Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Tackle It Tuesday #5 - the pantry

Tackle It Tuesday Meme

Our pantry stays in disarray. We have four deep shelves - the depth actually complicates things, because items get sucked into little black holes in the back, especially on the lower shelves. The top shelf typically stays in reasonably good order, with spices on the right (my most-used spices are in magnetic containers stuck to the refrigerator next to the stovetop) and oils and vinegars on the left, with a few regularly-used items (peanut butter, tea, steel-cut oats) also stored on that shelf. But the rest? Pure mess.


I spent time this weekend sorting through it all, tossing old stuff (an opened bag of Soy Crisps from maybe 3 years ago? Yeah, I think it can go), organizing the rest, and shaking my head at how I continually buy new containers of stuff I already have because I didn't realize I had it in there (6 containers of oats, 4 containers of bread crumbs, for example).

I recently bought a set of four baskets on sale at Jo-Ann Fabrics - one big basket with three smaller ones (in a red and white fabric that matches my kitchen, not that it will be seen in the patnry). I also found another basket that we were given a few months ago. I used the baskets to hold like items. One basket holds snacky stuff - chips, crackers, nuts, etc. One basket holds bags of rice. One basket holds bags of beans. One basket holds all my cupcake making things, and then it fits in the bigger basket, which now holds most of my baking items.

Here's the after shot:


Here are the two middle shelves. 2nd shelf - dried fruits, nuts, snack stuff, and one of the containers of oatmeal. 3rd shelf - pastas, rice, and beans on the left, baking goods on the right, with the little shelf for saran wrap and foil and plastic bags hung above it (that used to be hung above the 2nd shelf, but I realized that it works better to have it directly over a big basket that I can pull out and see the whole contents of; otherwise, the little shelf conceals the view of the back of the pantry).


Bottom shelf (with Tiny Dancer's hand sneaking in the pic) - on the left is many containers of oatmeal, some grits, cocoa, cornmeal, and a few other items that either had no logical place or were too big to place elsewhere. On the right, I finally have a place to store dishtowels, dishcloths, and cloth napkins (in a lovely Amazon box). Our teeny-tiny galley-style kitchen has limited storage, with only 3 drawers. Till now I have stored these kitchen linens in the basement - which is just a drag when we need a fresh towel or dinner napkins. I think this will be much more convenient.



Overall, I'm pleased with the outcome, and it actually took less time than I expected. The real challenge now will be keeping it this way....

9 Comments:

Blogger Amelia Antwiler said...

ooooo Good tackle!!
It looks great!
and now I'm hungry.

6:07 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

great tackle and you did a wonderful job!

7:25 AM  
Blogger jennyr said...

i love those baskets u have! it adds charm plus the fact that u can store a lot of stuff in it, is very useful! great job on ur tackle!

7:39 AM  
Blogger Marcia Francois said...

Well done - you did a great job!

Love those baskets by the way

7:46 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

wow, that looks great! good job!

8:14 AM  
Blogger RaesMom said...

Nice tackle. I love organizing with baskets.

8:57 AM  
Blogger Pamela said...

Well done indeed. It looks great. I recently did this myself since I got a new kitchen!! It was good to go through all the cupboards etc and get rid of old stuff and duplicates etc!!
Way to go!!

3:15 PM  
Blogger MsAmpuTeeHee said...

Good job, dude!
I have done the same thing but with plastic containers (not nearly as pretty), but it has totally made a difference for my being able to function and to get to the back of the cabinet by only moving one thing (a container), instead of each individual thing that is in it.
I'm saving my pennies up for some of those pull out slider thingies on tracks that you can install and pull out to get full access. Hoping to put a couple of those in at the new house.

6:42 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Great job!

6:08 PM  

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