As promised, here is the progression of my “pantry” organization. This is something that I have been putting off for a LONG time because I honestly didn’t think there was a solution. We are working with a very small cabinet that is extremely deep. Prior to this organization project the “pantry” was where food went to die (see below). I basically used the same steps as the cabinet project but threw away A LOT more since I was dealing with food.
STEP 1: Take everything out. I was honestly SHOCKED by how much I had crammed in such a small area. By the time I had everything out my entire dining room table and kitchen counters were covered.
STEP 2: Throw away old and expired food. This part can be rather time consuming and nasty. But this is also the step where you free yourself of much of what was taking up space.
STEP 3: Make a plan and measure. I wanted to get all of the food in the pantry. This may sound like a no-brainer but prior to this project I had food in the pantry and in the kitchen cabinets. I also wanted to move the spices to a drawer and have the easily accessible shelves/drawers used for everyday food. Finally, I wanted to make sure that items not used often were stored in the harder to access areas so I wasn’t wasting usable space.
Like I mentioned before, the space I was working with was super deep so I had to find containers that took up the majority of the space but also allowed me to easily access what I needed.
STEP 4: Buy your organizational products. I decided to use The Container Store for the entire kitchen project, including the pantry, but you can also get items from Amazon, Walmart, Target, HomeGoods and Ikea…just to name a few.
STEP 5: Organize your items and configure space. You will want to play around with your space and figure out what makes most sense for you. I wanted the items I used the most to be the closest to eye level and below.
I mainly used the InterDesign Linus Deep Drawer Binz but also use the InterDesign Linus Kitchen Binz, InterDesign Lazy Susan, the InterDesign Linus 2-Section Packet Holder, a few InterDesign Linus Storage Bins of different sizes and some old Ikea Kuggis bins.
The drawers for our pantry were already installed from the previous owner of our home. But The Container Store does have Bamboo Roll-Out Cabinet Drawers that would do the trick.
The key for this project, or any organizational project for that matter, was so create a home for everything. This way we know where things go and exactly where to find them. Please let me know if you have any questions or click here if you would like to use my services for your next organizational project!
