Reading time: 5 minutes
Welcome to the fourth in our series of the stories of your living spaces: Your kitchen. Often the workhorse of our homes, the kitchen is also ground zero for family gatherings, traditions and oh-so-many memories and stories to go along with it all. Not to mention ALL that cabinet space, which too often ends up becoming the final resting place for long forgotten and seldom used gadgets, mugs, cookbooks, and more!
What surprises are hidden behind your cabinet doors? What memories and stories are sitting untold? What ‘stuff’ is getting in your way of the job to be done: cooking! Let’s go!
Catch up on past editions in the series: Living Room | Kids’ Rooms | Bathroom
Cookbooks, Recipes & More
Show me a kitchen without a cookbook and I’ll show you... a [insert company name] catalog. Yes, those designer kitchens in our favorite furniture store catalogs always LOOK nice, but our co-founder Heather is always left wondering, where are the cookbooks?
Growing up, Heather’s mom was a fabulous cook. Heather still remembers sitting on the butcher block counters and doodling in the cookbooks as her mother baked. And we’re certain she’s not alone in her memories in the kitchen and those omnipresent cookbooks.
Whether your cookbook collection is more accidental than intentional, one thing is for certain, kitchen cabinets and shelves are great for holding, hiding, and yes, collecting cookbooks! Your shelves are so accommodating, they do nothing to help you parse out the useful, the emotionally valuable, or the “it was a nice thought, but not happening” cookbooks.
And let’s not forget about the recipes. Sometimes it’s not so much the cookbook as it is one of the recipes inside that triggers the memory.
Feeling inspired? Ready to thin that collection? As you do, Artifct favorites on the spot! Really want to wow your family? Include a short audio story of WHY you love that particular cookbook or recipe. Better yet, include a short video of you making the recipe or providing instruction on how-to make the recipe.
Gadgets Galore
Ah yes, kitchen gadgets. As lovers of all things kitchen related, our co-founders Heather and Ellen get it. Who doesn’t want the latest and greatest sure-to-revolutionize-your-dinner-routine gadget? Thankfully for them, space is at a premium in both households, which means that function usually always wins out and helps to keep extra gadgets at bay.
That said, we know this is not the norm. Our members have shared with us stories of all those gadgets sometimes inherited, sometimes accumulated. We’ve heard firsthand how New Year’s resolutions to eat healthier end up with juice machines, bread machines, blenders, and the like tucked away in the back of our cabinets, taunting us and our half-hearted attempts.
But then there are the #battletested kitchen gadgets that have stood the test of time and are woven into the fabric of your family stories around the recipes and holidays they served.

For all those kitchen gadgets, whether old or new, loved or maybe forgotten, it’s time we take a hard look at them, too. Do they still work? Will you still use them? Perfect! Keep! If the answer is ‘no’ to either of those questions, consider donating or recycling but not before you Artifct them.
Junk Drawers, Fridge Doors, and All Other Surfaces
Hello elephant(s) in the room! We’re looking at you, junk drawer, fridge door, and all other available surfaces where clutter in our kitchens tends to accumulate.
Barbara Hemphill, of the Productive Environment Institute coined the phrase, “clutter is postponed decisions.” So true! And somehow our kitchens enable us to postpone those decisions even further.
Not today! Pick an area—your junk drawer, your fridge door, or flat surface—and take a hard look at what is there by spreading it out onto an open surface and then thoughtfully reviewing what belongs:
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- Seasonal items can easily be rotated out if you pause to take notice that they are still there, months later. We’re looking at you, hand towels!
- Sentimental but unnecessary? Great, Artifct it and then recycle, rehome, or otherwise put it in its appropriate space.
- Any lurking financial or business-related stuff, such as old receipts, invoices, and the like, could potentially be scanned and then shredded.
- Got mementos overflowing, e.g., old matchbooks, magnets, ticket stubs, and other souvenirs? We bet there are some good stories behind those items to Artifct and share with family and friends. Maybe consider rehoming the actual item if it is no longer needed or used.
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