Today, we’re taking a break from The Challenge to play a little game called, “What Is This Thing Anyway and Do I Need It?”
The Back Story:
Recently, I got the hankering to clean. And when I say clean, I mean CLEAN. Like move-stuff-out-wipe-it-down-and-put-it-back clean. My mother would be so proud. Why the sudden interest, you ask?
Mostly, my motivation was that I’ve been spending too much time in this kitchen and am annoyed that not everything is where it should be. Plus, we have a bunch of stupid things in the kitchen that I never EVER use, so I thought to myself, “Self? Why are you taking up such prime real estate?”
The answer is (always): because I’m dumb.
See, when we renovated the kitchen a few years ago, I really should’ve built a walk-in pantry. We have this silly room off the kitchen that some people would call a mudroom, but, for me, it’s just way too narrow and cramped in there to be anything but a place for the washer & dryer... where we also store about a million pairs of shoes and other crap. Every once in a while, we organize the crap, it stays neat for about a day, and then it goes back to looking like crap. What we should’ve done, since we were spending the money anyway, was build out that room, making it a proper mudroom AND add a walk-in pantry.
I have no idea how that would’ve worked but wouldn’t it have been awesome?!
We have a pretty nice-sized double-door cabinet with pull-out drawers that fit most of our food just fine. And we have the cabinet to the right of our stove for spices, oils, and vinegars. And our island holds platters and stuff. But we have 2-½ junk drawers (how do we have half a junk drawer, you ask? Some of the stuff is useful, the other half is stuff thrown in when people don’t know where something goes). And one whole drawer is holding all the accoutrements for the Magic Bullet (which we haven't used since 2011). [Mary: Our niece Alexis would tell her to get rid of it. I say basement.] Unfortunately, the kitchen doesn’t currently have a place for all the bigger gadgets. Those have been relegated to the shelves in the basement. Not that I could fit the KitchenAid mixer in the Magic Bullet drawer, but it sure would've looked nice in our imaginary walk-in pantry.
Aaaaanyway, all this is to say that I made some executive decisions about my kitchen. No more taking up space! Do you know how many cords were in the ½ junk drawer? Well, guess what? They’re now all in a box in the basement. (Tell Josh if he asks. Thanks.)
But, that leads me to ask…what is the rest of this stuff, and do I need it? So, let’s play, shall we?
Let's Play!
The rules are simple (you can leave your comments at the end of this post):
Tell me what it is/what it does.
Let me know if I need it in the kitchen, the basement, or the garbage.
I think this is an attachment to the Kitchen Aid. But what does it do?
OK, I know what this is (an egg yolk separator thingie); the question is: how often am I separating eggs that it needs to take up drawer space? I mean, I see the experts separating eggs using the eggshell. Which takes up no space.
I think this one is an attachment to something, but no idea.
This is actually a great invention from those wonderful people at Pampered Chef. It a jar opener. And it works great.
Yeah, not a clue.
Sure, it's a measuring thing. But why is it square? What does it measure? Wet? Dry? Do I need it when I have all kinds of other measuring gadgets?
Apparently, this is a knife sharpener. Which I've never used.
Again, it's a measuring cup. Why is it different than all the other measuring cups?
???
????????????????????????? [Mary: Come ON. Everyone knows what these are.]
Seriously. No idea. [Mary: Okay, I don't know what this one is either.]
I say move all of it to the basement. Let your kids deal with it in 40 years.
Here is another thought. I had a pampered chef item that i acquired from my husbands mother’s draw still in the package. For 17 years it was in my drawer. A couple of weeks ago i opened it and used it. So never say never especially with your new adventure in cooking
Maybe Emily would like the frosting tips. Just saying.
#9 is a juicer...you put it in an orange and squeeze the juice out...my mom had one in her drawer...I don't think it was ever used...Toss
#10 Pastry Tips...Keep the big one for frosting cupcakes...or if you want to get fancy on the rim of a cake...use a sandwich bag for the filling.
#11 I am assuming is a cake frosting leveling thing...not thinking it is something you couldn't live with out....Toss...
As for the stuff above, keep the knife sharpener and dough hook for when you are on lock down and you decide to make bread (hee hee)...oh, and the food processor gadget...I'm sure Josh will need it at some point in the future.
So glad your drawers look…
Dough hook into the basement if you're not making dough anytime soon. #11 looks to be a dough scraper, so it should go with the dough hook. I think, with the Kitchenaid, even if you use it to make the dough, it won't complete the task. You have to knead and proof and knead again, which is why I stay clear of dough or bread and let our bread machine do the work. But, if you should be challenged to make dough and have to knead it on a board, #11 will help you remove the dough blob from the board. #8 is great if you're going to make a gravy or something and want the fat to stay to…