Space-saver?

The second thought that passed through my mind while admiring the clever Nuscup (by Dalla Piazza, a Swissmar company):

Who keeps spices in jars big enough to fit this scoop?

The first thought was, "hey, that's neat!"



You can get these measures in larger sizes, so maybe a big one would be useful. But a bigger one would be no better (and more expensive, and harder to clean, and with moving parts) than one of the Oxo angled measures, which you will be shocked to learn I use in my kitchen. I still have a set of dry measures, too, mostly because they are pretty and my wife gave them to me! Sometimes even a cramped cook has to be given a special pass.

Always paring down

I think this is probably true of any part of your living space, but the premium on space in a cramped kitchen necessitates an occasional spring cleaning (even if it isn't spring).

For me, this usually just means rooting out a few old sets of napkins and haggling with myself over whether to keep all the coffee cups or get rid of a couple. And trying to part - once and for all - with the little-used Dutch oven. Maybe I'll turn it into a garden ornament.

Even if you haven't bought or received anything new and are sure the exercise will yield nothing to offload, I think it is still worth it. Maybe you'll realize you have some unused ingredients you want to make a dent in (I found a bunch of chickpea flour last night, for example), or maybe you'll realize that by reorganizing your spices you can save some valuable cupboard space, too.

I try to make a pass through the kitchen every two or three months. I also do so whenever I think I might be putting on my traveling shoes: It is always nicer to move with less, not more, stuff.