I have “little piles” around the house. You know what I mean? There are disorganized areas that bug me. I could rattle them off – office desk, laundry room counter, husband’s under sink cabinet in our bathroom…. blah blah blah.
I tackled one on the list a few days ago – the top of our refrigerator! I was inspired by my friend Vanessa over at Mamma’s Happy Hive. If you haven’t visited her blog, do! She highlights fun Montessori-inspired activities for her sweet boy Little Bee and has amazing organization tips!
Vanessa shared this post about ideas for organizing her kitchen, and she mentioned putting baskets on top of her refrigerator to hide stuff.
I literally DOL (that’s Duh Out Loud, in case you’re not in the know).
I have a problem with clutter on top of my refrigerator. 1) We don’t have a pantry inside our kitchen, which means I’m always looking for a place to stash perishables. And 2) my husband likes quick access to tortilla chips. So we’ve been keeping miscellaneous food items up there for a while. I was also storing some random eating-related items that Elizabeth hadn’t quite grown into yet.
It was a mess.
I went to Home Goods for a wander (bad idea – Home Goods is like Target for me. I just can’t wander in there. My car trunk will get full…) and I came across a large basket, perfect for the top of the refrigerator! 
It’s large and deep, which means I won’t be able to see the tops of packages. The basket also had this fun plaque detailing. It looked like it might be a chalkboard slate, but it’s not. Oh well. It may be a pain to haul down, but it’s pretty! Hey, for $16.99, I can put up with anything!
Once I got home, I took everything down and sorted through it. What needed to stay up on the refrigerator? What needed a home elsewhere?
It was clear the food items should stay up on the refrigerator (quick access to chips!), but the baby things needed homes elsewhere. Once I got that sorted, the food went into the basket, and the basket went up to its new home up on the refrigerator.
And it looks great!
Much better, right?
Husband has already complained it restricts his access to the tortilla chips. I get it. You have to haul down this basket any time you need something from there, but hey! I’d rather do that than stare at the jumble.
Ready for a before/after? Ta-da!
Any recent Quick Home Organization projects at your house? Did you blog about it? Share a link with me in the comments! I’d love to stop by and visit!
Looks great! I love the clutter free fridge. Ours becomes a resting place, because we have to store so much on top of the fridge so the dog won’t eat it!!
Thanks! I completely understand, Laura. Us not having a pantry is sometimes challenging, and storing stuff up there is a necessity!
I should do something like this for the top of my fridge. I have so much junk up there. Pictures we haven’t hung up yet. (We have lived her for 2.5 years.) Sugar container, electric opener for wine bottles, dry erase pens, the list goes on and on. I’m kind of afraid to look and see what all is up there. Lol.
I’ll confess – I found an opened bag of tortialla chips, shoved way back… ick. And it was dusty! It does make a nice change looking up and seeing a basket now, instead of stuff!
Love the new basket, it is really pretty and hides stuff well. In our house just reach up and over our basket to pull out the chip bag. Maybe your fridge is higher 🙂 It looks organized now! Great job Katie!
Thanks for the inspiration! The fridge is tall, and the basket is tall, so maybe I should have purchased a different basket, but I love the look. That’s what matters 🙂
I need to do this! It looks wonderful!
Thanks! It’s a pretty tall basket… so perhaps a little challenging to get things in and out, BUT I like not being able to see the food at all.
Lovely idea, it looks so great! I really try to keep the top of our refrigerator cleared off, especially because I need to be able to get into the cupboard over the fridge without having to move a million things. I did a fridge clear-off as one of my 52 Projects in 52 Weeks series. But right now I spy a bottle of bourbon, a gigantic bottle of honey, and an Easter basket. 🙂
Baskets are my weakness. I try to declutter frequently so that I don’t NEED lots of baskets to hide clutter, but some things are inevitable . . . like chips, haha.
Thank ya! It’s hard to keep that refrigerator clean. I haven’t been into baskets much, but I admit, this new one may get me hooked! Or at least encourage me to hunt for them more often 🙂
Hope you’ll be linking up for High Five for Friday tomorrow!!