The Crazy Pantry Make-Over

We moved to our current home two-and-a-half years ago. Our previous place had a wonderfully large kitchen with oodles of cupboard space. Sadly, our new kitchen is a bit small and I sometimes wish for more cupboards. As well, the pantry closet is awkwardly placed around the corner in our front hallway.

The pantry closet became a "catch-all" space. I decided to keep non-perishable food items in (an awkward) bottom cupboard near the sink. (I guess I thought it made more sense to keep the food in the kitchen.) The pantry became cluttered with small appliances, plastic bags, potatoes, excess canned goods, the kids' art supplies, serving dishes, picnic supplies, and sundry other stuff.

Our cluttered pantry started to drive me crazy!

The idea finally dawned on me to put all our small appliance in the bottom cupboard by the sink. I neatly re-organized our non-perishables on the pantry shelves. In the past, I was forever digging through that deep bottom cupboard, looking for cereal or rice or vinegar. I often misplaced food items because I couldn't see everything I had. Even though my pantry is a bit inconvenient (around the corner) at least I can now clearly see everything on the shelves.

I'm afraid I didn't have the foresight to shoot a "before" picture of my project. I am pleased to share the results, however! I placed food items on the top three shelves, my serving dishes and stock pot on the lowest shelf, and I neatly stacked the kids' craft supplies on the floor.

I am surprised at how functional our newly-organized pantry is. I love being able to see all our food clearly, and having the space to stack bulk canned goods. I must be a geeky girl, but all those neat rows of cans and boxes give me great pleasure. :-)