kitchen has THESE shelves that double as decor and hold items we use daily. Bowls that we actually use, extra cutting boards etc. And to the right is THIS cup holder that holds ALL of our glass cups. That is all we have. No room for anymore.
We actually sit at the banquette to eat, do homework, work (where I blog) and visit. The kids sit in the three chairs. But occasionally sit on the cushions. So I added a couple Turkish Towels that look like throws! We can easily lay them out of we need to. Which I am NEVER concerned with a spill. I have an upholstery cleaner that works like magic. But having THESE Turkish Towels are just genius. I should have thought of it sooner.
Kitchen Pantry and Cupboards-
I did THIS blog post around April when I organized our kitchen and painted inside the cupboards. I think every home is constantly evolving. After making over the cupboards I was in LOVE and couldn’t believe I didn’t do it sooner. BUT. There is a but. I was not completely happy with the containers I used. I had read the reviews and many said that they did not seal properly. I decided to try them anyways because I liked the square shape for a small space. Can you guess what? If you guess they didn’t seal tightly you are right. About 1/3 of them sealed. Plus I started on a mission to eliminate plastic and these were plastic. So I just changed them out to THESE. I did a lot of research and they actually DO seal tightly! They are glass too. Yay! I am going to try to call Target and see about returning them. I have used them for awhile, but been unhappy with them. If you bought them too, maybe you like yours. If not leave me a comment and I will report back after calling Target!
One thing to leave with is that Marie Kondo’s goal is not to design the perfect home. I think many viewers (I have read and heard) wish that on the show they designed or decorated the homes better after. But that is part of the message!!! Marie Kondo couldn’t care less what your sofa looks like. The point is find JOY and peace in your home. And to be thankful for the home you have. You can not do that in a messy home. I am sorry, you just can’t. You can’t sit in peace in a messy, un-tidy home. An un-organized home makes it much easier to get frustrated. We all know that feeling. If you genuinely love something and want to keep it, you should. But find a home for it.
I will be back next Monday for more ideas from Marie Kondo and we will look at another section of our home. I have @sparkjoyconnecticut coming to my home today that actually trained under Marie Kondo!! She is going to evaluate what I have donee and give some suggestions. I will be sharing it over on Instagram HERE.
I think we will look at bathrooms next week. I already started to change how I fold me towels. I added in THESE new Turkish Towels that are really a lot thicker then your standard Turkish towel. Made me realize not all Turkish Towels are created equal! Some are better for drying than others.White and Black Towels HERE. BTW— Olive and Linen has great affordable throws too! I just got THIS Throw and THIS one is gorgeous too! Below is the throw on my window seat!
Remember you can save 30% off on Turkish Towels from Olive and Linen HERE use code NESTING30.
Jamie says
Ok !! So I obviously have to get on the bandwagon I have been cleaning like crazy but the ideal of putting it all where you can see is crucial! I’m going to keep going on my de-clutter streak! Thanks:)
Sally says
Hi Brooke! Love Marie Kondo Mondays. What a great idea! I started watching her show last night. 🙂
I was so excited about the cute Turkish towels that I clicked the link in your post and bought them. I read the rest of your article afterwards and saw further down you had a 30% off discount code. I was bummed I didn’t see it. I thought maybe having it closer to the first two links might be helpful for another reader?
I can’t wait to get them! 🙂
[email protected] says
Oh thank you!!! Im sorry!!! I will post that up top.
Laura says
So unfortunate you didn’t like the square containers because they fit spaces better. Oh well. Hope the glass ones work out better for you I have tons of Tupperware in my cupboards. Not glass but I paid so much for them and they fit my cupboards. Space is at a premium. Would love our next step to be paperless. What do you do about yucky messs like meat spills?
[email protected] says
I know! They just drove me crazy that they didn’t seal right! I would think that is something they could fix. Or go to Target and search for the perfect one!
And for the meat spills we use a rag and just throw it away if it is really bad. But that doesn’t happen too often.
Becky says
I’m so glad you continuing the trend and doing a Marie Kondo Monday each week because I need the inspiration! You’re home is already so beautiful and organized, I’m always surprised you can find ways to make it better 😉 We also have a good amount of food storage in our basement but you are totally right about not buying so much it goes bad before you use it. One thing that most people don’t think of is if you have seeds and a garden plot, those are a great way to have food storage without it taking up very much space indoors.
As far as the kitchen towels go, I find my kids constantly use them to clean up spills on the floor. Do you think the turkish towels will hold up to that kind of abuse? Or do you use them more for just drying dishes?
[email protected] says
That is so true with the garden!
I do think they hold up! I would suggest the darker colors!!
Jessica says
Oh my goodness, I was cracking up about the dish towelss on the floor 🤣 Literally, drives me bonkers! Thanks for the idea!
Erika says
Great post! How do you store your trash can in your kitchen?
[email protected] says
It is under our kitchen sink! A large tin can from Ikea!
Mother Henn says
Do the Turkish towels absorb well? It seems like our current dish towels get damp easily and it all goes downhill from there. I hate trying to dry a dish and the towel not do the job. Then, they dry overnight and end up stiff.
[email protected] says
yes!! Here is a tip I just added to the post- Turkish Towels do get more adsorbent the more you wash them. You can even soak them in water overnight before first use. It loosens and opens up the cotton fibers allowing them to soak up more water! And the biggest bonus they are lint free!
Mother Henn says
Thank you for explaining….this is helpful!
karen says
Hi Brooke
Great post!
The wood pot that holds your Olive plant , where did that come from? I think your kitchen is my favorite room in your house.
[email protected] says
It is actually a terracotta pot! I got it at Shop Terrain
Samantha says
Love this post. And your kitchen. I want to get the bissel cleaners and probably some Turkish towels and would also like to switch to glass food containers. My question is what kinda cleaning
Solution do you use in the bissel that you have good results with?
[email protected] says
yes!!! Very good results with that natural cleaner!
Donna says
Those towels are pretty, but there is nothing better than 100 percent linen towels. They absorb 10 times more than cotton, dry out quickly and are antibacterial so no weird odor that sometimes happens with cotton towels. This company has some that are 50 percent cotton/50 percent linen, which is better than no linen, but I was disappointed they don’t offer any 100 percent linen ones. We use only linen towels in the kitchen and bath and would never use anything else! Try one. You’ll neturn to cotton. Plus, folded, they take up very little space.
Christy says
This post is so helpful! I really enjoy your insight into everyday honemaking. I’m excited to try the Turkish towels. I wanted to share something I’ve done with spices. My kids just love cinnamon toast for breakfast and for years I had the ugly red plastic spice shaker on my counter. A few months ago, I bought a $2 cut glass spice shaker at home goods and now it looks so pretty.
[email protected] says
ahhhhh I love that! Finding joy in the little things is part of the journey in this world!
Kate says
This is perfect! Just moved into our new home yesterday and unpacking the kitchen is so crazy! This blog post helped me out! Now back to unpacking!
[email protected] says
Good luck!!
Leanne says
I love this post! I too have loved seeing the show on netflix! It’s so cool to see the method put into action. I’m currently doing some of this to my house. Also, I just purchased that label maker and I am counting the days until it arrives!! 🙂
Janet Meisner says
I watched the Kondo tidy up series on Netflix and thought it was great. I have been searching for Turkish towels just like the ones you featured….I went on and bought 2 for less than I thought I would pay for one! Thank you for the 30% off code – I LOVE this sort of post!!!!!
[email protected] says
Oh yay! Thank you Janet!!
Allyssa says
Hello! Love what you did with your kitchen. Mine is driving me insane and now I’m inspired! I love the clear plastic bins in your cupboards. However, whenever I click on the link it just leads me to the main target home page. I think its because it redirects me to the international target page as I’m from Canada. I was wondering if you could share the name of the plastic bins so I can search for them myself?!
Looking forward to seeing your next Marie Kondo inspired post 🙂
[email protected] says
Oh yes- I hate how Target does that for Canada.
They are called- “Kitchen Storage Racks, Holders and Dispensers Clear – Room Essentials™
Thank you!
Sue Keffer says
Loved this blog. Thank you! Any chance you would consider sharing your artisan bread recipe? Please!
[email protected] says
Of course!! You can find it here- https://nestingwithgrace.com/homemade-artisan-bread-easy-recipe/
Teena says
I love your style and beautiful home! Just discovered this post and it gets my attention. I need to read it again. One question; I love the pineapple print in your kitchen and wondered what size you chose?
Thank you for your time! I look forward to your posts.
[email protected] says
Thank you! The pineapple is 11×14
Cancion Del says
Ok !! So I obviously have to get on the bandwagon I have been cleaning like crazy but the ideal of putting it all where you can see is crucial! I’m going to keep going on my de-clutter streak! Thanks:)
Larissa Lauver says
Could you link your picture frame that has the bread recipe on it please? Or link a similar one? Trying to recreate your marble tray with what you have on it and not sure what size frame to use? Thanks!
[email protected] says
Oh it was Target! But I don’t see online. My print is 4×6! the frame is 5×7 but has the matte!
Annie says
RE: going paperless!
Have you ever tried wet-it clothes? They are AMAZING when you are in a situation that you don’t want to use a rag for, last over 6 months and are 100% biodegradable when they finally give out!
You should check them out for sure to use alongside turkish towels!