When Ryan sent me this picture of the kitchen of a rental house he looked at, I was pretty stoked! A kitchen inside the house!! After last year’s kitchen, I was ready to move back to an indoor kitchen. So, we signed the lease and moved in. There really wasn’t much work needed to make it livable, besides cleaning and purchasing a few basic items. But, we didn’t have room to bring our solid wood counter we had built last year, so there wasn’t a lot of counter space in the kitchen.
I make a pretty big mess when I cook, so I don’t do too well with limited counter space.
So, my handy husband decided to make a shelf for the dish rack to sit on, which would extend the counter and free up space to pile the dirty dishes.
After measuring the nook where it would sit, as well as the counter height, he brought some boards home on his motorbike and built a frame. 
Then he used a piece of leftover plywood to make the top.
Finally, he bought some clear plastic and stapled it over the top, protecting the plywood from becoming a mushy rotten board. Start to finish, the project only took part of the afternoon.
Now I have a great spot for all those dirty dishes.
And, bonus – the bottom has a little room to hold kitchen towels/rags and plastic bags.
Are you a messy or neat cook? Where do you dry your dishes?
Melissa: What a great story. I am both a messy & neat cook. But I have a bonus in my house as John is more than happy to clean up as he doesn’t do any cooking. I tend to stop along the way if the kitchen becomes a huge mess; clean everything up and then go back to the task at hand. Dishes these days tend to dry on the counter top. I don’t use my dish washer at all except to store “stuff!” Everyone has their own system that works for them – and I’m sure the kitchen is a fun place to be in your household.
LikeLike