When I was about 12 years old, I spent my summer babysitting for a little boy up the street. We didn’t normally cook food but on one particular day, the mom gave me something to cook. I had to ask the little boy where they kept the pots and pans. At my house, we had about 10 different frying pans to choose from, a bunch of the quart size ones, and about 20 in between sizes.
There was no shortage of pots and pans.
Small ones and big ones. Nice ones and well used ones. I thought everyone had that many pots and pans. It was normal to me.
He told me which cabinet they were in. Cabinet? Just one cabinet? I opened it up and there was only one pan of each size.
I remember the day very vividly even though it was a long time ago. It was strange to not have so many choices, almost confusing to me. I asked him where the rest were and he told me that was all they had. Searching through the rest of the cabinets, I was panicking a little bit.
When I asked him why they didn’t have more, he asked why they needed more.
We cooked a lot more after that and it was nice to know that even though there were only a few pots and pans, it was enough. We didn’t need anymore.
Pots and Pans Everywhere
I remembered this tonight as I looked around my kitchen at all the pots and pans everywhere.
Why do we have so many?
A lot of them even have Teflon flaking off and they should be thrown away. If we only had a couple, there would only be a couple to wash. There wouldn’t be stacks of them dirty all at the same time. I would be able to put them away instead of having to leave them out because they don’t fit in a cabinet.
What about you? Do you have lots of pots and pans? Or just a few? I’m curious to know which is more common.
I could use something like this to organize my pots and pans a little better but then I’d still have too many,
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So there’s the age old question – organize or declutter?
My opinion is that it’s so much easier to organize after you’ve decluttered so I guess I’d say a little bit of both is important! Keep it balanced! Organize what you have but don’t have too much.
I have 2 frying pans; one tiny no lid, and one large with a lid + 6 pots of different sizes. All tucked away in two drawers in the kitchen 🙂
I wonder if I’ll ever just have a few like that…. in fact, I wonder if I’ll ever get the amount down so that they fit in the kitchen.. lol Even just kitchen and dining room would be an improvement!
We have 2 frying pans (2 different sizes), 3 pots (3 different sizes), 4 pans (2 of each size, large and small). Ours fit into one cabinet.
Wow! I’m impressed! I’m not to the point where I can even imagine that yet!!
I have two frying pans with lids, two small ones that I hardly use; and 6 pots of various sizes. I think I will get rid of the small frying pans soon…..
you sound more like my sister and mom; they love having numerous kitchen items. it is their joy and they buy really nice stuff. for some people I guess it is what it is. i myself rather collect books and notebooks
I do love to have all kinds of kitchen gadgets but I have way too many!
Well, DD1 and I have lots, since we combined our households. The kitchen is on the list, to get in there and de-clutter!!
The kitchen is a really hard one for me to declutter. I love all the kitchen stuff.
Well, that’s why you do other stuff first! Leave the hard stuff till last!