Friday, May 11, 2012

Pantry update

So I've been fiddling with the pantry and I think I have it pretty well organized and labeled now- but its still not as pretty as I would like it to be. Most people say to take everything out and then add stuff back in but I was a little chicken to go that route since I wasn't positive I was going to be finished with this little project in one day and I really didn't want my whole pantry sitting all over my kitchen for days! So I worked one shelf at a time.
I also decided to add new shelf liner while I was at it and I'm already glad I took the time to do that! My main goal was just usefulness for how we use the kitchen. I wanted to try to keep our most used items in the middle/ top two shelves that are at the easiest reach then go out from there. The other super helpful thing was get some of my husbands grill tools out of the pantry. He would always forget they were in here but I didn't really want to leave them open to the elements under his grill. So we got a storage box from the Container Store that was just big enough to hold everything and it resides in the area under the grill sealed with a lid until we need them!

Before:


After:

It is hard to tell from this picture but I the paper towels stayed in the same location but instead of stacking them upright I've laid them on their side. It is ah-mazing how much more I can store there now! Such a small change that made a huge difference

 I put our most used items front and center! We love this tortilla soup- and a few others so those are easy access as are the storage bags. I use the tiered shelf for less used spices/ can goods

 All of my baking goodness- top shelf for general baking, lower shelf for more specialty things like cake flour, cookie cutters, sprinkles, etc!

 breakfast and drink stations. Getting our crystal light, tea and hot chocolate out of the boxes made a huge difference! I think I am going to get another clear container like that for my oatmeal packets as well!

In fixing up the pantry we rearranged some other areas of the kitchen cabinets, making things more accessible. I had a lot of the cooking spices in the cabinet by the stove but then the olive oil and more spices in the pantry- just little things that didn't really make useful sense. So while it may seem strange to dedicate cabinet space to some cooking things- I really love having them so handy since this counter is frequently where I prep dinners!

inside cabinet:
 cooking spices used most often went into the stacked spice rack which takes up so little space it's amazing! Then others off on the side so I'm not going between this cabinet and the pantry all the time while cooking! 

I do keep my recipe box in this cabinet as well but I'm also loving the cork board for all those random recipes I haven't put on to cards yet or that I'm using a lot for easy reference!

Now it's useful but it doesn't feel pretty to me yet?? How can I spruce it up? I'm not sure what I want to do. I really don't want to have to take everything out and paint the wall behind it and I don't want something permanent up there but I want to see if I can find some cool patterned contact paper or removable wall paper to pump this space up. While it looks a lot better than it did before it still feels a little blah. . .any suggestions??

2 comments:

  1. please come organize mine. i bought shelf liner and smaller shelves last november and have yet to use them! happy weekend.

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    1. I totally hear you!! I've had the shelf liner for a long time and never put it in there! It's not a fun project to start but the process wasn't too bad and the result is so fun and helpful! Have a great weekend

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