SPACES FOR SPICES

In my last post we began to look at the challenge of creating an organized kitchen to cut down on stress and save time.  Now that we have the pot ;)/pots organized let's look at some creative ways to store your spices.  I love to experiment with cooking Indian food (lots of spices) and there is nothing more frustrating than digging in the back of a cabinet for the garam masala!

SPICES should be stored away from heat and moisture, so right over your cooking surface may not be the best option.  A spice rack behind the door of an a cabinet close to your food prep area or stove is a good choice.

I like the ones with adjustable shelves.  If you are adding one to an existing kitchen make sure that the shelves inside the cabinet are not going to get in the way when you shut the door.  Hopefully, if your shelves are adjustable, you can work your way around that.  Incidentally I also love to use these types of spice racks for storing over-the-counter and prescription medicines in the kitchen or bathroom.

Another way to utilize the back of a cabinet or pantry door for spice storage is to use a simple shoe rack!

My absolute FAVORITE way to store spices is the magnetic spice rack preferably on the back of a door as well.  Containers are not very deep so they shouldn't interfere with cabinet shelves.  You can see everything clearly and you can even make one yourself!  Click here to find out how to make one. Is this cool or what?!

Next up, sorting out the tupperware nightmare,  making your utensils behave and your chance to win a "kitchen enhancing" accessory!

STEP ONE, ORGANIZE YOUR KITCHEN

Happy new year!  Thank you for showing up here at Kitchens for Living where my new year's resolution is to continue to bring you the latest in products, trends and  kitchen related (mostly) tidbits as they cross  my path as a professional kitchen designer.  Whether you are planning a new kitchen, thinking about planning a new kitchen (someday) or just want to make the one you have better you're in the right place.  I am here to help as little or as much as you want!

Do you feel like these babies? Quite often we come to the conclusion that we need help when we realize how powerless and out of control our lives have become.  Well, guess what?  This happens in the kitchen too.  Do you want to have more time, less stress?  Organizing what you have in your kitchen is definitely a step in the right direction.  Here's how you can start.

DOWNSIZE

One of the number one trends for 2011 is downsizing in all aspects.  This includes not only your waistline but your schedule, your closet and yes, your kitchen.  Gone are the "McMansion" days.  Today we are learning about living smaller with quality instead of quantity.  The smaller the space the more each element counts and the more organization matters.  The Intuitive Kitchen philosophy agrees with 19th century creative William Morris who said, "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

One of my favorite books about downsizing, prioritizing and organizing your life is Susan Susanka's The Not so Big Life.  She uses the metaphor of a house and its architecture and interior to show us a different way of looking at how we live.  She's actually written a whole series on this theme but this is the one I know.

SITUATE WHAT YOU HAVE

Now that you're down to the nitty gritty, the point is to store it so we can see it.  This is necessary for the items we use on a daily basis.  There is also what I call remote storage, or the hard to reach or up high areas which are ideal for storing seasonal items.  The biggest organizational day to day kitchen challenges are pots and pans, especially the lids, (according to my clients), spices, tupperware and cutlery.  Today we'll start with  solutions for pots and pans.

POTS & PANS

Seriously, you can easily get into a fight with your kitchen cabinets over pots.  I like to store mine in a deep drawer.  I keep the flat pans under the range but I love tray dividers or vertical partitions for storing cookie sheets, pizza pans, cutting boards and serving platters.  This type of cabinet can be located over a wall oven or better yet it's the best solution for a small base cabinet.

If you thought the space over your windows was wasted, think again.  An over-the window-hanging-pot-rack can be convenient adding visual interest at the same time.

Now a word about those lids.  They do make door racks to hold them but my favorite solution is this nifty chrome rack that fits in an upper cabinet or in a deep drawer.  It's great for the lids or other items and you can get one at  organize-it.com for $9.99

So now you have some idea how to stash your pot pots for easy access.  Next post we'll organize your herb spices and cutlery.  ALSO COMING UP IS A GIVEAWAY! Yes Kitchens for Living is going to give one lucky winner some kitchen love!!  (I'm not really a pot head.  It was just funny so I had to run with it.)

FIND YOUR CUPPA TEA RIGHT HERE

Ok so I already know that you love to make a nice cup of tea and cozy up to your computer to read the latest post at Kitchensforliving.  You don't?  Well maybe you should.  Coffee gets enough press and I'm not knocking it but the  "in" thing in hot beverages is TEA!  Now I know I have your attention because chances are you're freezing your buns off right now if you're anywhere in the northern hemisphere. (If you're in regions down under just add ice and you're good to go.)

Tea is an art and a ritual.  Japan has always been known for the "tea ceremony", a complicated ritual performed by geishas who attend school for special training in the art.  If you are here in South Florida you can attend an authentic tea ceremony at the Morikami Museum & Japanese Gardens.  Interestingly, Japanese do not add any sweeteners to their teas balancing the pure flavor of the tea by eating teacakes.

One the contrary, in India, you'll find a yummy form of tea called chai which has become popular in the west these last few years.  To make chai, add milk, sugar and a pinch of a blend of spices called chai masala.  You can also purchase teas with the chai spices already mixed in.  Last but not least, let's not forget our dear friends across the pond.  English tea is a classic and a concept that has provided the British with comfort and refuge through multiple wars!

A few blog posts ago I wrote about the amazing teapots at Teavana but now I want to talk about the tea.  You can buy it online but the stores are downright seductive.  My daughter and I were lured into one while Christmas shopping.  We sampled the feature of the day and I HAD TO HAVE IT.  Yes, it was inexcusably expensive ($24 for this special blend of two teas) but it was an indulgence.  I was able to brew it so that it tasted exactly like the sample and of course I bought the German Rock Sugar to use as a sweetener.  There's the aroma, the flavor, the warmth and it looks beautiful!  A real feast for the senses.

If you'd like to dip you toe into the world of tea without involving a major financial commitment try Shui Tea.  I found out about this great online source for tea from one of my fellow bloggers.  You can get samples (enough for a few cups) for as little as $2.00 each! This site is run by a crazy dude and features crazy blends of all sorts of tea.

If you have a tea habit tell me about it.  C'mon I know you're snowed in with nothing better to do or maybe you screwing around at work because, let's face it,  no one really "works" between Christmas and New Year's ;)

THIS YEAR'S TOP KITCHEN DESIGN TRENDS

I can hardly believe we are getting ready to ring in a new year.  They always say out with the old and in with the new, however, I think we'll want to keep some of the best of 2010.  Clean, classic and well organized is timeless in my book so don't be afraid to carry it forward.  Check out the readers' selection of the top kitchens for 2010 over at Houzz.com Here are the top 3 kitchen design trends.  You'll notice one or more of these in each readers' choice photo!

1. White cabinets-  You've been hearing me talk about white cabinets all year.  Looks like I was right!

2. Subway tile- I'm also loving the "tile all the way up" look.  It doesn't have to be white either and it can be glass, ceramic or stone.  What defines a subway tile is its size (approximately 2" X 6") installed horizontally and staggered in a brick bond pattern.

3. Clever storage- Function's always going to be in the top three.  With all the great interior cabinet accessories available there's no excuse not to take advantage of every inch!

SPIRAL WINE CELLARS?

I received an email from one of my fave clients the other day.  She is contemplating a dream kitchen for 2011 (Maybe you should too!) Anyway she sent me some of these amazing photos. Check out this dreamy spiral-trapdoor-otherworldly-cool wine cellar!  Was this an internet hoax, an urban legend, I wondered?

NO!  It's for real and you can check out the UK firm that builds them here.  The appeal is not only novelty but efficient design.  The concept was designed in 1978 by a Frenchman (of course).  It's not a basement, as I first thought, but an actual hole in the ground!

It's not only space efficient but it's Green as well.  They claim the temperature stays constant at 55 degrees.  Ok, so it's probably still only a dream for us in Florida.  If you dug that deep under my kitchen you'd have an undersea wine cellar.  Now there's an idea!

GET A GAGGENAU LIFT

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the holiday celebration held by the NKBA Florida Treasure Coast Chapter.  The party was held at the amazing Florida Builder Appliances Showroom in West Palm Beach.  The event was a fund raiser for Hugs and Kisses, Inc. Not only was it a fun night out, but I also had the chance to browse all the latest and greatest of the appliance world.  At one point, appliance diva Stephanie Walsh said, "Come over here. Have I  got something to show you!"  She then ushered us over the one of the most intriguing appliances I've seen in a while.  Meet the Gaggenau Lift Oven.  It's the quintessential space saving oven in a functional design installed right between to your upper cabinets.  Totally cool and I had a lot of fun pushing that button to magically raise and lower the unit.  (It doesn't take much to entertain me).  Why the lift and not a regular oven door, you ask?  Here's what Gaggnau has to say about the amazing "lift" oven.

Experience the unprecedented ease that brings sheer cooking pleasure into the kitchen. Gaggenau introduces the 24-inch Lift Oven with the LiftMatic function for unique oven loading and unloading. With the simple push of a button, the Lift Oven’s glass ceramic base lowers directly from the oven to the countertop, where food dishes can be easily loaded and then raised into the cooking cavity. Since heat rises, the heat remains in the oven cavity, resulting in minimal energy loss during the lift operation. The Lift Oven’s functionality increases safety, as the need to reach into a hot oven to remove food has been eliminated. Foods are easily moved from the workspace to the lowered base, including breads and pizza that can be cooked to perfection directly on the glass ceramic base, without additional trays or non-stick baking products. Workflow is maximized as movement between food preparation areas to the oven is minimized. Opportunity for spills in the time from the countertop to the oven door is diminished. The innovative design of the Lift Oven with built-in placement in top cabinet locations or on a kitchen wall provides versatile options for smaller kitchens and opens up additional cabinet space in larger kitchens.

This fully integrated oven features 11 heating methods, including convection. The oven also provides automatic temperature recommendation and precise electronic temperature control. Gaggenau, remaining true to the credo of “Form follows function”, maintains ease in all facets of the cooking process, including the task of cleaning the Lift Oven, with the highly effective pyrolytic self-cleaning program that burns off splashes and residues left behind by cooked food. The oven is encased in a sleek stainless steel-tinted glass front, illuminated by halogen lighting that provides a luminous view of the interior, displaying perfectly prepared food.

You too can see the Gaggenau Lift Oven and much more at Florida Builder Appliances.  It's worth a visit if you are thinking of a new kitchen or just an appliance upgrade.  Stephanie Walsh and Florida Builder Appliances are listed as one of my favorite local resources on this site.  If you go, let me know what you find.