Depression Sucks

Last week was an amazing week.  I was happy, productive, and felt like there was finally some balance in my life.  It was a good mental health week.  Then Tuesday arrived and it's like I've hit a wall.  I'm unfocused, unproductive, and unbalanced.

I want every week to be like last week and it's not.  Depression sucks.

Kitchen Questions

I'm working my way through One Year to an Organized Life by Regina Leeds.  Part of the first section is devoted to helping me understand how I currently use my kitchen and how I would like to use it.  Here are my answers to selected questions posed in the text.

What do you like about your kitchen?
I like that there is plenty of storage space for my pots, pans, and baking supplies.  There is sufficient lighting and even a window overlooking the back yard.  My favorite part is probably the pantry.  I imagine it filled with self-canned, homemade, and real foods.  I like having a double sink and really hot water.  In general, the layout seems to work for us given the small space.  It's not like we could change that anyway!

What do you dislike about your kitchen?  
Pretty much everything else!  Unfortunately, most things can't be remedied since we rent this house:

• Fridge/Freezer.  When we first moved into this house, we were excited about the side-by-side fridge/freezer with a water/ice dispenser.  Since then, we've realized that the ice maker and water dispenser never have worked and never will work.  Because there are no shelves in the freezer, only curved drawers, we can't even make our own ice in ice cube trays.  Instead we have to buy bagged ice from the store.  Also, the shelves/drawers are immovable on both halves.  This is particularly problematic on the fridge side; it's so hard to make everything fit!
• Cabinets.  On first glance, the cabinets aren't that bad.  They're not my style, but aren't the end of the world.  I think it's annoying and pointless that the area between the top of the cabinets and the ceiling is closed off.  However, my biggest problem with them is the insides, which are unfinished!  We tried lining each shelf with contact paper, but it doesn't stick.  Any other ideas?  Splinters in my glasses and on our plates is unacceptable!
• Counters.  After living in three rental properties, we've realized the utter lack of respect people have.  Do people not own cutting boards?  There's also not enough counter space, but I'm not convinced any kitchen would have enough counter space for me :)

Are there any cosmetic changes or tools you could introduce that would make the space work better?
We would really like to buy a small deep-freeze in order to preserve more foodstuffs throughout the year.  This would also provide a space to make our own ice.

We recently purchased a small cabinet for the bread and coffee machines, which freed up some counter space.  Hanging a mug rack above the coffee machine and storing items with the two machines in the cabinet would make this space even more functional.  I've recently started setting up the coffee maker in the evening and setting the timer so that coffee is already ready by the time I get up.  I may use a similar feature on the bread machine in the future.

The kitchen, and house in general, is not personalized.  We've been cautious of putting money into a rental property in the past, but since we're planning on being here for another 3-4 years, we are starting to consider making temporary cosmetic changes.  We don't plan on painting any walls, but are looking at hanging artwork and pictures, making curtains or valences, etc.  We want to be happy living in this space!

What we need is a simple, functional space.  Our kitchen is not there yet, but it's a work in progress.

What do you like/dislike about your kitchen?