Spring Projects: Destroy Kitchen Shelves

The hot season in Mérida usually blasts in toward the end of April or early May.  This year the temperatures hit 100°F almost every day in March.  The evenings cooled down to low 70's; the brisk nights gave us a chance to reacclimate to the daytime heat.  It seems we haven't had a drop of rain in months, but with the heat comes humidity, and 'heat and humidity' is my favorite weather combo.

In mid April the temps rose even higher.  Being more acclimated to and happy to feel the tropical sun and heat, I got into spring cleaning mode. If you read the previous blog you know I repaired and relocated - and replaced - my desk.  That mission accomplished, I decided to work on the kitchen. 

When I moved into this house in July of 2007 the kitchen had cupboards in place.  I had the top(green) cupboards screened in to allow air but dissuade bugs.  The bottom doors were plastic and I should have gotten rid of them at the time.  They survived about two years. 

Over time I have ripped out the plastic doors as they became dysfunctional and started to bug me.  Once the doors were gone, the lower cupboards seemed so much larger.  Still, the supports for the plastic doors stood there blocking access. 

I took everything out and piled it up on the floor.  I removed the rusty old screws and was able to yank out all the fake supports.  They have nothing to do with the functional Mexican style shelves that were hiding behind that phony plastic shield.

Some people think having all your food, pots, pans, plastic containers and such in the open is not aesthetically acceptable.  I don't like closed doors and I guess that feeling extends to kitchen shelves.  Frankly I think it's the 30 years living in the tropics.  I get a bit obsessive about storing items in jars, being able to use all available space, and I don't like sharing my food with bugs.