Back in October I created a Puppy Products post that I keep updated with all the helpful things we've bought for Bozley. While I'm having to sit here and regularly refresh the queue for work files, I thought I'd make productive use of my time and create a post with all my favorite things that we have in our kitchen...and I'll update it as we get more useful things as well. We've been accumulating everything over the last few years, and I'm in love with how it's all coming together.
Please note: these reviews and suggestions were not compensated by the makers/sellers of any of these products.
The first change we made to the kitchen was actually in 2014 when we used my tax refund to replace the refrigerator with a Samsung Side-by-Side. It was a great fridge for awhile...then it became a pain in the butt. First, the ice maker kept freezing and we'd have to repeatedly thaw it out. Then...the ice maker stopped filling with water completely. Samsung's suggested fix is to replace the whole dang door for the frozen water line. Uh...no. I've found directions for replacing the water line in the freezer door, but I haven't tried to do anything with it yet. For now, I've just been buying bags of ice. But suffice to say, I do NOT recommend Samsung appliances. Phones? Yes. Appliances? No.
We really started working on the kitchen more in March 2019 when we got our tax refund. Our dishwasher had quit working and we also decided to replace the vent hood above the stove. This was prior to the ice maker dying...so we bought a Samsung dishwasher and a Samsung over-the-range microwave. I've already had to replace the water inlet valve on the dishwasher, but other than that, I really like it. The dishwasher is a lot bigger than our old one and does a far better job washing the dishes than the old one did even before our old dishwasher broke. And I love the 3 adjustable racks...I can fit a LOT of dishes in there. The microwave has been great so far, too. I like the large size and that it has a shelf for two levels, if we need it.
My favorite part of the kitchen is definitely this area that I've been putting together in the last year:
I love the OXO Good Grips Pop Containers to store all our dry goods. They come in all sorts of
different shapes and sizes. There are also quite a few
different scoops and accessories. I pretty much have everything there except bread crumbs and baking mix, which I want to get containers for sometime. There are also
some containers in the back which have pasta in them. Next to the canisters, I have
this microwave shelf to take advantage of vertical space to store my
Instant Pot Viva 6qt pressure cooker and
PowerXL Air Fryer Grill Combo...both of which I really love cooking with. I also have an old Cooks Essentials Oval 8qt pressure cooker that I got from my grandma, but I don't store it on the counter since I'm only using it when I need a larger pot. Same with the crockpots...they're stored away in case we need extras for holidays or something. And it's hard to see behind all the dog treat containers, but on the other side of the microwave shelf is our
condiment storage...to hold all the extra condiment packets that we get from take-out/fast food places. Oh, and the screen in front is the
Echo Show that we got free with one of our Ring security cameras. We can use it to play music, videos, look up recipes or the weather, video chat, and even look at our security cameras. It's pretty handy. :)
My next favorite spot in the kitchen is our
pantry cabinet. It hooks to the hinges on the back of the garage door and we store most of our canned goods in it. On the back of it I've attached our
spice racks with the large size
command strips...and I absolutely love the way it turned out. I also used
these spice jars for some of the spices that were in containers too large to fit in the spice rack.
There are a lot of other organizational items that I have throughout the kitchen. I have one of
these to organize our random knives in a drawer. I have three racks
like these that hang over the cabinet doors. Two of them under the sink hold things like Ziploc bags and aluminum foil. Then I have a larger one that holds a cookie sheet,
this kitchen scale, a small loaf pan, etc. I also got a
towel rack for the cabinet under the sink. We also have a two-tier shelf
like this under the kitchen sink to take advantage of vertical space.
We also got several stainless steel color organizational items when we got the stainless steel appliances. We have
this to organize brushes and sponges in the sink. We use
this spoon and lid rest on the stove.
This is what we have on the wall to store some plastic bags. And I have
this coffee canister for the bags of QT coffee that Johnny likes.
I have always loved the black "scroll" look as well. Back in 2003, I acquired a
paper towel holder, a trivet kind of like
this in black, and a bowl kind of like
this. I've also recently gotten one of
these which I use to hold a package of napkins on the table (stores more than refilling the smaller napkin holders more often). I also have some serving pieces like this
chip and dip set as well as a 3-section white, rectangle ceramic server with a black scroll stand that I can't seem to find a picture of online. We also got this
3-tired bowl and this
wine rack (which is actually in the dining room).
There are a lot of handy tools that I have, too. I use this
digital thermometer for when I'm cooking meat. It has a probe that you can leave in while it's cooking and you can set an alarm for whatever temperature you want to get to...so that's handy! I use this
avocado tool, especially when making guacamole. My grandparents got me this
Foodsaver handheld vacuum sealer and I really love it. There are precut bags that you just hold the sealer on the designated spot and it sucks all the air out..and it takes up very little counter space next to our
Hamilton Beech can opener. I recently got this
handy set which I use for hard-to-open things lids and things. I also use this
OXO Grate & Slice set all the time for cheese. And I use this
OXO Chopper a lot as well (especially for onions!). And then we have this
pasta cooker that I use to quickly heat up pasta when I don't want to deal with it on the stove.
I am someone who loves leftovers. I don't like wasting food, and I like being able to cook one night and then have leftovers the next day instead of cooking again. :P As such, food storage is a necessity...and it must be dishwasher-safe because I don't like washing dishes by hand and I don't like single-use containers. One of my favorites are these
Rubbermaid Brilliance storage containers. I always use these for red sauces like spaghetti and chili...because they don't stain like other containers. And for big family gatherings we have with my mom, her mom, and my sister, each of us gets one of these
Rubbermaid Take Along Sets to take leftovers home in. I use the largest size for dry dog and cat food storage and the rest we store in the cabinet for leftovers. I also like these
Pyrex bowls with lids for storing leftovers and heating things up in the microwave.
We also got a
new rug for the kitchen that better matches the curtains and towels. The only other decorative thing on the walls (aside from the hanging picture that Johnny bought back in 2008), I hung one of my paintings above the garage door. It's the one that used to be in the living room and I think it fits the new spot perfectly. :) I really want to get back into painting more sometime.
Update: These are a more recent (10/10/21) pictures of our kitchen after I painted the walls, took most of the stuff off the top of the cabinets, Johnny hung the new light fixtures, etc. We also took the toaster/convection oven out of the kitchen and it's in my office to use for sublimating mugs and tumblers. These are "normal life" pictures...the fridge is cluttered, there's a couple dishes in/by the sink, and there's still a stock pot on the stove because we were under a boil warning that day after a water main break. :P And then I also included a picture of our dining room taken in May after we got it all put finished. It also shows the wine rack along with the shelves where I store my Instant Pot accessories, my other pressure cooker, the crockpots, etc. Sometime in the near future we're going to be getting a smaller, round kitchen table from my grandma. That way it doesn't take up so much room in the dining room but it has leaves to be able to make the table bigger when needed. And we'll still be able to use the same tablecloth. :)
