10 Unusual Uses for Kitchen Items.

Yes this is for the Unusual Uses: Kitchen Challenge.

Many things in the kitchen can be used for other than preparing food and drink or cleanup AFTER you dirty up the place.I'll list a few ways to reuse items, use them in different ways and maybe some items re-purposed for something else.

BLENDER : If you are doing paper mache but need a little more detail than the standard strips and paste, rip up an old phone book into 1 inch strips, place in your blender or food processor and shred it down to tiny little pieces. Add a little water as the pieces get smaller.  Otherwise they will start to float above the blades Then just squeeze out the excess water and add some glue, paste or mod podge to the results. this will act a lot like sticky clay but is just paper and glue. Don't make it to thick. Remember this is just for extra detail. Paper can mold.

Dishwasher Silverware basket: Getting a new dishwasher? Don't throw out that old silverware basket. I used ours and hung it on the under sink pull out rack. It came with a small chrome basket that hung on the side already, but there was room for more. (See pic)

Old Refrigerator : Getting a new Fridge but the old one still works? Put the old one out in the garage and use it as a liqueur cabinet, extra storage for juice soda ext,

Old coffee containers: Does this really need to be said? I don't know but going to add it.DON'T toss out old coffee cans or coffee containers. They make great bins for nails, screws, small parts. This goes along with soup cans, (I prefer the family sized ones) Peanut butter jars (plastic ones). I use SPAM cans near my desk for holding stuff too. (This is more a pop culture thing than anything else.)

Baby Food Jars: These things work great for smaller parts, beads, ect. (I did the following at my old house but kids have been off of baby food for years!!!)  I threw them into the dishwasher first, Don't forget to wash the lid. Using a 2x2 piece of lumber center and screw the lids down about 3 inches a part. You can do this on all four sides then put it in your workshop up high with only one screw going into the center of each end...This will allow it to rotate. Now fill the jars with small screws or what not and screw them into the lids. This way you rotate the 2x2 until the Jar you want is hanging down and unscrew.

Picnic Basket: Have one of those picnic baskets you can get with plates and utensils? I converted one that we just never used. (we live in the Pacific North West. It rains a lot) This one my daughter uses as an overnight bag. We cut all the straps off and it was ready to go. (they were half torn off anyways.

Boiling water: Besides making tea, cooking eggs, or noodles you can use boiling water to form some plastics or foam. (Look at my Laser pistol build.)

Fancy Liqueur bottles: We used fancy ones to store lamp oil. (lol we don't even have lamps to use them anymore. They have just been part of the kitchen decor for so long we couldn't give them up.

Garbage Cans: I will occasionally pick up a plastic kitchen garbage bin at WalMart to simply cut up to use the plastic for projects. Havn't done this in a while since I've been using square buckets that were free. (the garbage cans cut so much easier though) I've also used clear 2liter soda bottles when I needed clear plastic.

Tin Foil: I know there are plenty of projects out there that involve tin foil but I haven't seen to many who just use it to make an under layer in paper mache. You can crumple it up then form it into ridge details,


Fire Extinguisher: Ok you don't do anything with this. It just sits there until you need it. Check it quarterly to make sure its still in the green. You can get them at WalMart for 15 bucks. or a little more if you get the fancy wood box in the picture below. BUT you can use the Fancy box for projects if you want. Two items for one.

I know this isn't some in-depth ible on how to turn your old toaster oven in to the heating elements on your vacuum former or to turn a paper plate into a simple speaker its just how to re-purpose items that I have personally done. Plus you can already find these things online.



Bonus Material!

Other things and Misc tips:

1) I've been know to use Comet Cleaner with bleach to kill bad Body Oder...I was in the US army for 7 years and sometime when we came off a field problem where we hadn't showered for weeks ,It was the only thing that will kill the bacteria that causes underarm odor. I don't suggest doing this but it worked for me. Is that TMI?

2) I add some dawn dish washing soap to weed killer when I spray. It seams to make it stick better. I couldn't kill off a patch of blackberries until I tried this.

3) Sprinkle paprika on ant trails, in cracks and near entryways to deter ants from getting into your house. If they are already there your going to need to spray or bomb.

4) I have used the oven, set on warm, to heat up craft foam. Just don't leave it there. I only let it sit in the warm oven for 5 minutes. When removed and wrapped around the form it set very quickly. Almost to quickly so I switched to using the sink and boiling water.