Updating Kitchen Cabinets

Last month the kids had a week off of school for winter break.   My husband still had to work, but the kids and I spent the week visiting my parents and sister in MD.  Not only was it fun to spend time with family, but I got to do a couple of DIY projects.  

My parents likes to keep their house updated and my mom usually has a project done every year.  Some years it's an easy/inexpensive update such as repainting a few rooms, and other years the updates are more intense like when they had their master bathroom remodeled.  

For the past few years, she has been debating on updating the kitchen.  Should have the cabinets painted white or get new cabinets?  Then what about the counters, and appliances?  It could be quite a costly update.  So in the meantime, I suggested we update the look by changing out the kitchen cabinet hardware.  

Here is what she started with.  We didn't take a close up of the knobs but even from this picture you can tell they are outdated.  The knobs she had before were from the early 90's and no longer matched the paint and tile in the kitchen.  They are brass knobs with ceramic centers that have county blue flowers on them.  The country blue phase has passed and since her kitchen walls are no longer blue these things stuck out like a sore thumb.  

The new knobs are bronze with copper highlights and work great with the other dark brown accents in the area such as the bronze pendant light above the kitchen sink and the dark brown in the tile back splash.  If you want to use these same knobs for an easy update in your home, here's the amazon affiliate link to them:  HERE and HERE.

Changing out the knobs was also a great time to finally give those kitchen cabinets a good scrub down.  The finished result is a more modern look for very little cost.  And if she wants to have the cabinets painted or buy new cabinets altogether, the knobs can be reused.  

Sometimes it's totally worth it do to a project in phases.  While you save up for the full remodel or are still unsure as to what you want, a "phase 1" project can tide you over.  Plus it looks good in the meantime.  

John and Sherry Petersik from YOUNG HOUSE LOVE explain more about "phase 1" projects in there post:

Are "Phase 1" projects just a wast of money & time?

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My Favorite Things - Kitchen Edition

Can you believe it's December already!  Christmas will be here before I know it and this year I'm ready for it.  I've got all my big shopping done, just need a few stocking stuffers.  Of course, I say that but knowing me, I'll probably buy the kids a few more things before the big day.  I mostly shopped online and it was so easy.  I didn't even wait for any great sales, as stores had good prices even before Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

If you are in need of some gift giving ideas, I thought I'd share some of my favorite things.  These are tried and true products that I love.  I've included some affiliate links to the products so you can buy them right now.  The best part is these items are inexpensive and something that will definitely get used.  I hope to do several of these "My Favorite Things" posts and today I'm starting off in the kitchen. 

It's no big secret that I don't like cooking, so anything that makes my life easier in the kitchen is a win in my book.  Here are a few tools that I use regularly and would recommend to anyone (whether they like to cook or not).

KitchenAid Professional Pizza Cutter

We have this pizza cutter and everyone has remarked about how heavy duty it is.  It's not light or flimsy and makes cutting pizza quick and easy.  With a teenage boy in the house, we go through a lot of pizza.  We've had this cutter for years, probably more than ten, and it's held up wonderfully.  At around $20, it's a little more expensive than your regular pizza cutter, but so worth it. 

Bubba Straws and Straw Cleaning Brush

My kids love to drink using straws.  Whatever their drink is, it's more fun to drink it through a straw.  We started out using those plastic disposable straws and I wanted to get reusable since we were going through several a day.  I also needed something a little wider for all the milkshakes we like to make in the summer.  These flexible silicone straws have been perfect.  These come with a cleaning brush so you can get out any residue left behind.  I love how they are flexible so I don't have to worry about a kid cutting their gums or breaking those plastic straws.  Again, this is an item we've had for years and use every day.  

Jar Grips

I have a set made by Pampered Chef and sadly they no longer make them.  They are like the red one above.  I have a small and large one.  The cone like shape makes them perfect for opening soda bottles to spaghetti jars.  

Food Network Kitchen Towels

I've had these kitchen towels for several years and they are still going strong.  The thing I like most about them is that they are fluffy and absorbent.  I got mine at Kohls for around $10 which is half the cost of the antimicrobial ones sold on amazon.com.  I wash mine every couple of days so I haven't had a problem with them getting stinky. 

KitchenAid Pot Holder

I have this pot holder in black and prefer to use it over all the other pot holders / oven mitts in my drawer.  This one has a 'pocket' to slip your hand into and a grippy back.  This makes it easy to hold onto things or grab a hot lid.  A lot of other pot holders are too bulky making it hard to grip, but this one is just right.

Hope this list of kitchen gift ideas helps with your holiday shopping, or maybe you want to buy them for yourself.  Stay tuned next week for another edition of my favorite things.

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Make Your Own Cinnamon Sugar

I'm getting ready for an Easter party that I'm hosting for my kids' friends tomorrow.  We're having games and an egg hunt.  Should be lots of fun.  I'm expecting about 30 or so kids to show up.  Hopefully I'll be back on Friday with all the details in case you want to use some of the ideas for this Easter season.

In the mean time, I've got another kitchen tip for you.  To see my last kitchen tip, about using a Potato Masher to chop up ground meat, click HERE.

I've been doing this one for years.  When you run out of Cinnamon Sugar, make your own using ground cinnamon and white sugar - it's cheaper and you can make it as cinnamon-y as you like.

Potato Masher Trick

Here's a trick my husband taught me.

When browning ground meat (in this case it was ground turkey for tacos) use a potato masher to break up the bits and get smaller, more evenly chopped up pieces.

I still use a spatula to get started since it can easily flip the meat over to brown both sides.  

Here is what my meat looked like after chopping it up with the spatula.

And here is how much more finely chopped it is after using the potato masher.  I'm not sure this picture does it justice, but there really is a difference.

Anyone else have a clever kitchen tip or trick they'd like to share?

Thanks for stopping by,
Christa

Paper Clutter on your Counters

We have lots of counter space in our kitchen.  You would think that would be a good thing, and it is, but there is also a downside.  With all that counter space comes lots of room to put things and clutter can easily pile up.  Paper clutter from school papers to church papers, to mail - it all makes its way onto my kitchen counters.   This picture doesn't look that bad.  I cleaned up a bit the day before, but trust me, it's usually much worse.

We call this area the peninsula, to distinguish it from the island where we eat.  

And it's the peninsula which has become a drop zone for all paper that enters our house. 

It's also one of the first things you see when you enter into our house which is why I really need to keep it clean.  So one day, I went through everything on the counter.  And in 3 easy steps, my counter was clear.

Clearing Out The Breakfast Room

I'm still clearing stuff out, getting rid of things we don't use.  You can read about why I got rid of our ottoman in THIS post.  Tuesday, I actually got rid of 3 things:  a toy bench,  the crib mattress (sold the crib a few months back but saved the mattress to be used for a toddler bed that we borrowed and are no longer using,  and one of our dining room sets.  Today I'm going to talk about why we got rid of the dining room set and ask for your opinion on what I should do with that now empty room.

Our house has a breakfast room, a formal dining room, and an eat in kitchen with seating for 9.  We had seating to feed 25 people, sitting down with their own chair and table space.  Talk about overkill.  We have never feed that many people at once.  Even when we have our annual New Year's Eve party, it's not a sit down meal and most people stand while eating and mingling.

As far as everyday usage, we stick to eating at the kitchen island.

And should we have a guest or two over (or more kids), we have three additional seats at what we call the peninsula.  

When we have another family over, or I feel like being fancy, we use the formal dining room.  

Pots and Pans Organization

This summer is turning out to be busy, just like last summer, and I am loving it.  I'm running the kids around to various camps, activities, and trying to do fun stuff at home.  However, I still managed to squeeze in time to organize my pots and pans.  Actually I bought this lid organizing rack a couple of months ago and finally got around to using it.

Here is what my pots and pans cabinet looked like before:

 Not too bad, but lets take a closer look:

I know I have a lot, more than I need, although we do use most of it.  The pile of pans in the front right corner is toppling over because of the pot on top, and there is a jumbled mess of lids in the back right corner.

And here is what it looks like now: