Kitchen Reorg: Cooking in a New York City Apartment #3

Dude - we are being plucked off one by one!

Making the best of an NYC kitchen without spending much money takes a bit of practice. I don't think I really hit my stride until 2007, when H and I moved in together and we suddenly had to combine a lot property.

I am of the mind that a body should purge as many of their belongings as possible before they move. I say this after moving 11 apartments in a 4 year period between 2003 and 2007. H having moved 3 times in that same period, did not feel the same way. Our apartment was doomed to be pretty crowded, at least initially - so I was particularly determined to get this last kitchen reorganization right.

In my previous kitchen reorg posts, I was really trying to point out really simple solutions to some pretty big structural problems. The 2007 kitchen had a small oven with four gas elements, a slimline fridge and walking room, but not a whole lot in the way of storage for cookware. Here I present my last kitchen reorg - which I consider my best reorg.

We needed three things 1) the pots to be accessible - no digging around 2) expanded dry food storage 3) more food prep space


Our pot accessibility solution? I stole an idea from my grandmother and Julia Child and painted a piece of pegboard a pretty blue, and hug some of the pots and utensils on it. I even cut a little door for the fuse box. Pegboard, wall kit, pegs and paper towel dispenser = $20.

$20 and now I can reach everything

I hung that same Ikea pot strip I used in 2004 near the 2007 stove. Ikea carries several variations on this set under the name of Fintorp and a super cute one under the name of Asker. Purchased new, this set costs about $20.

Pot accessibility, resolved

It seemed to me that we could resolve our food storage and chopping space problems at the same time by buying a kitchen rack. I actually really dislike kitchen racks. Most of the time, they are a repository for people's dusty pots and pans, and bunch of dustier kitchen towels. I was determined that our kitchen rack would serve two purposes 1) hold dried goods 2) provide counter space.

The kitchen rack: food prep space and storage

I store all of my food in glass. NYC is filled with mice, roaches and other food munching critters. It is really easy to bring these guests home from the grocery store. When we get home with groceries, I immediately transfer all dried goods to glass jars.

For the rack, we picked up Ikea Burken glass jars ($4) for items that we needed access quickly, 32 oz mason jars ($1 each) for items that needed to be sealed airtight and glass penny candy jars ($9 a piece) goods that we needed to scoop out with a measuring cup. I actually prefer the mason jars to the Ikea jars, so we will be gradually shifting the Ikea jars out.

All kitchen racks look more or less the same, so I very quickly settled on this one for $102. I favoured this one for its low cost and the inclusion of hooks for the bar below the highest shelf.

In NYC, glass food storage = critters walk past my apartments

Dry erase marker tells me what is inside the jar (though oatmeal is pretty easy to identify)

The hooks hold my mixer attachments, a thai vegetable grater and french press

That was that. Everything is neat and tidy and easy to find.

I am now developing a little gadget to allow me to store and pour drinks from this rack when we hold parties....but that is a matter for another post.

Cost of Kitchen reorg

Pegboard rack = $20

Pot strip + accesories = free (but originally $20)

Kitchen rack and jars = $102 + 36 + 13 + 25 = $176

Kitchen Reorg: Cooking in a New York City Apartment #2

I emerged from a small, dark kitchen triumphant!

In my continuing series of how to make the best of inhumanely sized kitchens, I'm posting the fix for incredibly terrible kitchen number #2.

When the year was up, I decided to leave my pretty little studio with the oven-challenged kitchen and look for something larger. This search actually led to a shift in career focus. I ended up in another city doing an entirely different job for 4 months. You would think that would mean my search for a reasonably sized kitchen would end....alas, I faced a new challenge.

My next apartment was in a national historic building, was 900 square feet, another faux fireplace with the most adorable-ly tacky brass treasure chest filled with "burning" glass "embers" that actually threw heat, a claw foot bath tub and tudor style windows with leaded glass......and a kitchen that had clearly been fit into a closet.

I'm really not lying about that last point. There were hinges on the door and everything. You couldn't open a cupboard door and the fridge or oven at the same time. I've never seen an oven like this - it had two elements, and was about 18 inches deep by 2 1/2 feet wide. It could actually fit a commercial pan, but this was at the expense of the sink..which was only about 6 inches in width and depth and length. I couldn't fit a dish into it.

This is a shot from down the hall. If you look to the right you can see the oven. The kitchen in this apartment was literally 3x4 feet before the appliances were installed.

So what to do, what to do....

I had to buy a portable dishwasher. I found one in the pennysaver for about $300. I bought a floating shelf from Ikea to hold my bowls and used an old card table the dishwasher to set up a kitchen set up area around the corner in the more than spacious living/dining area.

Unfortunately, I only took photos when I was packing to move..so these aren't the most amazing pics (particularly because I had just finished dinner).

That floating shelf actually made my kitchen items pretty (please excuse the packed and donated items against the wall)

Not the best pic, but it bought me an extra 15 sq ft of kitchen prep space.

But that...that was totally worth this and 900 sq feet of cheap space (again...not the best photos)




Cost of reorg

lightly used Kenmore portable washing machine - $300
Ikea shelf - $30
Card table - free

Total cost of reorg: $330

Kitchen Reorg: Cooking in a New York City Apartment #1

I was made in a tiny kitchen

I love to cook. I love being involved in every detail of this one activity that will produce something that I can share with H. When I am chopping and searing and whipping and baking, I don't think about my bosses. I don't worry about my financial future. I don't stress that my research will be scooped. I think about cooking and baking. All of life's stresses become a question of whether I overbeat flour, or if the crumbs of butter are big enough to make air pockets in the biscuits. If I could go back and rewrite the last 20 years, I probably would have ditched science and become a chef.

....so when I moved to New York 8 years ago, I figured this part of me would have to die. My first roommate forbade me from using the stove or oven. I spent 5 months eating spinach salad, bananas and cheez its. My second apartment was in the pre-cool Long Island City. I lived across from a methadone clinic and adjacent to warehouses which, as it turned out, were being used for crack processing. Groceries had to be brought from Manhattan to Queens.....so I ate a lot of rice and beans, bananas and cheez its.

I landed my first studio apartment in Manhattan a year after I moved here. It was the most amazing 250 sq feet I've ever been in because it was all mine. It had an unfinished green marble fireplace, bright white brick walls, 14 foot ceilings, a dishwasher, tonnes of light....and no drawers, no oven...just two gas elements on the counter. It had been a year since I have cooked anything and I had had enough cheez its. The rent was cheap as hell and the apartment was pretty and in a good neighbourhood in Manhattan. A minor problem like "no oven" was not about to keep me out of this apartment. I bring you kitchen reorg #1 - hang pots and cutlery on the wall, buy a convection oven (Hamilton Beach).

Tiny kitchens are an NYC reality. Here is the first of my kitchen rehabs ca. 2004.

That oven cooked and baked everything I wanted to cook or bake - just in small portions. I lived alone and had a very busy schedule, so most times I was baking just for me anyway. My kitchen-aid mixer (not shown) fit in this kitchen, but was a little over the top given I could only bake six cookies at a time (granted, in 5 minutes). Total cost of reorg:

Hardware for pots: $20, Ikea

Wine Rack: $2, Ikea

Convection Oven: $100, Target

Total cost: $122

New Years Resolution: The Fabu-closet

Like most people I make New Years resolutions. I tend to keep them, but then, I tend to set goals that are attainable within 6 months. This year I set three goals:

a) Commit 40 hours or more a week to being a scientist
b) Eat in and Invest as part of a plan to be more financially responsible
and
c) organize my closets.

Resolution B will be the topic of a future Fabulife post. This post will be dedicated to this month's project, organizing the apartment closets.

Why? Well, an organized closet assists in buying new clothes and linens, keeping older clothes and linens in good shape and lifting self-esteem. If you don't believe that last point, I would suggest reading one of the multitude of books out there on defining personal style and finding something to wear in a closet full of unwearable clothes. Jesse Garza and Joe Lupo, Posh Spice have just published books on this matter. Tim Gunn and Veronica Webb host a show dedicated to this topic as well. They all recommend organizing closets as a first step in defining personal style, "destressing" the outfit assembly process and improving self-image.

Personally, I'm organizing the closets because I can't take the tumbling boxes, and falling towels anymore. I have about $250 to spend in this effort. While I love the style of Paris Hilton's last walk-in closet, I have 600 square foot apartment with three little reach in closets with sliding doors...so the dream will have to wait.



People with money can afford to hire a closet organization service. Companies like Closet Organizer USA, will custom build closet inserts for a customer based on customer needs, closet dimensions and closet type.



I am, however, a graduate student in New York City. I can't afford custom closet design by anyone but myself.



As I am a student, I am a renter. I, therefore, am not interested in buying storage systems that extensive wall installation.

For my whopping budget of $200, I was able to find the following closet organization items that will cure my falling towel and tumbling box issues.


This "Hold-All Handbag Hanger" in Blue Blossom, currently being carried by Target for $29.99. It is a little overpriced, in my view, but I love that it holds the bags vertically.


No New York City apartment would be complete without space saving hanging closet bags. This set of two are available at Target for $19.99. Given the pest infestations in the city (i.e. carpet beetles, moths) that can lead to unfortunate damage to both natural and synthetic fiber clothing, vinyl clothing bags are really important for storing items not often used, like formal wear.


Closits modular storage systems are low cost, do not require wall installation and have a sort of cute cottage, shabby-chic feel to them. The system has multiple components including backed shelves, sliding drawer units and show cubby holes. All components are available at Walmart and Target for roughly $50 or less. I've invested in the double shelf unit, large drawer storage, and shoe storage.





With the cash I had left over, I searched and found reasonably priced wooden hangers.



Alas, the wire monstrosities can be tossed and no more shall Joan Crawford like screams regarding hangers will emanate from under my apartment door.