Getting it Together 2013: Organizing a (Mostly) Vegan Kitchen

I love a fresh new year and the opportunity to start it on the right track by getting the home organized. This week I want to talk about organizing our homes, business, and inner turmoil! I started with a room I've found myself in a lot this year, the kitchen.

I am blessed with an enormous amount of storage space for an apartment dweller, I have a big kitchen outfitted with 6 roomy cabinets and a large pantry space, and I wasn't utilizing it to it's fullest potential. In the before picture above you see wasted space. I can't see my items at a glance.

Now everything can be seen at a glance, I have stations for frequently-performed actions, and I've rearranged the art collections displayed within for better visual balance.

One thing I do to reduce kitchen clutter and dish pile-up is limit the amount of dishes and cups I keep in the kitchen- helpful for a high traffic apartment with a roomie and frequent visitors! If we want more cups, we have to wash the ones we have. I love having all my spices displayed and easy to select now.

For those who are curious about pantry staples for raw vegans, it often looks a lot like this. I love keeping my nuts in sealed glass jars, it has an attractive apothecary look while keeping my food fresh. Not much drinking happens around these parts anymore so they're put in this shelf, out of the way of the main kitchen traffic.

I'm excited about how I re-arranged the kitchen art, too. This watercolor painting looks better above the stove and the thick black frame goes well with the appliances. I like how it's a portrait of the artist's friend cooking with her favorite Sanrio character, My Melody.

And I love my display of masks Ponce carnival masks from Puerto Rico, every time I visit family I bring home a new one. I love how it brings my personal culture into the "heart" of my home.

I set a chopping/juicing station for chopping up my daily salads. The dressings often need some lemon or orange juice for my "Octojuicer" is always on Stand-by. And the Mario and Donkey Kong art just makes me smile!

Then we have the tea station, the kitty and tea set were bought back with me from Japan, and I talk about how I framed the Junko Mizuno art in this post.

I make a smoothie daily and often use these tools and ingredients, so I set up a smoothie station with a vintage tray. The Kirby chef toy kind of adds to the fun Nintendo theme.

The little coffee area is for my roommate, I can't drink coffee. It makes me bounce off the walls like a rabid banshee! I'd have to work up my caffeine tolerance again.

I re-arranged things in our large pantry. My roomie (who isn't vegan) has her food on the top shelf and we share the rest.

And now I'm off to make some luscious grub in the kitchen! Time to blend and chop up some masterpieces.

How do you keep your kitchen organized? Any tips to share? What are you organizing for the new year?

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