Kitchen Counters: An Update

Welcome back to my organizing and decluttering shenanigans of 2021! This is a year of making changes and drifting towards another level of minimalism. 

Did you see my last post with a sneak peak of my kitchen counters?

I wanted fewer items visible, primarily because it was feeling cluttered to me. Our tolerance for items out on the counters is different for each of us. I was ready for a change. 

Here's where I show you the final results.

As you will see below, four item here moved elsewhere.

I put the paper towels and dish soap under the counter. And I bought a palm brush instead of one with a handle. It's setting on a bar soap holder. 

I put the extra pitcher away with the intention to do a better job and keeping our Berkey filled up. We do have bottled water as a backup. If I have to use the backup too often, this is my clue I'm not keeping up!

My oil diffuser was by the salt lamp and I moved it to the shelf above the sink. I have many places I like to use it. For now, I'm trying this even though I don't like the cord showing. 

This is a before photo below. 

I primarily needed to find a place for my new dutch oven. It's heavy, so it need to be easy to access. 

I cleared space in a lower cupboard. I did have to move my food processor into two pieces to make room. That white container now has more things moved from another cupboard and drawer that I decided do not need to be mixed in with more commonly used items. These are rare use utensils primarily. 

And now the counter is more clear! The bowl that was behind the coffee maker was moved to another spot...

This is another before photo of the counter. I want to try moving the toaster to a cabinet. I also realized I have several oil/condiments that could be combined and look better. I bought an oil decanter, which looks prettier than the bottle of oil. I'm working on an alternative for the spray. 

This is where I also moved the bowl of onions. I happen to have less food in the basket on the right. It helps to look better when we eat less bread and chips! Want to see where I put the toaster? 

I moved it to the cupboard with the plates, above where it had previously been! I have already used it from here. It wasn't a big deal to pull it out use it and put it back. I did have to remove some blue bowls to make this happen, which is fine as I want to see if we can get by with less. 

Shall we review the final photos again? 

I'm very happy with it! My husband was traveling when I made the changes, so there were a few surprises for him to figure out when he returned. He has been supportive so far. I'm always willing to go back to an old way if needed too. 

Do you keep many things on your kitchen counters? Have you thought if you could make space in a cabinet for some of them? Sometimes we really do use the things on the counters, but rarely use some of the items in the cabinets. Maybe the never used item can go to make space for the item on a counter to have a home inside a cabinet?!