“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 721 (Monday) – cabinet chaos

The Aldi shopping trip of Sunday and the overcrowded state of the pantry has opened the way for a new entertainment. This is day two of  the latest installment of “how am I going to fit this in here?” while staring at the cabinet with both doors flung open, and then attempting to rearrange the contents. The practical problem with the cabinets, and most of the kitchen, is that they seem to have been designed by someone who never cooked or grocery shopped.

I understand the space saving ideal of the microwave mounted over the stove, but this common kitchen design is terrifying when trying to remove a bowl of hot soup from it. One slip, and it’s a face full of scalding soup. It hasn't happened yet, but the potential is there. The microwave juts out a couple inches from the depth of the cabinets, so the cabinet door opens into the edge of the microwave. 

The shelving is set at exactly the same height in all the cabinets, without regard for the height of boxes or bottles. When the box of cereal or crackers or the bottle of olive oil doesn’t fit on one cabinet, it doesn’t fit into any of them.

Cabinet chaos.

The olive oil issue was solved with the purchase of a shelving unit on wheels that fits between the cabinet and the home office. The too tall box of chocolate crisped rice, bought months ago for a recipe that still hasn’t been made, was tucked sideways into a lower cabinet that holds a blender, serving platters, other boxes that don't fit elsewhere, and four packages of rye flour that were bought online in the excitement of the Finnish cookbook. When the flour arrived, the urge to bake unfamiliar things had passed. 

The latest kitchen battle involves a box of woven wheat crackers and a bag of chips acquired in the unscripted Aldi shopping trip on Sunday. There is no room for either of them anywhere, so the crackers are currently wedged between the toaster oven and the knife block. The chips are laying atop the toaster oven with a container of figs, a gift box of assorted tea, the butter dish, and a squash and some potatoes, all of which must be removed each time the toaster oven is used. One solution is to eat the chips and the crackers, but there is effort to be sensible. Sometimes, anyway.

The chaos of the cabinets resembles the frenzy in the freezer, and all of it is in the realm of first world problems. It is a wonderful day when these are the biggest problems that need to be dealt with. The best part is that the doors can be closed and he issues ignored. Temporarily, anyway.