A Place for Everything and Everything in it’s place
I loved walking past the butler’s pantry at Casa Mi Ojo in Careyes, Mexico during our recent visit. It was so serene, cool and calm.
Simple, lovely, local hand crafted crockery all cleaned, stacked, and rowed, neat and tidy, and ready for the next occasion.
A place for everything and everything in it’s place.
This orderly butler’s pantry reminded me of a little project which had been put off for quite some time back at the market.
Butler’s pantries (or china pantries) were traditionally built between the kitchen and dining room, allowing easy access to glassware and china and providing counter space for trays of appetizers, drinks, or desserts.
Here is more information from Wikipedia: “In America, pantries evolved from Early American “butteries”, built in a cold north corner of a Colonial home [more commonly referred to and spelled as “butt’ry”], into a variety of pantries in self-sufficient farmsteads. Butler’s pantries, or china pantries, were built between the dining room and kitchen of a middle class English or American home, especially in the latter part of the 19th into the early 20th centuries. Great estates, such as Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina [1] or Stan Hywet Hall in Akron, Ohio [2] had large warrens of pantries and other domestic “offices”, echoing their British ‘Great House’ counterparts.”
The “butler’s pantry” at the market is really more of a glorified closet, near the kitchen. This is where we store everyday and casual serveware. The more formal serveware is stored in cabinets in the dining room.
Our butler’s pantry has become a little overwhelmed and overwhelming as of late, it had gotten to the point where I really didn’t even want to open the door. What I came to realize, after months of contemplation, is that many of the items stored there were just “in the way”, making it hard to access the things I like to use on a frequent basis.
Once I found another space for some of the items used less frequently (mostly tea sets, cake stands and paper products), I knew I had carved out enough room to create a functional and pleasant setting for my day-to-day serveware.
To jazz things up a bit, I painted the bottom half of the cream colored closet a splendid shade of turquoise. I knew it would be the perfect background for my white pieces.
Next, after taking measurements of the closet and the shelves, I visited The Container Store. There I found shelving units, support stands and this great, natural looking shelf liner – which is anything but natural! I like how it cushions the dishes and provides a softer aesthetics.
Once the pantry was cleaned, painted and the shelves were lined, the real fun began: finding a place for everything, and putting everything in it’s place. On the back wall, bottom shelf (more of a “riser”, to lift them from the floor, from CS) rests our most frequently used trays and boards.
The second, and most accessible shelf, became home to the white serveware (mostly BIA or Cordon Bleu). By color sorting, I can always see every size available that “goes” together. A number of BIA pieces are available in Splendid Items.
Next floor up, the blue and white dishes, very complementary to the all white pieces.
A soapstone square was placed on one end of the shelf to keep the smaller items from falling between the cracks.
I love collecting small serving pieces on my travels, they make very useful souvenirs, and help to keep the memories fresh. The small bowls with the scrolls are from Istanbul, the bowls to the right are from Tanzania, and the yellow pitcher in the back is from Provence. By sticking to a color scheme, these global pieces will always mix easily – and we can feel like we have our own little UN gathering around the table!
These beaded, nesting baskets are from a market in Nigeria.
On the next shelf up I put the glass and crystal pieces (which I use less often);
and the funky, random silver pieces that I like to use for kitchen bouquets. Jeeves would be so ashamed of their finish!
Up on the highest shelf of the back wall, I used a shelf divider and placed the trays and baking containers that are used only occasionally.
Stored on the other wall, are items that were less “compartmentable”. On the top of a three-shelf unit are baskets full of little useful things, sorted by occasion. Extra serving utensils, raclette scrapers,
shellfish utensils,
a selection of skewers (my favorites are the porcupine quills from South Africa),
cheese knives,
bone and horn spoons,
and fun drinking straws,
all fit nicely in these baskets, which have each tragically lost the glasses that they used to hold!
Other favorites in the “random department” include these giant scallop shells from Mexico, which offer a refreshing alternative to small bowls.
Fun water containers, ready and waiting for the table.
A bread basket, well seasoned salad bowl and kitchen platters,
and these darling miniature paella pans my mother-in-law found in Portugal, the only item I have NEVER used, (but I will, soon!) all easily within reach for any occasion.
It took a stretch of 2 days to complete this project, and once I was committed, it became an intriguing puzzle of possibilities I took great pleasure in obsessing over. Of course, when I was finished I was so thrilled with the efficiency of this space I wondered why I had put it off for so long.
Now, Jeeves, please, just grant me the discipline to keep everything in it’s place!!
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