I used to think people would only want to use their own kitchen tools and equipment. After all, who wants to use pots, pans, forks, and knives that others have used?
Then I thought about it and realized we do it all the time! Matter of fact, all around the globe, we dine at restaurants and fast food joints. We also sleep at hotels and AirBNBs. It has taken a pandemic to disrupt these practices.
Using other people’s things is woven into the fabric of who we are. Some want convenience, others comfort, and and many would love to save some money. Take the movement to DIY, upcycle and find steals at thrift or consignment stores, for example. It has strongly emerged onto the mainstream scene in recent years.
Career women subscribe to rental clothing companies where they can recycle fashionable clothes without owning or needing to wash them. They just simply return them and wait for the next batch of four articles of clothing to arrive. I know as I tried one of these services before we started working remotely.
But still, the thought of moving into a fully furnished cottage took me a minute to get used to. I also had to figure out how I wanted to get organized in the cottage kitchen full of items we didn’t choose.
Cooking at the cottage: How to make the most of your limited kitchen tools and equipment and still eat well!
Acorns Cottage, as we have affectionately named our mountain abode, came fully furnished. This means we had the advantage of using the kitchen immediately. And we did!
We had some fun discovering all the items we “inherited” in our new kitchen. The previous owners used the property as a short-term rental right before we bought it. To no surprise, the cabinets were neatly stocked with an eclectic combination of kitchenwares, kitchen tools, and kitchen equipment.
But it didn’t come with everything. For the first couple of days, we found–as we were cooking–what we had duplicates of and what we lacked. There were several items missing actually. A good knife set, for example immediately made our “kitchen essentials list.” Any discerning cook will want to have specific knives, or pans, or pasta maker–as in our case.
After a few days of using the kitchen, we decided to take some specific steps to get organized and personalize the kitchen to fit our needs.
Here are some tips we’d like to pass along to you that will help you feel organized if you find yourself cooking “in someone else’s kitchen.” And still eat well!
Do an inventory of the kitchen tools and equipment the previous owners left behind
In our situation, the previous owners did an admirable job at ensuring the place was spotless, particularly the kitchen. It felt like we rented out a clean and tidy cottage on AirBNB to stay at…forever.
But the first step to feel organized and that the items now belonged to us was to do an inventory.
That meant taking everything out of cabinets and drawers and placing them on the counter. Lucky for us, someone had applied logic to how things were stored. For example, we found most pots and pans located in the same cabinet. And this made it easier for us to take out only those items to sort through before moving to the next set of cabinets and drawers.
After we did the inventory, we immediately tried out the equipment to ensure they worked. The first time we tried the waffle maker we had disastrous results. Before deciding to donate it though, we tried it one more time and realized user error and not the equipment caused the first disaster. So we kept it to our kids’ delight.
Decide on what kitchen equipment you want to keep or donate
This step is important to maintaining a clutter-free environment.
Acorns Cottage has a decent-sized kitchen with lots of storage space. Easily could I fill up the place with useless items that would just collect dust and be of no use to us.
Let’s face it. More often than not, we tend to collect a bunch of things through the years of living in a primary home. I realized that while the cottage came fully furnished, it wasn’t cluttered with extraneous items. And that’s what makes it so wonderfully restful.
If you can’t decide what you want to keep, consider gathering all those items you’re on the fence about in one location. That way, you can alert your family as well that anything they use from that area of the kitchen is on trial. After a use or two, you’ll have a better idea if you want to keep or toss or donate.
I’ve found that you can become more intentional in making up your mind if you have a goal. The goal of that area is to use those tools first. If tools get left behind because you can’t find any use for them, then they can go.
Create a “Kitchen Donation Bin”
Once you’ve decided what you want to donate, place it in a donation bin that will remain a permanent fixture in your home. You can park the donation box in one corner of your laundry room or house. I personally think the bin’s visibility invites you to be mindful of the excess things around the house. But understandably, if you want it to be out of sight, just remember you have it!
I think you’ll find that having a dedicated space already there and set up adds to the convenience. It will make putting things aside for donation easier and keeps it all organized. Whether you choose a designated bin, cabinet, or basket, if the whole family knows the intent of the receptacle, then it should be easier to collect items. And this way, things won’t accumulate in your cabinets as easily.
But then actually make a plan to donate the kitchen items!
In order to maintain order and not create another chaotic corner of the room, you will need to plan your donation schedule. You should already have a donation place or places in mind. Put it on your calendar and follow-through. Believe me, we’ve had areas of our house pile up to keep other parts nice and pristine. The failure on our part was the follow-through. Learn from our past mistakes.
Keep the dates of your donation days visible to everybody so they’ll know the deadline to get things in the bin. Or you can have a garage sale and meet new neighbors. Find out though if any ordinances exist in your city or town pertaining to holding garage sales or restrictions during pandemic.
A note about our particular mountain town–it’s unincorporated. This means we would need to check with San Bernardino County for matters pertaining to having a garage sale.
By the way, you can use this donation tip for anything you decide to donate because clutter can accumulate in any part of the house. Not just the kitchen.
Deep clean all the kitchen tools and equipment before reorganizing cabinets
A good deep clean will not only give you peace of mind, but a sense of a new beginning. Once you’ve cleaned all your kitchen items, then reorganize the cabinets and drawers in a way that makes sense to you.
For us, we decided to implement the same organization as our kitchen in our city home. It makes sense for us so we tried to replicate it as much as possible to keep flow optimal for the cottage kitchen.
Compared to our home, our cottage counter space extends about a foot more between the refrigerator and the stove. Because of this extra space, we have rearranged things in a way we could not at home. Matter of fact, this space solves a problem that remains a pain point for us in our city home.
Don’t fret too much over this step because you may change things yet again the more you utilize the space.
Also, avoid the temptation of finding more space to fill up with junk. Remember, if you decide to keep the items, it doesn’t mean you’ll end up wanting them after all. Be prepared to donate them after you use it and realize it doesn’t work like you expect.
Now for meal planning with the limited kitchen items in mind
Create a meal plan that keeps your kitchen tools and equipment in mind plus what food items you can finish up while at the cottage
This is where it gets fun and a little challenging.
Let’s say you have one good stock pot, one good pan, a cutting board and a few good knives. Look up what meals you can create using these tools and the Internet will amaze you with the recipes it will offer. And you will actually find that you probably already use only one pot, one pan, a cutting board and a few good knives in your day to day cooking anyway.
For example, you have one stock pot? Then buy a bag of potatoes. We did that one week we were at the cottage. Our meal plan consisted of gnocchi, shepherds pie, roasted potatoes on different days.
With this example, we used that one pot we had to boil the potatoes for two of those potato dishes. We used a pyrex to cook the roasted potatoes. Obviously, this kitchen came stocked with much more kitchen tools and equipment than just one stock pot and pan.
I don’t suggest maintaining a minimalist kitchen. If that’s your thing, go for it. The intention of this post is to demonstrate that you can fully use your inherited furnished kitchen from the beginning with some planning and imagination. It’s amazing how easily you can adapt when cooking simple daily meals.
I do encourage you to use your kitchen. A lot. We have found that the more we use our cottage kitchen, the more we appreciate we don’t need a lot of tools and equipment. And we also recognize the items we just can’t do without.
For these non-negotiable items, find a way to bring a duplicate you might happen to have at home. Or do as we often do. Bring the items back and forth with you. If your funds allow, buy dedicated kitchen items for you second home.
For meals requiring kitchen tools and equipment you need to bring from home, account for that space in your car
The manual pasta maker takes up far less space than our Kitchen Aid. So we have decided to haul back and forth the pasta maker and leave the Kitchen Aid at home. We knead the pasta dough manually instead.
Also, make sure that if you’re going to be bringing items back and forth between the two homes that it’s worth the hassle. If it’s an item you use all the time in both your primary and mountain homes, you may want to consider duplicating.
For example, we’ve already decided we use our Kitchen Aid so much that it’s worth duplicating. So we’ve started a line item in our savings fund for a Kitchen Aid. Every month, we put aside a few dollars in that fund until we have enough to make the purchase. In the meantime, we bought a small hand held mixer and are making do with that.
If you decide to bring things back and forth until you save up enough money, make sure you’re packaging them properly during transit. I believe we pack our car pretty efficiently using all available space safely. But we use caution not to break tools and prevent more wear and tear. Or at least we try.
Consider this. If you’ve lived in your primary home long enough, you may discover you already have duplicates of a lot of things. Go through all the things in your primary home and follow steps 1 to 4 (step 4 especially if the item has been collecting dust!)
If you can, purchase your food ingredients at a store in the mountains if your goal is to save space in the car. This also supports the local businesses.
Our goal is to be efficient enough with our meal planning to prevent food waste. At both homes! And to avoid having to bring uneaten food up and down the mountain. However, we won’t lose sleep if we want to bring up a carton of half used milk from our city home.
Inevitably, we bring a small cooler with us to accommodate foods we don’t want to leave behind that would spoil. Anyway, it’s better to have provisions in the mountains in case we can’t get to the grocery store up there in a timely manner.
Since we’ve committed to hauling the cooler up and down the mountain, we’ve account for it in the trunk of our car for each trip.
For specialty items like specific yeasts or bulk items from the big box stores, we bring those up with us. The local store in our mountain town impressively offers many things, but not specialty ingredients for some of our recipes. To our great surprise, it does offer online shopping and they deliver your order the next day.
They’re very friendly at that store and seem to know us by now. Often they call right before the delivery is scheduled to ask if we can swap out items for ones they have on hand. Not many but there are a few each time. That’s to be expected with smaller grocers. And that’s perfectly fine with us.
Also, when budgeting food expenses, make sure to account for necessary double purchases. You will need items at home and at the cottage of staples such as sugar, rice, flour, etc.
Bring your recipe books or have recipes handy online
But also be prepared to modify your recipes according to altitude and food options. You may need to manage your family’s expectations if a favorite dish turns out slightly off. We know this full well.
Now you may have all the recipes stored in your head. And even if you do, I suggest transcribing them on paper or electronically so it opens up the possibility of others cooking. Something about being at Acorns Cottage brings out the cooks and bakers in our kids. Really! Our kids have taken a great interest in cooking at the cottage. And this has carried over to our city home as well. However, they still require a recipe to follow or remind them of certain steps.
Prepare yourself to pivot as needed. But if you’re not a seasoned cook, this may be challenging. I suggest choosing recipes that are simple to make and easy to do ingredient substitutions as necessary.
With each meal, make notes on the meal plan about what worked, didn’t work and what you’d do differently next time
Yes. You won’t want to continue making the same mistake simply because you forgot.
Remember, your recipe can be cooked to perfection at your city home, but the altitude change could require you to make some adjustments. And if you don’t make note of those adjustments, you may regret the next time you make the same mistake.
Cooking at the cottage: How to make the most of your limited kitchen tools and equipment and still eat well!
When you have your heart set on cooking certain dishes but discover you don’t have the right kitchen tools and equipment, it can be frustrating. We know the feeling. But hopefully this post about organizing kitchen tools and equipment and cooking at a furnished cottage has helped you in your kitchen organization journey.
