What works for others…
May not work for you. This is why at In the Mess, we work together to come up with solutions that meet your needs and how you flow in a space.
Why do we do this?
Well let me give you an example from one of our clients, Chelsea. When I walked into Chelsea’s home and opened up her kitchen cabinets, I was impressed and a little confused. Her spices where beautifully arranged in alphabetical order. So why did she call us? When we got to talking, the answer became clear. The organization I saw was not her doing, instead it was her sweet mother’s attempt at helping her daughter set up her kitchen. (And she did great!) But, it did not work for Chelsea. Why? Well, the answer is simple: not all organization solutions work for everyone. You see some of you are thinking - alphabetized spices, that’s the dream!
And others of you are thinking, I don’t know if I could maintain that. And that was the case for Chelsea. She said it was nice at the start but fell apart pretty quickly when she bought more spices and tried to find things. When I asked why it was hard to find things, she said, “well, I don’t really think like that.” My follow up question was “how do you cook?” Her answer was insightful. “I usually cook based on flavors and type of food I’m making.” This made our solution clear: organize by category!
We started by pulling out all of her spices. Then creating our categories:
Asian - lemongrass, ginger, shichimi togarashi, turmeric, etc.
General - basil, garlic, oregano, pepper, & salts
South American - chilis, coriander, cumins, etc.
Sweets - cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, etc
Once we were done sorting the spices into each category, we placed them on turntables. I recommended turntables because it would give Chelsea easy access to each spice and could accommodate more spices in the future. They also worked well in the new cabinet we moved her spices to - one closer to the stove. The result: four beautifully organized turntables that Chelsea is able to manage, find what she needs, grow into, and enjoy cooking more!
This is the perfect example why not all organization solutions work for everybody! You have to think about you and what works best for you. Contact us to see how we can help find the perfect solution for you!