Things to do, things to do....

You may or may not know that, on most days, Dave sends me an email reminder of anything I've mentioned I would like to do. Let's just say we're sitting around on a Sunday afternoon and I say, "I really need to get outside this week and pull those annoying weeds near the sidewalk." Dave will ask me what day I want to do that and on the designated day this will appear as a reminder in my inbox. It's like having one of those voice recorders, and an electronic calendar, and a really funny friend, all in one.

Since we've been in Germany, I don't get that many reminders because there isn't that much to do. Lately, I've really missed the feeling of having a project to look forward to. When we were driving to Amsterdam last weekend, I mentioned that I want to make some small adjustments to our kitchen when we get home.
Nothing big, just a few changes to things that have been bugging me.

First of all, I want to make a better recycling area. Dave has a habit of just leaving the recyclable stuff on the counter near the back door. Sure, the bin is only twelve steps away if you open the back door, but who has time to go to all that effort? We don't have a very organized way of collecting returnables either, and that just irritates me. We usually just throw a brown bag by the door and toss them in there.
We do have a cabinet that is used mostly for roasting pans and junk other important stuff. If I move the roasting pans to the butler's pantry (more on that later) and shuffle around the junk other important stuff, I could have a whole cabinet for recycling and returnables.
I'm still debating the exact method, but it will be something like this:

Or, this:

I also want to install a bread box. I used to think bread boxes/drawers were the kind of thing only Grandmother's had, but now I'm starting to reconsider.
First of all, Dude the Cat really, really (REALLY) likes bread. Really.We have to keep it on a high shelf or, if left low and unattended, we'll find bite marks in the bag and large chunks missing from the loaf. Plus, there's Bob. He doesn't have a special hankering for bread, he just likes food. Finally, bread doesn't last very long and since I've been here, my sophisticated palate can't really stand the thought of going back to just sticking it in the fridge or in a plastic bag.
I think I'll just add a pull-out shelf in a cabinet on which we can place a bread box. I'm sure they make a built-in version, but that just sounds like an awful lot of work.

Finally, I need to improve the butler's pantry. I know that sounds pretty fancy, but it's really just what I call the closet in the hall. I don't think it's original to the house, but at some point someone added a built-in cabinet above three built-in drawers, and it's just outside the kitchen.
We used to use it as a linen closet, but a few years ago I moved all the linens upstairs and organized the closet to contain all our serving dishes and vases and placemats and, and, and.....
The shelves are high and deep, but in some ways that makes the cabinet kind of impractical because I have to take a lot of things out before I can get to the one thing I need. And serving dishes are shallow, so I have to store them nested inside each other and that doesn't always work so well, either.

I have this fantasy solution where I have an exact place for everything in a sparkling white cabinet, with little silver nameplates and about a hundred adjustable shelves. The final result probably won't be that great, but it will be a lot more organized.
I've been scouting around for inspiration and this is what I've found:

I love the little hang-y hook things. I'm definitely using those for gravy pitchers and creamers.

How cool is this? If I could add about 3 feet to both the front and back of the house, we'd be all set. Sigh...

Now this seems just about right. I like the idea of using those IKEA boxes for the small stuff, too.
I think I might put some dowels horizontally across the back, to hold up the platters. I have plenty of time to think about the details. I'll let you know when I get around to the actual project.

This brings me to today's reminder:

3. We need to make a list of those projects you want to start when we get home-home.

Done.