These are 3 of the upper upper cabinets, the ones I most definitely have to stand on a chair or the counter (or the stove) to reach. I'm not in these every day or even every week. They hold non-essentials like:
Disposable dishes, plastic silverware (which I definitely use more than once before tossing), and baby bottles/accessories.
Our "good" dishes (really 2 boxes of $40 dishes from Target) and our glass glasses which we super rarely use. The glasses get most of their use for blog photos (like here and here).
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Nothing essential by any means (baby bottles will be moved if they are needed again someday). Unfortunately, I couldn't find much to purge from these cabinets. I was actually pretty bummed about that (but not enough to get rid of more things).
The process is familiar by now: empty, put up with kitchen stuff all over the dining table (maybe my least favorite part!), scrape off contact paper, wipe down, 2 coats primer, 2 coats paint, cover bottom with contact paper, refill.
I did cheat a little on the cabinet with the disposable dishes. There is a wall between that cabinet and the one next to it (fancy dishes) but it's in such a location that I had never seen it from the disposable dishes side until doing this painting and sticking my head in the cabinet. I only did one coat of primer and paint on that bit. And I wasn't the most precise on that back wall either. I checked from many spots on the ground and if I needed to have my head in the cabinet to see it...I'm not concerned about anyone figuring it out (until I post this on the internet). Luke was in the room when I was telling Matt about this and he (Luke) insisted on seeing inside the cabinet too. So that makes a total of two people in 10 years.
Maybe the biggest change to this besides the new white cabinet walls was changing how I store my multitude of plastic utensils. I don't understand the logic of using these only once! Run them through the dishwasher, just like normal silverware, and they are perfect fine to use again! Why throw them away and then maybe have to buy more some day?? I don't know if I've ever bought any but I certainly have plenty on hand for any situation that may call for them. For Luke's baptism party with 75 invited guests I didn't buy a single eating utensil and still had plenty. And I maybe requested that people not throw them away. WHY?? A tiny bit of hassle and storage can save things from the landfill. Anyone can handle that. Please consider that. (END RANT)
So, new storage was needed because we seem to accumulate these faster than we use them (I should keep a few sets in the car so we can reuse some and not need to get more. Good idea.). I covered an old popcorn tin with contact paper scraps and spray painted the lid. All my plastic ware fits inside and looks much better than a multitude of ziplocs. I also moved the bottles to their own basket and put them in another unused cupboard space.
Did manage to break a glass glass during this process. We have about half of what we started with which is pretty pathetic when you consider how rarely they are used.
I did get rid of a few Christmas tins. I do some cookie gifting but I'm not generous enough to use the largest ones. (Sorry). The ones I kept are mainly for our chex mix storage (love me some original chex mix).
So that's it. Another set of cabinets cleaned and painted. A few good before/after comparisons:
I still have our pantry cupboard to share once we figure out some new spice storage (a few ideas in mind). That one's been painted for a few months. And then just one more set left to paint (working on that this week!). A year ago I didn't have this project on my mind but I'm so glad I took it on. It's been a little work and I don't like the near constant (it feels like) kitchen mess on the dining table but the impact feels huge. It was worth the time/mess/money.
Other cupboards I've painted:
Kitchen cleaning cupboard
Office closets
Office cupboard
Kitchen dishes cupboard
Kitchen cupboard over the stove
Baking cupboard
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