Martha Stewart's re-envisioned kitchen

Martha Stewart
·3 min read

The lifestyle entrepreneur and cookbook author shares with "Sunday Morning" viewers her tips for organizing utensils and kitchen workspace:

Hi, everybody.

During the last year and couple months, lots of us have been focused on our homes. This kitchen was in dire need of renovation. The cupboards were all, kind of a happy, creamy yellow, and it just was not the kitchen I wanted. So, out came the paint cans, out came the brushes, out came the carpenters. I wanted everything to be black, all the cupboards.

Martha Stewart's kitchen, dressed in Basic Black. / Credit: CBS News
Martha Stewart's kitchen, dressed in Basic Black. / Credit: CBS News

So, let me show you around this kitchen. I think you'll enjoy all the different things that we've done to bring it up-to-date, make it more useful, and more beautiful.

Pots and pans

Hanging pots on a rack is such a handy way to keep your pots and pans because you just reach up – "Oh, I'm going to steam some eggs, I need a pot that size" – so it really makes it easy to keep your pots and pans in sight, clean, by the way, and looking great.

Martha Stewart.  / Credit: CBS News
Martha Stewart. / Credit: CBS News

Repurposed garbage pail

We're always looking for garbage pails for the kitchen. I have only one in this kitchen, and it's an old pickle crock.

Recycling an old pickle crock into a trash bin.   / Credit: CBS News
Recycling an old pickle crock into a trash bin. / Credit: CBS News

Drawers

The drawers, of course, are hopefully "Martha neat." We are organizers! We are not throw-away-ers.

Look at all this stuff! I still find beautiful pieces at tag sales. I have to have my ice cream scoops for uniform cookies. Don't you use this to make your chocolate chips so every one is exactly the same?

Redoing a kitchen like this completely helps you get organized. You find out that there are things like a cracked rubber scraper. You don't need a cracked rubber scraper breaking into your soup. You just wanna throw that away. Not all kitchen utensils last forever.

Sorting what you have means you can freshen up utensils.  / Credit: CBS News
Sorting what you have means you can freshen up utensils. / Credit: CBS News

Knives

Another organizational tip for all of you, is to make a knife drawer. You start with small and get to larger, larger, larger. Don't forget your serrated knives for bread. These are so great! This cork liner is such a good idea.

A cool way to store cutlery.  / Credit: CBS News
A cool way to store cutlery. / Credit: CBS News

You want to see the best knife I have? Look at that one. And it was signed by me. This is for chopping something big!

Now, THAT'S a knife! / Credit: CBS News
Now, THAT'S a knife! / Credit: CBS News

Refrigerator drawer

If you're limited in space and you don't want to have a big refrigerator taking up all that wall space, put in an under-counter refrigerator. These are so handy.

Under-counter refrigerator.  / Credit: CBS News
Under-counter refrigerator. / Credit: CBS News

Pantry

Another nice thing to do to keep your pantries looking organized and keep your groceries a little bit fresher is to, I call it decanting, but it's really putting it from plastic bags – such as this rice – into a nice container, which is 100% reusable, [with a] tight-fitting lid. Then, this goes right into your pantry. I really like having a pantry in which I can see where everything is.

A place for everything, and everything in its place.  / Credit: CBS News
A place for everything, and everything in its place. / Credit: CBS News

So, I hope taking you around my newly-renovated kitchen has given you some new organizational ideas, maybe some decorating ideas. A fresh coat of paint can be transformative, and you're gonna love it and your family's gonna love it, too.

See you next time!

/ Credit: CBS News
/ Credit: CBS News

For more info:

marthastewart.comThe Martha Stewart Collection at Macy'sThe Everyday System at California Closets

Story produced by Robbyn McFadden. Editor: Lauren Barnello.

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