'The Home Edit' Helps Drew Barrymore Organize Her Messy Kitchen

2022-04-07 05:56:06 By : Mr. James Wang

Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin are back on Netflix for Season 2 of “Get Organized With The Home Edit”—and in the first episode they tackle what’s probably the messiest room of all: the kitchen.

In “Drew Barrymore & an Atlanta Pantry,” the home organizers travel to New York City to help Drew Barrymore tame her test kitchen on the set of her talk show. They also travel to the Atlanta suburb of Loganville, GA, to help a family of four organize their pantry.

“We would not say we know our way around the kitchen as far as cooking goes,” Teplin admits. “We just know how to organize one.”

Between these two very different spaces, Shearer and Teplin prove that there is no cookie-cutter approach to organizing a kitchen, and that it all depends on how it’s used. Check out these smart tips to get your own cook space into shape!

When Barrymore has cooking segments on her talk show, viewers see only the pristine set kitchen. However, the host explains that the prep work is done in a second kitchen behind the scenes—and it’s packed with props and supplies.

“All season long, we’ve got stuff coming in but nothing’s going out,” Barrymore says. “So it’s that time. We want to put the ‘edit’ in ‘The Home Edit.'”

Still, Shearer and Teplin know that this test kitchen needs more tools than a typical home kitchen. (After all, they never know when they’ll have a segment on whisks and need five of them!) So the team focuses on paring down some items and cleverly containing the rest.

“Because this has such a high quantity and high volume of items, we want to ultracontain everything,” Shearer says. “We have bins within bins, everything is ultra-ultra-ultracontained.”

In the end, they prove it can be OK to have a lot of items in a kitchen as long as everything has a place.

Labels are always helpful, but Teplin and Shearer know they’re especially important in Barrymore’s test kitchen, where many people share the space every day.

“Labeling is a set of instructions,” Shearer says. “So it’s the way that the entire household or the entire crew knows where to find things, where to put it away.”

Shearer hand-labels every container, basket, and drawer, creating an elegant way for everyone to find just what they’re looking for.

This test kitchen is beautiful, with a simple white backsplash, green cabinets, and a butcher block island. Still, Teplin and Shearer notice that the drawers are small, which creates a challenge when it comes to organizing kitchen wares.

“When you have an odd-sized drawer, anything that could be extra shallow or even extra deep, you have to really choose your categories wisely,” Shearer says. “In Drew’s case, the drawers were teeny-tiny. So I wanted to really pick things like measuring cups or office supplies, straws, things that would fit in there nicely.”

The team is careful to organize the correctly sized things in particular drawers so that there’s no wasted space. In the end, Barrymore’s team has the most important items conveniently located in a drawer rather than cluttering a counter.

When Barrymore sees the finished kitchen, she’s amazed.

It’s a “game changer,” she says. “I know a lot of people are probably expecting a reaction where you walk in and you’re just so joyful and you start screaming and it’s like giddy girl time.

“This wasn’t that for me,” Barrymore continues. “This was a lot of calm, a lot of Zen, a lot of peace.”

While Barrymore’s test kitchen keeps the team busy, Shearer and Teplin also find time to meet Al and Kelly Hamilton and their two sons in Loganville, GA. This family likes to eat healthily, but their pantry is so disorganized, Kelly struggles to find what she needs.

“I will just overbuy because I don’t know what I have,” Kelly says. “And I buy something else, I go to put it away, and I’m like, ‘Oh, I already had that.'”

Shearer and Teplin suggest putting the food in containers, which will help Kelly know what she needs to buy. Shearer and Teplin also know that different types of containers can help encourage healthy eating (e.g., keeping healthy snacks in clear plastic bins, while hiding less healthy snacks in wicker baskets). These organizers also put produce in wood boxes, making the pantry feel like a mini farmer’s market.

In the end, the pantry looks beautiful and the organization team proves that using different containers is a great way to show off different foods.

While organization is a big problem for this pantry, it’s clear accessibility is also an issue, especially for the couple’s 3-year-old, Zane.

“The shelves don’t seem to be super functional,” Shearer says. “They’re really high off the ground, and poor little Zane can’t even reach the shelf with the snacks.”

So Shearer and Teplin remove the shelves and install new ones that are lower to the ground. And while these shelves are certainly more toddler-friendly, the team is determined to organize the shelves in a way that makes sense for the older members of the family, too.

“We wanted to make sure we had the healthiest snacks, the produce, on an eye-level shelf,” Teplin says.

Now, Zane can grab his snacks with eas, and the rest of the family can walk into the pantry and find lots of fresh produce and healthy snacks right away. (The cookies and chips might require some more digging.) It’s a smart way to encourage healthy eating at home.

Jillian Pretzel is a Southern California writer who covers lifestyle, relationships, home, and money management.

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