Dresser = Dining Buffet

I've had this post in Draft for some time, waiting for the moment I finished the last drawer of my dresser (more about that later in this post). It hasn't been done yet but I have a series of kitchen organization posts coming up and I thought I should lead into it with this.

I've always struggled with space assignment in my kitchen. One of the things that bothered me was access to placemats, table linens and kitchen cloths and towels.

Here is where I was keeping dishcloths and towels, bibs, aprons and oven mitts (nothing stayed folded or organized!):

And here is where I was keeping tablecloths and placemats in the laundry room (still being completed but much better than this now):

Blech.

After trying a few different things, I decided that I needed extra drawers accessible to my kitchen.

Enter: my closet dresser (and YES, my closet is on the To Do list! It already looks better than this but is not yet complete).

The missing drawer is due to an assembly "malfunction." I have the parts but lack the appropriate hardware to assemble it. A trip to IKEA's customer service is difficult with 2-3 little ones in tow and so it remains to be done...

I decided that it just takes up too much room in my closet and ended up as a landing place for all sorts of stuff.

Here is my dining room before:

And here it is with my "new" buffet:

After:

The painting is being sold. Once it is gone, I will probably install bracket-less shelves above as Jen did here (click on photo to go to original post)!

I was also waiting to post this because I wasn't sure what was going to end up in these drawers, aside from what I mentioned above. Here is currently how things are:

• dish towels and cloths
• aprons and bibs
• rags
• placemats
• tablecloths
• disposable eatware
• gift wrapping supplies

The gift wrap tubes don't fit the drawer as well as I had hoped and so I am planning to get something like this for behind my laundry room door (click on picture to go to original post).

I moved this dresser here all on my own but when my husband discovered its presence, he was alright with it. Phew!