Once nice thing about Washington's new stay-at-home mandate is that I've got plenty of extra energy and attention span for deep cleaning and reorganizing projects. Thanks, Covid-19!
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Forget about coronavirus for a hot minute. This situation I blame on my new oven.
The old one died back in January. And though we went out right away and purchased a new one, the first available install date stretched all way out into mid-March.
Little did we know in January how the world would have changed by March.
But anyway, back to my oven. She was finally moved last Friday and ooh wee, she's a beauty.
And by beautiful, I really mean clean.
I do my best to keep up with daily maintenance and the monthly deep clean, but there's no doubt that the roasting vegetables, open face sandwiches, and broiled fish take their toll. After ten plus years of hard living, well, let's just say the bloom was off the my previous oven's rose.
But then the new kid arrived, all shiny clean and crumb free.
And my heart exploded with joy for this pristine creation.
Suddenly, I felt a fierce and burning desire to clean every inch of my kitchen, especially the regions within six feet of my shining appliance.
Just kidding about the six feet. That's a little social distancing humor.
But anyway, my cleaning frenzy soon directed itself to a specific and particularly well-deserving target: the cupboard over the oven.
Now this guy's always been a bit tricky. I have more than enough baking pans, cookie sheets, serving trays, bread boards, and platters to overflow the left section with the vertical dividers. And no enormous soup pans, mega Dutch ovens, or other oversize cookware that particularly need the wide, deep, tall space on the right.
So what has happened over the years, and I can only blame myself for this, is that the overpopulation of things that would dearly loved to be stored in those overcrowded vertical dividers on the left have spilled over into the empty space on the right, and arranged themselves in a sloppy, entangled, inaccessible and ridiculously tipsy heap.
So what has happened over the years, and I can only blame myself for this, is that the overpopulation of things that would dearly loved to be stored in those overcrowded vertical dividers on the left have spilled over into the empty space on the right, and arranged themselves in a sloppy, entangled, inaccessible and ridiculously tipsy heap.
So I did what any passionate organizer would do on a stay-at-home Saturday morning.
I spontaneously dumped the whole mess onto the kitchen counter.
Well, if the first step or a good reorganization is to get everything out of the space, the second imperative is to clean.
Yep, ticked that box with relish. I pulled out those divider things, wiped away the grime, and used my favorite wood conditioning oil to nourish every inch.
Then came the part where I stood back, stared into the folly of that big empty space, and chewed over the problem.
At first, I thought the solution was more vertical dividers. But that didn't address the issue of all the wasted space in the top half of the cabinet. I don't have super tall objects that need to shelter here, so while I appreciate the existing vertical dividers for keeping order among my baking sheets and especially those pesky cooling racks with their trouble-making little wire feet, I decided that they were not the droids I was looking for.
Suddenly it hit me. Horizontal dividers! Shelves, if you will, that would allow me to perch my big-but-not-that-big holiday roaster up top, and the daily favorites, cutting boards and platters, to have their own assigned spaces below.
My husband wandered in around this point and got excited with my plan. He could build these shelves for me! Tape measures and carpenters squares suddenly appeared, and he began mentally browsing his lumber cache.
All of which I appreciated very much. But since I was hoping to get this project squared away before Christmas, I put him on pause. "Let's see if there's anything on Amazon," I slyly suggested as I reached for my phone.
Sure enough, within seconds I found a product that whose description, reviews, and price we could both get excited about, and less than five minutes later, I swiped right.
By Monday noon, I was in business.
My above-the-oven cupboard is now a place of harmony and joy, befitting its close company with that gleaming new oven.
Next Saturday, in an effort to further upgrade the neighborhood, I just might tackle the cupboard below the oven. I'm pretty sure I'll be spending the day at home.
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Read more stories about life with Covid-19 here in suburban Seattle:
Sitting Pretty
Scenes Of An Ordinary Easter
Our First Church
Hopes And Dreams In The Silverware Drawer
Life Of A (Socially Distant) Math Teacher: Midterms
Keep Life Simple
What I'm Doing LatelyLife Of A (Socially Distant) Math Teacher: Midterms
Keep Life Simple
Do Dinner
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