Every morning, for 50 minutes from 6:30 a.m. to 7:20 a.m., my kitchen is a flurry of activity. Lunch boxes spread over the counter, tea on one burner, breakfast on another, and cooker on yet another. Pots and pans strewn around. But, this is an organized chaos that we all have got used to over the years. If there is one thing that upsets this schedule, it is not being able to find what you are looking for. And often, it is the lid of something, or a Nutella bottle that was accidentally kept in the fridge.
Vandana shares her kitchen organizing tips today. There are no rules when it comes to the kitchen….whatever works to help you be more efficient rules. She says, “I’ve lined the drawer with a silver gift wrapper to give a shiny finish and I’ve categorized and labelled items for easy access. Earlier, I stacked up items and it was quite difficult to get to the items at the bottom. Sometimes, the smaller items used to get lost in the entire pile, making me buy again, only to make way for duplicates.” On the ever growing grocery list, she adds, “also, I have a pencil right on top of my fridge to enter items in the shopping list as and when stock gets over. This way, I don’t have to remember a long list of items before I go for shopping.” Thanks, Vandana for sharing these pictures.
After three years of subconsciously staring at 18,712,789,765 beautifully dressed up images of kitchens, gardens and spotless living rooms, I’ve come to realise one thing: when it comes to doing/re-doing your own space, you tend to draw ideas from real homes than the picture-perfect ones in the glossies.
That’s perhaps the reason why real home tours are so popular among blogs. Because, that’s as close as you can get, to real homes. I was fortunate enough to shoot Vidya’s remodeled kitchen recently. A few caveats before I begin:
* the aesthetic brilliance does not come out in the pictures as I’m still trying to befriend my camera (yes, slightly Physics (ally) challenged with the aperture/focal length etc)
* the objective is on the functionality and not the dressing up. So, you would be peeking more into the insides of the drawers than the embellishments outside.
* we didn’t have time to dress up the space as she was traveling that evening for a long while
A little background:
From my conversations with Vidya, I’ve come to understand that cooking and baking are like nirvana for her. So, to say, baking is her passion would be an understatement. She treats every corner of her home indulgently. A lot of research went into what appliance to pick, where to procure the granite /tiles from, what layout would work, where to place the dishwasher etc.
The kitchen is a square shaped kitchen with an adjoining utility (wash area) separated by a wall. I don’t have the before pictures, but will try and post a similar layout.
Why the remodeling project?
Vidya wanted to combine the utility space into the kitchen to accommodate a dishwasher, washing machine and a new refrigerator, oven and an island in the center of the kitchen.
The cabinets were in good condition even after ten years so she re-used most of it, just changed the position in some cases to create room for the bigger refrigerator and oven.
View of the kitchen from the dining room. To the far right, is the wash area and dishwasher/washing machine.
Today I’m back with another home tour showcasing an apartment in Bangalore. I think it’s amazing when people throw open their doors, and let us take a peek into what lies behind it. It’s real for one with real people living in it; these homes are not staged or styled for a sale, and that I think is remarkable.
My post on paint color evoked a lot of responses; one of them was from Anitha who shared pictures of her home – Prashanthi. Prashanti means “peace” and as we step inside get a glimpse of the drawing room, every corner gives you that calming impact. Maybe it’s the magic of white …so shall we take a tour and see what’s in store? From flashes of light to an Indian version of Martha Stewart, you can see it all.
Living + Dining
I asked Anitha how she manages a white sofa in dust-laden Bangalore and this is what she had to say, “Our living room colour was based on the warmth that the purple would give out when rightly mixed with whites. It took some time to convince my hubby about this colour. But, now he just loves it. These sofas are from Ikea and comes with machine washable covers. I bought two extra covers and it goes for wash fortnightly.”
A quick little question that you have to answer without thinking too much. Ready? What was your last purchase for the home? The big couch, fancy dresser, or pretty mugs at an exhibition. For me, the cheer a big investment brings is short-lived, but the small indulgences keep the cheer flowing all year long. Don’t you think it’s the little, unexpected changes around the house that put a smile on everyone’s face? Like when you painted a wall, or changed the seating arrangement, or bought some bright cushions? When my son gets back from school to see a new Pooh sticker on his door, or a Batman sketch on his side table, he is overjoyed. Last week, while cleaning his shelf, I found some wall vinyl stickers my brother had sent a year ago. It just lay there for I was in the search of a perfect wall and…
What is it that you look at when you walk into a kitchen – at a friend’s, relatives’, your own or at a store? My eyes advertently scan the space for a clutter-free counter, organized pantry storage, layout, and to my surprise, how the pots and pans are stored.
I spend a considerable amount of time in the kitchen cooking regular food or trying out new recipes and desserts for my son. Though keeping kadais and pans in the open makes for easy access and helps in drying naturally after washing them, I think it is an eyesore. Currently, I store my pans in a stainless steel stand over the sink and kadais in a large pullout drawer like the one below. I’d prefer to stash them away in cabinets but find most Indian modular kitchens ill-equipped in that area.
Do you remember your granny’s kitchen with a attached store room adjoining the main cooking area? A room stocked with enough pulses, rice, spices to last a 10+ member joint family for over a year. Every summer, when we would visit my grandparents’ on vacation, grandmother would have over 500 coconuts plucked from the trees, followed by a rigorous routine of dehusking, breaking the coconuts, separating the water and distributing it to everyone. There have been days when we’ve skipped lunch, thanks to a bucket full of coconut water followed by trips to you know where :) Later, the coconuts would be left to dry in the hot summer sun for a week. Once it turned into kopra, she would get them processed in the neighborhood machine for extracting coconut oil. The oil would then be filtered and stored in tins – enough to last the family until next summer.…
Every woman’s kitchen has at least one recipe book – either self-bought or gifted. Mine has over 100 of them. No exaggeration. Seriously. Most of them are small supplements that come with various Tamil monthly magazines. My mom religiously collects them every month and hands them by the dozen or more when we meet, usually after3-4 months. That shows her confidence in my cooking :) Or she trusts me to get inspired and cook a lot of variety dishes, which I do.
The books cover a wide range. Sample this. The collection consists of 30 Chutney recipes, 30 tomato dishes, 64 pickles, 30 soya recipes, 100 age-old home remedies (those granny ideas!), what to do with leftovers, 64 cakes/cookies/chocolates, 64 juice, 200 Diwali tips, 30 biryani masala, 16 types of sambar, and 10 types of rasam. The list goes on. And believe me, it is really handy at times to break the routine and fix something different for dinner.
One practical issue I face is stocking these in the kitchen where it’s easily accessible; for, I know, if I lay my hands on the stack, I’ll end up cooking a dish. The block is in reaching out to the stack. Right now, it’s stashed in the farthest cabinet. I’m contemplating of binding them into just 4-5 books categorized by snacks, juices, pickles, desserts, and main course dishes.
Have you ever in your wildest dreams thought that stainless steel could be made to look so stylish? I was mesmerized by the Art D Inox’s product range – the curves, the elegance, the finish and the glaze is classy. Here are some of favorites.
My kitchen cabinets are made of rubberwood.; the wood work is exactly five years old. The cabinets haven’t lost much of the shine, but the wooden doors have accumulated dust and grease from cooking. The patches are quite visible now. I was wondering what would be the best way to clean them. One of the suggestions I got is to use a solution of dish washing liquid like Vim or Pril in hot water. The process itself will involve wiping the cabinets with a sponge using this solution, and then immediately rubbing it off with a clean cloth. Since the doors are polished, I believe little amount of moisture should not do much harm. How do you de-grease your cabinets?
