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Homes

Organizer tames kitchen chaos

Carla Saavedra turns a place of rude awakenings into the comforting "heartbeat of the home."

By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF
Published May 20, 2005

TAMPA - The way Carla Saavedra sees it, the world is divided into two camps: those who organize their canned goods and those who do not.

Most of us do not, and cannot. We have absolutely no idea what it would be like not to spend our first waking minutes wildly rummaging around for the coffee filters.

Saavedra, a local guru when it comes to kitchen makeovers, thinks the kitchen is the first room a homeowner should tackle.

Not expensive renovations here: Saavedra simply shuttles food, spices, cooking supplies and paper goods into cleverly labeled and organized zones so that clients never hunt for ingredients again.

"I'd say the vast majority of my clients want help organizing their kitchens and pantries," says Saavedra, 40, who owns Clearly Organized, a Tampa-based home organizing business. "Many people want to start organizing in the kids' bedrooms, and I remind them that the first place they go in the mornings is the kitchen, a place that sends them into a state of shock."

Why? Most bleary-eyed working folk can't find their breakfast stuff, let alone make lunches for their kids.

"They can't find the Baggies or chips and when they do, things are stale," she laments.

The HGTV.com category Get Organized! ranks kitchen islands among the top problem areas in a home because they serve as sort of expensive trash receptacles, attracting heaps of mail, bills, homework and paperwork.

The kitchen pantry, whether a walk-in butler's style or a single cabinet in an apartment, also tends to be the catch-all for everything from pasta to Pop Tarts to paper plates.

The 1920s pantry Saavedra faced last week served as primary food storage for a family of four. Cramped, constructed at an odd 90-degree angle and plagued with nonadjustable shelves, it was virtually inaccessible for most people.

Her client, Annesley Cassidy, a South Tampa mother of two girls, Adele, 3, and Macy, 18 months, felt the space simply wasn't working for her anymore.

"This pantry is where I go, where the kids go, and where everything tends to get put back in different places," says Cassidy, a children's clothing consultant who is expecting her third child this summer. "We're in the middle of a kitchen renovation anyway and just felt that this was the time to get organized."

Cassidy asked Saavedra to help her better organize so that she could find things quickly and have that Dewey decimal sense of order to her kitchen.

"The biggest mistake people make in their kitchens is not having a sense of order, an actual system," explains Saavedra, who carries a labelmaker on all her jobs and actually alphabetizes storage containers for her clients.

Saavedra got to work in Cassidy's kitchen by first pulling everything out of the pantry. She divided the food into cardboard boxes and urged her client to toss anything out of date or that she won't use.

Her goal was to contain pantry goods using clear storage bins, tiered turntables and over-the-door storage racks - her favorite. She then created zones based on frequency of use. Hot chocolate, coffee and apple cider went to a high shelf during the summer months, when Cassidy was less likely to want them. Food items Cassidy uses a lot were grouped within easy reach, including a plastic bin designated for pasta only. Other containers devoted solely to cereal or instant breakfast mixes were also placed at arm's length.

At Get Organized! HGTV organizing expert Louise Kurzeka suggests grouping like items, such as creating a breakfast center for the toaster, cereal, teapot and other items. She also recommends a pegboard for holding gadgets, pots and pans, and storing day-to-day items within easy reach: wooden spoons and spatulas next to the stove, dishes and silverware near the dishwasher or sink. Freestanding bookshelves in the kitchen offer room for cookbooks, glasses, small appliances and canisters.

"People want their kitchens organized because it's the first place they land every day, where they entertain and where everyone tends to gather," says Saavedra, whose tips for making any kitchen attractive and workable include the following:

* Create consistency by using containers. It doesn't matter what kind, she says, and it's a good place to save money. (Saavedra prefers the sturdy, inexpensive variety made by Sterilite.) White and clear are "easy on the eye."

* Label containers and shelves so that putting things back in the proper place is easy.

* Make each pantry shelf its own zone. If you have the space, consider devoting a shelf to pasta, cereals, snacks and picnic supplies.

* Leave open space in containers and on the shelves so that you have room to grow "without creating a mess again."

Saavedra, a high-octane organizer who studied in Salt Lake City under nationally renowned organizing expert Marla Dee, travels with her own apron and a selection of clear-plastic storage containers in the trunk of her car: "I arrive with everything a client might need," she says matter-of-factly.

So just how did she get so organized?

"I'm the youngest of five and I've always been organized. My mind just works that way," she says. "The kitchen is where everything happens. It's the heartbeat of the home."

-Reach Carla Saavedra at (813) 263-4090.

[Last modified May 19, 2005, 08:41:13]