Last fall I shared a post called How To Make Your Kitchen Feel Bigger - Use Items With Multiple Purposes. I shared several items that you could use in different ways, rather than having a kitchen cluttered with items that can only do one thing.
Today I want to continue with the idea of items having multiple purposes. This is my number one tip for making your kitchen feel bigger! And I've got a small kitchen... so this tip really works!
My Nutri Ninja 2 in 1
My next investment (after the 5 in 1 Griddler that I shared in the other post) was the Nutri Ninja 2-in-1 {affiliate links}.
This machine has replaced my blender, my food processor, and my bread maker. Not bad for one little appliance!
I use the blender part of the Nutri Ninja 2 in 1 almost every day... sometimes more than once. We love making smoothies in it {and I'm getting my kids to consume more fruits and especially vegetables as a result}!
You just put all your ingredients into the cup part and then screw on the blade. Then tip it upside down and set it on the power pod and pulse. In a few seconds you've got a smoothie! Or a milkshake. I could have used this when I made homemade baby food too.
It's smaller than our old blender was, but we rarely ever made anything that needed the full size anyway. And what I've done now is fill both cups at the same time with our ingredients (like when I'm making a smoothie or milkshake for all 4 of us), and then just pop each one on separately for a few seconds. Even with 2 cups, it's easier to clean than that big blender was.
So that replaced my blender. But remember my goal was to replace multiple items... and this baby also replaced my food processor.
I rarely used our food processor. It was just such a pain to have to get it all set up, and then clean all the parts afterwards. One of the few times I used it was to grate up soap when I make my own DIY laundry detergent. The rest of the time it just took up a lot of space.
The Nutri Ninja 2 in 1 comes with a food processor (that's the beautiful 2 in 1 part!). There's a large processor bowl and 2 blades. You invert the power pod and put the bowl on top and in seconds you've got chopped veggies, crushed ice, or sliced nuts. I tested it out on my laundry soap and it grated the bars beautifully!
There's also a dough blade so you can make cookie dough or bread dough in it. There's another appliance replaced! We only use our breadmaker to blend all the ingredients together and turn them into a ball of dough. Then we remove the dough, put it into whatever shapes and sizes we want it in, depending on if we're making bread, buns, breadsticks, etc. And we always bake it in the oven instead of the breadmaker.
The Nutri Ninja 2 in 1 is great for making the dough so we don't need the big bulky breadmaker any more!
I keep the Nutri Ninja 2 in 1 in the kitchen cabinet over our sink. I've got a basket with the blender blade, cups, and lids. The power pod is on the shelf beside the basket. Above that I've got a basket with the food processor and lids, with the processor bowl just beside it. I just rearranged a few other things to make space for everything.
It's simple to grab the pieces I need, use them, clean them, and then pop them back on the shelf. All the pieces are dishwasher safe so clean up is a breeze. A lot of the time I just rinse them in hot water and re-use them though. Even simpler.
So we went from this...
To this!
Isn't that fabulous?! My kitchen feels so much bigger!
Now I know you may not be able to just run out and spend money on new multi-purpose appliances, but start thinking about which ones would work for you, research them, and add them to birthday or holiday wish lists. Or save coupons and watch for sales. It's worth it!
You'll love the additional space in your kitchen when you start finding multi-purpose appliances and gadgets!
{And no, I'm not being paid to promote Nutri Ninja or anything... I just really like this grill! Although the links in this post are affiliate links, so I make a small commission, at no additional cost to you, if you choose to buy something after clicking on them.}
[Update: Just after taking pictures for this post, we decided to keep our breadmaker... for now. It turns out that a lot of our dough recipes are too big for the bowl that comes with the Nutri Ninja 2 in 1 (we also do a lot of double recipes so we end up with more bread without taking any extra time). I'll be looking out for some smaller sized recipes (and also see if it's as easy to make a double batch of dough as it is to make a double batch of smoothies). Hopefully in the future we'll declutter the breadmaker. For now, it's back in the bottom of our pantry. I'm still very happy to be rid of the big blender and food processor we used to have, and those alone have saved us quite a bit of space!]
I've got one more post in this series... and I'll be talking about food storage containers!
For more tips like the ones in this post, you can check out my Kitchen Organizing board on Pinterest.
What can you declutter from your kitchen to make it feel bigger? Do you have any multi-functioning items in your kitchen that save you space? Is there a category of things in your kitchen that you want to replace with one multi-purpose item?
Happy organizing!
I link up at these great parties - Check them out!
