A few months ago, our trusty old drip coffee maker bit the dust. It was the one that you may have seen here in my “how to clean a drip coffee maker” post. This time around, we decided to try out one of those single-serve coffee makers that have been so popular in recent years. I’ve actually always been pretty against them because the idea of making just one cup of coffee at a time seemed silly, but we decided to see what the fuss was about. Of course, as it turns out, we absolutely love it and (bonus) I end up drinking coffee quite a bit more often these days and get a lot more done too! 🙂
We ended up going with the Tassimo type of single-serve coffee maker. It seems like the Keurig is actually a bit more popular, but I wanted something that would fit neatly on my counter, just under my upper cabinet, and all of the Keurig models that I found were so much taller than the Tassimos and just wouldn’t fit. So that was a deal-breaker! I love our little workhorse of a Tassimo!
Of course, now we have all of these different coffee and tea pods around all the time because we just had to try out every single type of pod that we could get our hands on! Those little T-discs are a lot of fun, but where in the world are you supposed to keep all of them? All of the organizers that I’ve seen in stores and online have either been really ugly or have had really bad reviews for not functioning well or for being wobbly.
My first idea was to just stick all of the pods in one of my favorite big glass jars and call it a day, but of course Chris had another idea. Another more complicated idea. One that I thought was kind of a big waste of time, but I just chalked it up to being a silly project that wouldn’t really work out but that he would have fun with. And now of course I love what he came up with. 🙂 Actually, this is my favorite little corner of the kitchen right now just because it always feels so tidy and organized.
See how nice it looks with the Tassimo fitting so neatly under the cupboard and the organizers displaying all the different pods like that?
There’s a big place in my heart that loves seeing things all nicely lined up like this.
Chris put these together using some basic pine and some galvanized metal rods to hold the T-discs in place. There are two rods holding each section of discs in the front of each section and then one in the back behind where the discs sit, making a little triangular compartment for the discs to slide into.
I used one coat of my favorite Rustoleum Early American stain, just to give them a bit of color and I just love how they turned out!
If you have some little T-Discs or other coffee pods to organize, you can easily make your own organizer to fit perfectly into your space instead of trying to find something suitable from the rather sad selection of plastic ones that you usually find in stores. You basically just need to throw together a little wooden shelf, stain or paint it in a color of your choice, and you’re all set!
If you’re thinking that our kitchen is looking a bit different from the last time you saw it, you’re right! More on that coming up soon!
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.