i have stuff on my kitchen counter that i cant find a home for

[booyhoo]

i moved a few months ago and i now have fewer kitchen cupboards and also i have gotten rid of a big tattered old side unit. so now on the couter i have all my paperwork, cook books, photo albums, stationery, the dcs art/craft box, dcs bottles of paints CDs, picnic basket, cool box 5 drawer tower tingfor paperwork and a load of upperware boxes.

i have nowhere to put all this stuff and it is taking over my kitchen. initiall it was all stacked neatly but i use all ths stuff so have needed to get things out from the botom of the pile and it hasall spread.

my spare room is already full to bursting with stuff i intend to sell or charity shop so i cant put anything in there.

what can i do?

Hmm well a lot of that stuff doesn't sound like it belongs in the kitchen! Obv without knowing your house it's hard to make suggestions, but things like cookbooks and photo albums could easily be stored out of the way on a couple of shelves in the kitchen or anywhere else you have wall space.
I like a minimalist approach, and you may be able to get rid of some kitchen stuff such as Tupperware boxes that you dint really need. Lakeland also do a lot of space saving solutions for the kitchen.

yes things like the books and photo albums can be moved. i think for the meantime i will just stack them in the livimg room until i can afford to buy something to store them in. the art box, tupperware and my paperwork all need to be in the kitchen as that's where i will be using them. i think tomorrow i will go through my cupboards and see if i can re-arrnge thimngs and get rid of some other things i really dont use.

Hmm-that doesn't sound very kitcheny stuff! I'll tell you where I put my stuff-don't know if that will help!?

paperwork-box files in sideboard
cook books-inside kitchen cupboard
photo albums-on bookcase with books
stationery-in dining room
the dcs art/craft box, dcs bottles of paints-garage
CDs-in the loft!
picnic basket, cool box-garage
a load of Tupperware boxes-in the kitchen cupboards.

Your kitchen sounds a fair size (if I had that much stuff on my surfaces-there'd be no room to make toast!)-can you chuck out some stuff from inside the cupboards to make space?

yes i think i am going tohave togo through everything and be ruthless. i dont have a shed or garage but i hadn'tthought of the roofspace.i could box up the tupperware until i need it and put te cookbooks albums coolbox picnic bsket all up there. ihave no diningroom just the livingroom i separate but only the sofa in there. i dont even have a tv unit! cant reallyafford to buy storage furniture just at theminute. but good iea aout the roofrspace.

I feel your pain boohoo.

I have just moved house last week into a rented cottage and its incredibly small compared to my last house.

I used to have a very minimal look kitchen, nothing out on the worktops at all just lovely shiny granite and now its a total change living in a country cottage kitchen with kilner jars of flour, sugar popcorn out on display show cos there is no room in the cupboards to put them in.

I will join you in being ruthless !

Buy a book called The Life Laundry!

It will help.

I promise.

Buy a book ? ... and where am I going to put that ?

I need to buy a new house with a big kitchen and loads of big cupboards...

and soon

Have you tried freecycle for some storage? Put a wanted advert for some shelves and maybe someone will help you out.

thank you all.

[grin]@runforfun "buy a book?... and where am i going to put that?"

never thought of freecycle. good idea.

i got sweet FA done today. ds seemed to want to hang of my leg all day and i had quite a few messages to run aswell so it was pick-up time before i knew it.

this evening i will go through everything on the counter and decide where it will all live then i will know what storage i actually need. i constantly battle my inner hoarder so it could be a fun night!