Mar 22, 2013

Project: Pantry

File this one under "nothing groundbreaking, but totally necessary".  (You have a file for that, right?)  I'm talking about pantry organizing.  Our kitchen has two pantries- one is fairly small and the other I would call medium sized.  It holds a lot, but it's not like some of those beautiful walk-in pantries you've seen on Pinterest.  Case in point:

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Can you even imagine?  I would just take my book in there and relax among the organized canned goods.

Here are the two pantry-types areas in our kitchen.  The smaller one is really two vertical cabinets.  The other is more of a small closet.  Here's the view of our pantries from inside the kitchen.


Before I did any organizing I used some leftover white semigloss paint and did a quick two coats on the inside of the door.  You can see in the picture above the difference in the colors after I painted those two squares at the top.  Here's another shot.
Gross, right?





In the top right pantry we keep oils, dressings, soups, and canned goods.  That lazy susan is from Crate and Barrel, although I've seen them at Bed, Bath & Beyond and Home Goods.  On the bottom right we keep cat food, onions and potatoes, baking supplies including flour, sugar, etc., and other odds and ends like peanut butter and pesto.  We used to also kept our spices on that tiered wire shelf. 


The bigger pantry on the left keeps all boxed goods like cereal, crackers, cookies, pasta, rice, cake mixes, etc. We also keep our broom and Swiffer Wet Jet in there.

The main issue I had with the pantry was the way the spices were stored.  Even though I had one of those three-tiered shelves it was difficult to see anything beyond the back row.  Reaching for anything in the back row required also taking out anything in the front or middle rows.  Plus I had too many spices for the shelves, so then I had another plastic basket next to it with the overflow.  It was a big pain.  (First world problems, I know).

The back of the door of the bigger pantry wasn't being utilized, so I decided attaching a rack there was the best option.  Lucky for me, The Container Store (TCS) was having their 30% off Elfa sale at the time.  Their stuff isn't cheap, so I'll take any discount I can get!  You can view their wire storage systems here.

After some debate we got three Spice Rack Baskets, one Shallow Basket, and two Narrow Deep Baskets, plus the vertical mounting bracket and screws. We got everything in white to blend in with the door. Don't forget to measure the height and depth of your door before heading to TCS. I didn't measure the depth and had to return one basket (a regular Deep Basket) that didn't fit.

Installation was super easy (especially for me, since Bobby did all of it).  Here it is, in all its spicy glory!




It's so much easier to find our spices.  And yes, I alphabetized them.  Might as well go all out.  This project wasn't difficult or time consuming, but I love small projects that make your life easier in a big way.  Bobby has caught me just staring into the open pantry on more than one occasion :)

9 comments:

  1. YEAH for organization and 30% off sales!!! :-) I am so jealous of your pantries. We don't have any. I use a shelving rack in my basement for extra storage! Popped over from Decor and the Dog. Have a great day!
    -Katie

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  2. Hi Katie- thanks for visiting! Isn't The Container Store the best?! I wish I could just move in.

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  3. That first photo is amazing. I think if a house had a pantry, I'd have to buy it, regardless of how the rest of the house looked! :)
    I am always struggling to keep our pantry organized so it's nice to see how other people approach this.

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  4. Love me some Container Store. I could easier spend hours and thousands of dollars in that store. The door looks great with that fresh coat of paint and alphabetized spices.

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  5. I know Kristen, isn't that picture amazing? I just try to be grateful for the storage space we have. The apartment we used to live in had NO pantry space. Two pantries seems like a luxury now! Thanks for stopping by!

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  6. Thanks Chelsea! Isn't it amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do? I didn't even realize how gross it was looking until I got started.

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  7. Found you from the Decor and the Dog linky!

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  8. Hi Housevintage- thanks for stopping by!

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  9. We also put in the Container Store door mounted spice rack and I love it. It may be unnatural to love such a meager contraption of metal but I do, I love it. I take down one of those baskets almost every evening when we make dinner. I'm definitely jealous of your pantries -- two! Cheers - CT

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