Well, the fridge didn’t end up breaking down but our oven did. And since we were out getting a new oven, I thought we might as well get a new fridge to match. Matthew’s school was in need of a fridge so it was good timing for everyone!
Our fridge space in our kitchen is rather small and, since taking out cabinets was not an option, our fridge choices were rather limited. If we wanted to stick to a bottom freezer {which I did!}, we had our choice of about one fridge. At least it made the decision making process easy!
So the fridge arrived and I was surprised to find out that it wasn’t magnetic. Um, aren’t all fridges magnetic? Connor was devastated to learn that his magnetic fridge toys had to be relocated to another location but I must say that I do not miss that Leap Frog alphabet song being played over and over again. The Word Whammer served its purpose well and has taught both the boys their letters and sounds but its time was up!
The fridge front was looking a little plain so I brought out my Silhouette and dressed it up with a little vinyl.
Now…moving on to the inside of the fridge. Organizing your fridge is all about maximizing the space that is available to make your food more accessible {think 2 week old leftovers shoved into a back corner} and prolonging the shelf life of the items stored. The layouts of each fridge can be very different depending on what style you have, but here are a few tips to get you going.
- Remove all the items from the fridge and wipe down shelves. Remove and wash any bins.
- This should be obvious, but throw away all expired food items or items that will not be consumed before they are expired.
- Sort your items out into groups such as produce, meats, breads, condiments, etc. Bins are great ways to organize similar food items together and make it much easier to find what you are looking for. I picked up a few bins at Walmart for our bread items {bread, buns, pitas, tortillas, etc} and other jars/small containers.
- I have read that the bottom shelf is usually the coldest but I think this varies from fridge to fridge. In our last fridge, the top shelf was always the coldest and we had difficulty storing items here without them freezing. Maybe this has something to do with where your freezer is located in relation to the fridge?
- Using white vinyl, I labelled our drawers for Proteins {My hubby is a vegetarian so a lot of our protein is not actually “meat”}, Fruits, and Veggies. I think this would look really nice with the Silhouette frosted glass vinyl as well but I couldn’t find any locally and was too impatient to order some in.
- I also labelled the Cheese cubicle in the fridge door.
- Store items as much as possible in see through containers to make things easier to find.
- Store your most used condiments in the fridge door {You can use the bins to store the remainder of them in the fridge}
- I store all my large drink items in the fridge door as well. I have heard that it is best not to store milk here due to variable temperatures but my milk is always cold and I have never had any problems with it.
- Bins can work well in the freezer as well to sort out your items. My freezer has a little pullout drawer on the top fro smaller items and the ice trays.
- I couldn’t do a fridge posting, without sharing one of my favorite little kitchen gadgets. I got this for Christmas a couple of years ago but have seen them at Home Sense and Safeway. It’s a little topper to go on your frozen food bags such as peas and corn.
- The grey part comes out and you wrap the top of the bag over it. Then you stick on the green part and you have a nice sealed bag with a little pour spout. No more peas and corn all over the bottom of the freezer!
And here is the rest of the freezer. I love how it came with a divider to create two bins.
Well, hopefully that helps you out. Let me know if you have discovered any other great fridge organizing tips. If you need to get caught up on the other kitchen organizing posts, the medicine cabinet can be found here and under the kitchen sink can be found here. Next up, the cupboards!
I linked up with Chic on a Shoestring, The CSI Project, The Thrifty Decor Chick, I Heart Organizing, Tip Junkie, Tatertots and Jello, 30 Days, Fingerprints on the Fridge, 504 Main, Somewhat Simple, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, The Stories of A to Z, Today’s Creative Blog, Skip to My Lou, Ask Anna, Craft-O-Maniac, Young and Crafty, The Girl Creative, The DIY Project Parade, CRAFT, The Creative Crate, I Heart Naptime, Under the Table and Dreaming, Be Different Act Normal, Whipperberry, At the Picket Fence, The Shabby Nest, Lil Luna, Org Junkie and Blue Cricket Design.
I’m dying to change ours to stainless but not until one of them dies : )
I love what you did with the vinyl. so cute!
Very Cool! (no pun intended)
I really want a fridge w/the freezer underneath but have to wait till the one we have passes on. I have celiac disease, and eat gluten-free, so I can appreciate separating w/a special drawer like you have marked “protein” – mine would say “STAY OUT” b/c my non-celiac family members like to eat my cheese and nuts and stuff. 🙂
Hey, I really love your new fridge! I wish mine was that organized. I just wanted to let you know that its not really safe to store your milk in the door like that. The temperature of the door fluctuates a lot so it can make milk sour faster. (I have never had a fridge that had the freezer on the bottom though, I just work as a chef and get that sanitation stuff crammed in my head) The sticker is an awesome idea too! I had no idea fridges could come un-magnetized. Learn something new every day!
Hi Jenn! Thanks so much for visiting me! You are so sweet! I love your new fridge..especially the Bon Appetit you added…very classy touch! Isn’t it so nice that Spring is here after a long winter! I have been peeking at all your lovely projects while I was on break! Your posts are so inspirational! Keep up the amazing work! Angie xo
great idea. I am still working in the home office, and I have to big projects to do in less than 10 days. kids room and attic.
Jenn-
This made me want to clean out my fridge and get a a SIL. I think the more things are labeled, the more likely we are to put things back where they belong.
If you have a moment today, please share this with my readers @Creative Juice Thursday Hope to see yours among all the amazing projects!
I totally need to clean and organize my fridge (don’t get me started on the freezer)! That is my project for next week! Thanks for helping with my motivation! Come over to Greetings From the Asylum and check it out! Maybe Monday…..
Fun idea! Can’t wait to update my fridge. Thanks 🙂 Happy Weekend!
Oh my goodness, I LOVE to organize and love your blog 🙂 Everything looks so much cleaner when organized! 🙂
brilliant idea 🙂 I love it
I really need to organize my fridge. My husband often complains how neither of us puts things back in the same place. I think it is because we have a small fridge so I have to rearrange things. Plus, we really can’t use the top shelf because it does that freezing thing you mentioned. I love the basket idea. I think this would be really helpful to us. I also ADORE the idea of vinyl.
My fridge is my disaster zone…always.
Awesome! We are in the process of remodeling our kitchen (see blog for pics!) and we have stainless now too. I need to start out having my kitchen all organized so it can stay that way–and I love using baskets in the fridge!
brilliant my dear! thanks so much for partying with whipperberry!!
kisses
I never thought of using baskets like that in the fridge. Thanks for the tip.
I’m inspired to clean out my fridge now! It’s officially on the to-do list! I would have never thought of putting storage bins in a fridge but I think that will work great! Thanks for the tips 🙂
Amazing! Love the labels. I use bins but I am going to march right in the kitchen and label them. Thanks for the inspiration.
wow this is awesome! thanks for posting this. I really need to organize my fridge and that opener for the peas and stuff is great.
kathryn
http://www.thedragonsfairytail.blogspot.com
I love the drawer labels! Who knew a fridge could look so stylish? 🙂
Great organization of your fridge! Mine is similar too – minus the milk on the door. I keep mine top shelp to the back where it’s coldest, and it helps ther milk last longer =)
xo Lynda
I love this idea and pinned it! Thank you for sharing. I found this through the craft o maniac linky party come and say hi
tyandwhitneyulrich.blogspot.com
What a great post. I love your new fridge! The inside of your fridge looks just like mine (even the same baskets, except my baskets have red on them). Thanks for linking this up with Weekend Warrior!
Anna
http://www.askannamoseley.com
I love your ideas. I’m going to pick up some bins and get to organizing this weekend. Thank you so much!
We have the same refrig, but ours is white. I love it. I love that I don’t have to bend to get anything out of the refrig. I would have not thought of using baskets in the refrig.
Love your ideas, but where do you put the beer?
Organization like this just makes my heart happy. I LOVEEEEEEE your labels! They are so cute! And the one on the front – totally adorable.
I’ve seen those bag lid thingies and wondered if they worked. Now I’ll have to get some. 🙂
That’s funny. I was shocked when my stainless was not magnetic too. I love the vinyl labeling! I’ve never had a problem with my milk in the door of my freezer on the bottom style fridge either.
I love being organised, and your fridge is looking great….makes it much easier to find things.
You seem to be a woman after my own heart…hehe! I LOVE this post and can’t wait to use the ideas in our new home! I can’t wait to read the rest of your blog!!
where do you get the vinyl labels??
Great post! You’ve made me want to go and organize my fridge!
great ideas – thanks!
I use one of those 3M hanger things to hang my calendar on my stainless steel frig. I have had one of those day runner frig things for years and just could not stand the thought, was so happy to think of that. Good job! Plus the sides of my frig are magnetic.
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fantastically adorable!
Love the labels in the fridge!! My husband and I are always reorganizing and screwing up each other’s organizing “systems”! This way, I could claim mine once and for all 😉
These are some great ideas. I’ll try to get up the courage to use them some day! I love the “say cheese”.
Warmly, Michelle
vinyl in the fridge?!?! so smart!!! I shared your post here: http://dollarstoremom.com/2012/01/pinterest-picks-22/
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You have inspired me to put labels on my drawers in the fridge too! Awesome post, thanks!
Tamika
http://www.notimefortea.com
stainless steel is not magnetic. fake stainless may be….
Instead of buying the tool to seal your bags of frozen peas and corn, cut the top off a plastic milk container (or juice) with a screw-on lid. Push the bag through the opening, spread it over the top and screw on the cap. Voilà! A “free” one! (here’s a picture http://emiliedwolf.blogspot.ca/2010/10/being-green-reusing-plastic-bottles.html?showComment=1338309315648)
such an awesome idea for organising our fridge, because fridge is the disastourous zone of my kitchen….
thanks for this post! This looks like a great fridge! i love a bottom freezeer type too. FYI, in case you were wishing for a French door type with two doors – in my opinion the one door is waayyy better. My french door one requires two hands! and there is less door space. I don’t care if my next one is white – i want a one door bottom freezer next time.
BTW- I usually keep my bread in the cupboard cuz I don’t have room in the fridge. How do you fit it all in? What do you do with overflow? do you have another fridge somewhere?
Where did you get the white labels?
You just justified my desire to buy a Silhouette. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!