Pantry Essentials: A Pantry. Help Me Organize It!

I have been thinking a lot about pantries lately. Not necessarilywhat goes in them, but the pantries themselves. Of course we’d all love a huge walk-in pantry, but most of us – at least me – are lucky to make do with the cupboards next to the stove and maybe a closet-sized pantry with shelves for canned goods.

Now that I’ve been cooking at home more, I have found myself getting frustrated with a lack of organization. Even after purging, I have bottles of spices falling every time I open up the cupboard doors, and bags of rice and potatoes getting stuck in the pantry door. Half of my serving platters are stored in the bottom of my bedroom closet.

This is the cupboard next to my stove. The bottom shelf is spices. The middle shelf is “add ins,” such as raisins, honey, spices and things that are in bigger bottles. On the top shelf is smaller baking supplies like specialty flours and sugar.

This is my main pantry, where I put pasta, rice, grains, flour, canned items. Up top is bulky serving items.

When DH and I embarked on this reflooring project, I was ecstatic when we realized that since we are also downsizing our cleaning supplies, we can move the new eco friendly stuff to the bathroom (which has LOTS of storage), opening up a whole coat closet. We also have a double closet next to our kitchen that has a shelf where we store our crock pots, but the rest was beer making supplies and a few jackets. We relocated the jackets to another coat closet (I know, we have lots of closets in this house), the beer cans / bottles / equipment to the garage, and now I’ll have some more shelves! Yay, now I can put my canning and cheesemaking equipment somewhere other than on top of the refrigerator.

This is the cupboard above my stove. It includes sports nutrition, bulky water and coffee pitchers, and cheesemaking cultures.

This is the cupboard above my refrigerator. Very random stuff in there, ice cube trays, reynolds wrap, ziplocs, etc. 

Just off the kitchen is a hallway with two storage areas.

It’s a double closet, and currently has crock pots on the two upper shelves. Below used to be some coats and bins for beer bottles / brewing equipment. I’d like to add shelving for bulk items, appliances (KitchenAid, food processor), and some recycling bins.

This is the upper part of the other storage area. Right now it contains my milk bottles and some canning supplies.

This is the lower section. It has some random hardware equipment. I'd like to add more space for canned items.

This is the other closet (notice Peaches in the bottom). Cleaning supplies on the top shelf will be removed. I had a plastic drawer unit on the floor with pet treats / leashes / etc. Also paper products.

Pantry? Check.

List of things to buy? Check.

Containers? Uh, not check. That’s where I’m getting stuck. Sure, I’d love to have one of those custom pantries designed for my spaces, but plywood and plastic tubs (not Tupperware) are more our budget.

So, I’m hoping you can give me some great ideas. What cost-saving solutions have you discovered? How do you store your canning, processing, bulk items? Spices? Small appliances?

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