Re-arranging the kitchen

I got new cupboards in my kitchen, and spent a day worrying about re-arranging the storage space. At the start, I was searching for the perfect place to keep each item--should all canned goods be kept together, or should canned soup have its own place? What about baking needs? What should go where to make my tasks easier? should mixing bowls next to the mixer, or near the flour and sugar?

These questions vexed me for hours. I was trying to discover the Platonic ideal for kitchen storage, and it made my head ache. After putting the soup on the same shelf as other canned goods, I gave it its own shelf space, then discovered I did not have enough soup to fill the shelf. So canned pears went on the shelf. Then green beans and cranberry sauce. What about olives? Should they be with pickles? Even though the pickles are in a jar? Ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise?

It was 5 o'clock, and I hadn't even had a chance to read the morning paper. And I was going out at 7:15. So I ended up just putting everything any old place, just to get it out of my sight, Platonic ideal be damned.