Out of sight, out of mind

Jenny’s post earlier today about the Le Creuset factory to table online sale sent me scurrying to the LC website in a flash. Thanks to generous friends and my own efforts in finding good deals on LC and Staub, I have a better-than-average collection of enameled cast iron cookware. Nevertheless, I figure there is always room for another pan in the family. There is only one problem: there really isn’t any more room. What is even worse (and this is embarrassing to admit), I have one lovely oval Staub Dutch oven that I have never even used.

This is not because I didn’t have a recipe for which it would be perfect, but rather because it is buried so deep in a blind corner cabinet that it is a huge hassle to retrieve. Once a year or so I will go through my cabinets in a fit of cleaning, rediscover the pot, and vow to make something with it. I know that if the pan were out and available I would have used it several times over.

Since I suddenly find myself at home quite a bit more than I used to be, I have had time to rethink how I use my kitchen. Ever since we moved into our house a decade ago, I have considered my kitchen a temporary space because we planned to remodel it as soon as we were settled into our 100-year-old home. The kitchen suffered an ill-conceived redesign in the 1960s by a woman who hated to cook (this is not conjecture; I have met her and she admitted that she only cooked because she had to, not because she enjoyed it in the least).

One thing after another has cropped up to delay the kitchen remodel and it is time for me to face the music: it ain’t gonna happen this year either. So it is in my best interest to think about how I can make the space workable now. And that means finding a better place to store my kitchenware so it is accessible when I need it. “Out of sight, out of mind” is a truism, so if I want to use that lovely Dutch oven (with the adorable snail handle!), it needs to be located in a spot that is easier to reach.

If you are also spending more time at home, think of the silver lining: this situation provides an opportunity to reorganize to make your kitchen (or workshop, or craft room, or laundry area) more user-friendly. There is really no good reason why there are boxes of cereal stored in the cabinet next to the stove while cookware is stashed beside the refrigerator, yet somehow that occurred in our house. This is the week where I sit down and rearrange my less-than-ideal kitchen to fit my better-than-average cookware collection. Wish me luck, and pray for me that my husband will get over the fact that he will have to look in a different cupboard to find the breakfast cereal.