How is your kitchen organized?

[KrisM]

Later this year, we are going to build a pantry and I'm trying to figure out what we want. So, I've spent a couple days moving things around to see if things fit better somewhere else.

Our pantry is 28" across and 25" deep fixed shelves with a bifold door. I lose food in the back, so not much food has ever been in there. Now, I put in baking supplies (cupcake pans, cake pans, etc) that aren't used often, baking ingredients, Pyrex dishes, cereal, in there and I have an empty shelf :).

I moved come plates and cups to a lower cabinet so the kids can get them. I put some food in a lower cabinet, too. I have more food in the upper cabinet above that, so food is mostly in one spot now. I took out one shelf in a lower cabinet and put a trash can in there to see if we want to add a slide out trash.

I have a nice cabinet for lunch box gear, but ran out of room, so some is in a drawer. It works because I'm not sure what else to put in a drawer :).

Anyhow, what's in your cabinets? Can your kids reach?

And, what should I think of for the new pantry? Slide out shelves? Or, if we make it slightly larger, should we do a step-in style with shorter shelves on 2 sides?

[niccig]

My kitchen is tiny, but I have an OK pantry. It has slide our shelves on 3 bottom shelves, 2 fixed shelves above and then a cabinet on top that I put extra big items, chips etc.

I would work on your panty to actually have it hold food, then that will clear up other cabinets for things.

I like my slide out shelves, but they do decrease the amount of space, so take that into consideration. I liked a PPer's idea about using multipurpose bins. I could stack more in those. I did have a bad run with pantry moths, so I try to have everything in airtight storage containers.

I have trouble seeing things in the back of the two top fixed shelves as I'm short. I have to pull out what is in front to reach the back...very annoying.

[KrisM]

My kitchen is tiny, but I have an OK pantry. It has slide our shelves on 3 bottom shelves, 2 fixed shelves above and then a cabinet on top that I put extra big items, chips etc.

I would work on your panty to actually have it hold food, then that will clear up other cabinets for things.

I like my slide out shelves, but they do decrease the amount of space, so take that into consideration. I liked a PPer's idea about using multipurpose bins. I could stack more in those. I did have a bad run with pantry moths, so I try to have everything in airtight storage containers.

I have trouble seeing things in the back of the two top fixed shelves as I'm short. I have to pull out what is in front to reach the back...very annoying.

I like the idea of some sliding and some not. I could get to things at least that way. Right now, it's so deep, there is no good way to get to things in the back without taking tons of other things out first.

[WatchingThemGrow]

You should include some multipurpose bins in the configuration! small baking things, snacks, little boxes of this and that, cans, etc. all fit in them really well.

[KrisM]

You should include some multipurpose bins in the configuration! small baking things, snacks, little boxes of this and that, cans, etc. all fit in them really well.

I've seen that mentioned before. Does it not drive you nuts to have to empty a bin to get to the can on the bottom? That's what I am picturing! Do you label what's in each bin?

I have a couple bins, not sure of the size. Maybe I'll give it a go.

[WatchingThemGrow]

I've seen that mentioned before. Does it not drive you nuts to have to empty a bin to get to the can on the bottom? That's what I am picturing! Do you label what's in each bin?

I have a couple bins, not sure of the size. Maybe I'll give it a go.
When I initially filled up some with cans, they were all duplicates- like a bunch of tomato varieties. On each corner, I had a different kind - like pastes in one corner, sauces in another corner, diced in another and stewed in another. I could just pull out the ones on top as needed. (I didn't end up keeping those things in the bins b/c I decided to use the ones for the kitchen to hold smaller stuff. Need to buy more to hold the cans still.)

YES, I use a labeler on each one!!!! Breakfast items, dessert items, bulk snacks (L) and individual snacks (need like 2 more of these since we keep a ton of these right now.)

FWIW, I LOVE the sliding shelves in my 18" cabinet pantry. I like putting boxes of stuff in the shelves below my chest area b/c they are always labeled on top! The higher ones don't move, but we have cereal up high (maybe should move down at some point for kid access). Less used appliances fill the space in the very top at the back (ice cream and waffle maker.)

[KrisM]

The kid access thing is throwing me off. DS2 is 3.5, and never has been into dumping or anything. So, I want dishes, food, etc at kid level.

Over the past week, I've changed up a ton of the kitchen. Dishes and cups in a lower cabinet (kids LOVE it). Snack foods in a lower cabinet. Pantry food in an upper cabinet. Pantry has cereal at kid-level, baking supplies, not often used pans, pasta. It looks really nice.

I found a picture of a pantry that might work well for us.

https://picasaweb.google.com/110836014055166304961/DECORACAOCASA#5327369160549242466

I could never reach the top rows of things, but otherwise, it looks nice. I'd keep my breadmaker and mixer on the bottom still, so maybe not a roll-out there.

[WatchingThemGrow]

I found a picture of a pantry that might work well for us.

https://picasaweb.google.com/110836014055166304961/DECORACAOCASA#5327369160549242466

Having CANS stored like that would make me nuts. Kids could see labels across the front, but no adult can easily bend down that far to read them. The run of the mill cans *right now* are at eye level, behind some MPB (multipurpose bins) that can easily be slid off shelves. The cans that we only have 1-2 of are spread across a cabinet where the shelves are short (1-2 cans high) so we can see as many faces as possible.

Those shelves would be great for random stuff like the napkins that you just need to grab from the top (not read them) and some kind of reach-into-the-top containers for kids' snack bars, etc. I should take a picture of ours (not that it's pretty, but so you can see how we've used that space.)

[KrisM]

Having CANS stored like that would make me nuts. Kids could see labels across the front, but no adult can easily bend down that far to read them. The run of the mill cans *right now* are at eye level, behind some MPB (multipurpose bins) that can easily be slid off shelves. The cans that we only have 1-2 of are spread across a cabinet where the shelves are short (1-2 cans high) so we can see as many faces as possible.

Those shelves would be great for random stuff like the napkins that you just need to grab from the top (not read them) and some kind of reach-into-the-top containers for kids' snack bars, etc. I should take a picture of ours (not that it's pretty, but so you can see how we've used that space.)

Very good point. I had not thought of not being able to easily read the labels.

I'd love to see a picture of yours!

I'm actually considering hiring an organizer to come in and help me figure out the kitchen. Where we need slide outs, what the pantry should be like, etc. We're hoping to do the pantry remodel this calendar year and the rest of the kitchen next year. So, a plan would be good!

[WatchingThemGrow]

Post a picture of what you have now. We can make it work without construction.

[kristenk]

We recently renovated our kitchen and I LOVE our pantry. I was very much against pull out shelves/drawers before talking to the cabinet guy. DH was for them and the cabinet guy assured me that I would love what he did and would have so much more space. He was right! (I'm going to use shelves/drawers interchangeably. Shelves make me thing of something much shallower than what we have. Drawers isn't the correct term either.)

We have 6 pull out shelves. The top one is too high for me to use easily, so I store things there that I don't often need access to. The backs of the drawers are higher than the fronts so things can't tumble off the back. There's enough space between shelves to store large canisters of flour/sugar, etc., but not enough for super tall boxes of cereal. I love having all of my baking staples in airtight containers large enough to hold an entire bag's worth!

I have the drawers loosely organized. All of the baking supplies are on one shelf. Stuff I use in DD's lunch is on another. Pantry staples (canned goods, chicken broth, etc.) are on another. I use small bins to organize some things, like small bottles of different varieties of vinegar.

I don't have a problem reading labels, but that's probably because we have enough space now that I don't need to cram everything together and we don't have a ton of canned goods.

[KrisM]

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa81/khaselton/pantry.jpg

The bottom shelf has the bread machine and mixer on it with a bin of party supplies in the back.

Second shelf up has baking supplies on it. Also, crackers in the front right. It used to be mostly empty with just fridge toys on it.
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa81/khaselton/pantry2.jpg

Third shelf up has less used mixing bowls and Pyrex baking dishes in the back and cereal in the front. This used to contain all the plastic containers I had.
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa81/khaselton/pantry3.jpg

Fourth shelf up has 2 containers of pasta, a basket with chips, bread and the mixing bowls I use often. This used to hold cans, cake mixes, kids treats, pudding, peanut butter, fluff, etc.
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa81/khaselton/pantry4.jpg

Top shelf has cupcake pans, cake pans, etc in the back and paper towels and onions in the front. It used to have paper towels in the back and cereal and pasta in the front.
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa81/khaselton/pantry5.jpg

The bifold door makes things worse by far. Not fun.

[WatchingThemGrow]

OH....I see your pain now. That does look like it's hard to access! Can you replace the door with a flat one that would give better access? Ours looks similar but is a cabinet instead and has pull outs instead of those stationary shelves. I will try to get a picture tonight. We're going to see a house, then to the gym to talk about it, so I've gotta get stuff done first...

[KrisM]

A new door is a definite. My dad will make us one to match our cabinets. It will either be 1 large door or 2 small doors, but they'll be hinged to open fully! So, feel free to ignore the door, as it will improve regardless of what we decide on the inside.

[KrisM]

I like this idea, too. Much smaller, of course. But, we'd have more useful shelves in the back and could add the can shelf on one side.

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa81/khaselton/pantryidea1.jpg

[kristenk]

This is not my pantry (I wish!) but the pull-out shelves on the right are similar to what we have. As I posted earlier, I LOVE them. They hold so much more than the design I previously wanted (which is similar to the pic right above this post). Before we renovated the kitchen, I was pretty dead-set on having a regular size, full length single door to the pantry with shelves on the remaining 3 sides and open space in the center. That was my goal. I was reluctant when the designer and DH were talking about pull-out shelves b/c it was so anti-my ideal. I can get so much more stuff in them than I imagined and I can organize each shelf independently.

Here's the pic:

http://st.houzz.com/simages/162938_0_8-3642-contemporary-kitchen.jpg

[KrisM]

Do you just have pull out shelves? How wide are they? If you have it full of canned goods, can you figure out what's in the middle easily?

[kristenk]

Do you just have pull out shelves? How wide are they? If you have it full of canned goods, can you figure out what's in the middle easily?

Before the renovation, there was drywall between the pantry and the fridge. The cabinet guy suggested removing the wall. Now, the side of the pantry cabinet is between the pantry and the fridge and the pantry is larger.

We have two full height (basically a few inches taller than our fridge) pantry doors that open to reveal 6 pull out shelves. The shelves are full extension so I can see things easier than I ever could before. I think I mentioned before that the backs are taller than the fronts, so things don't fall. It really feels like they're drawers more than shelves with the depth that they have (4" in front, 8" in back).

The inside dimensions of the shelves/drawers are about 30" wide and 20" deep. Cereal and tall containers of vegetable oil go in the cabinet right above. Spices, coffee and some baking things are in the cabinets on either side of the vent hood, but all other food is in the pantry.

I can't see into the top shelf without a step stool, but DH (6'2") can.

I don't have trouble finding things on the shelves. I use some bins to keep things organized on the shelf - for example, some bottles are in a smaller bin to make sure they don't fall over while moving the shelf. Right now, I still have trouble trying to remember which shelf I put something on! As long as I know where to look, I can find what I'm looking for.

[KrisM]

Thanks for the details! We have the wall between the fridge and pantry too. We were thinking of doing exactly what you did. Ours would be slightly narrower, but not too much. I'm glad to hear it's working well. I am 5'4" and DH is 5'5", so a deep top shelf is troublesome.

I think I need to pretend I have each of these configurations and arrange the food like it could be. Put things in baskets and pretend the shelf slides :rotflmao:, put tape on the shelf to make narrower shelves to see how that works. Hmm. Sounds like a project for next week!

[WatchingThemGrow]

Here are our pull-out shelves. I pulled them out so you could see them. They're kinda messy right now since I moved z-bars down lower. Usually, the bottom shelf is not so crammed, but I overbought bread and girl scout cookies. Then, last night I bought a Keebler package of imitation samoas to do a taste-comparison. GS wins.

http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss49/watchingthemgrow/kitchen/IMG_8595.jpg

I also have another cabinet with bread-making supplies, spices, baking stuff, plus another with lunch packing/salad/random meal ingredients.

[kristenk]

am 5'4" and DH is 5'5", so a deep top shelf is troublesome.

That's why I keep stuff I don't want DD (or me!) to see up there. Our zoku extra supplies are up there, too. Along with all of the extra girl scout cookies we purchased...:innocent:

I keep two bins up there on either side at the front and can reach up and grab some things like chocolate chips, etc.

I'll try to post a picture tomorrow.

[KrisM]

Thanks for the pictures. It does look like it would work well. It's giving me great ideas on what really works for actual people :).

[essnce629]

At our last house, that we were renting, we had pull out shelves like the ones kristenk posted and LOVED them. One thing I would recommend, with or without pull out shelves, is grouping like items together in clear bins. At our current house, we don't have pull out shelves, but we plan to get some installed eventually. With the bins, I can slide them out to find what I'm looking for. The bins keep everything organized and separated. Here's a picture of our current small panty with the bins. This picture was taken several months ago and since then I've labeled all the bins with what's inside.

I have a bin for:
DS2 snacks
Bars
Dried fruits
Nuts
Baking goods
Pasta
Beans & Lentils
Rice & Grains

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v16/essnce629/IMG_2215.jpg


I'm not sure if you use a lot of canned goods, but we do not so this expandable shelf organizer has worked great for our cans. I have it at eye level so I can easily see everything.

http://www.containerstore.com/shop/kitchen/cabinetOrganizers/upperCabinets?productId=10000696&green=21257681341

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v16/essnce629/IMG_5756.jpg

And I love, love, love the OXO turntables for organizing my oils and vinegars. I have two 9 1/2" ones and they fit perfectly in the super narrow cabinets next to my stove. I have one for oils and one for vinegars.

http://www.amazon.com/OXO-Good-Grips-2-Inch-Turntable/dp/B001795YH2/ref=sr_1_5?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1330239894&sr=1-5

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v16/essnce629/IMG_5757.jpg

[MontrealMum]

Are you on Pinterest? There are tons of panty and other organizational ideas on there! (send me a pm if you want an invite). It's amazing.

We have a built in pantry off our kitchen which is very common in this type of home. It's long and narrow and not insulated :( So that means that if I want to use baking dishes immediately in the winter I have to keep a few of them in the main area of the kitchen. Our first year here a few pop cans exploded in the cold and made quite a mess. Because of that we put an additional Ikea shelving system in the kitchen for a few baking dishes, the Cuisinart, breadmaker and blender and other things we either wanted to keep at a warmer temp, or that we used frequently.

We use our pantry to store spices (those that I grow as well as buy), Tupperware (real, Dutch, and otherwise), TP and Kleenex and the like, Costco bulk purchases, and things that we received for our wedding that we don't use). It's long and narrow as well as high (we have high ceilings) so we put things we don't need to access at the way back. It's not ideal, but we're glad of the space.

If I was to design something from the ground up I'd keep the shelves shallow so things don't get lost, encorporate turntables and make certain that everything was labelled. I really like the look of the pics that Latia included because they seem to offer a really good view of what's there. Shallow is better. If I can't see it, I won't use it.

[KrisM]

I have looked on Pinterest, but so many are so much bigger than mine, it's hard to get a good idea for what I can do.

Latia - how deep are your shelves? They look very organized. I am going to try a few things this week, but wonder if having more than 1-2 bins deep would be a pain.

Thanks for the photos!

[WatchingThemGrow]

wonder if having more than 1-2 bins deep would be a pain.
I wouldn't like to have to dig behind bins much, so the stuff we have behind ours is stuff I can blindly grab or don't use often. But, when I can grab a bin and pull it out, it's easy to do.

[niccig]

Kris, my pantry is just under 24" wide internally. I'll post a pic later to show how mine is organized.

Nicci

[niccig]

This is my pantry. It's messy, but I seem to have more in there than other people have posted. When it's cleaned up, I can normally find everything pretty quickly.

The 3 bottom shelves slide out. I have one for all my baking goods, 1 for cans, bottom has a wire basket with onions, potatoes and extra cans.

2 tops shelves are fixed. One has snacks, crackers, dried fruit. One has cereal etc. I do have to move things to get to what is behind.

The very top cabinet is for bulk flour, beans, all the bags of chips.

I do have a top cabinet above my range that has all my rice, quinoa, pasta. Another top cabinet has the oils, vinegars, tea, cooking chocolate. My spices are in a drawer by the range.

Any extra bulk items from costco eg. cans of tomatoes, are in cabinets in the garage.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a385/niccig03/103_0462.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a385/niccig03/103_0463.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a385/niccig03/103_0464.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a385/niccig03/103_0465.jpg

[niccig]

I like this idea, too. Much smaller, of course. But, we'd have more useful shelves in the back and could add the can shelf on one side.

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa81/khaselton/pantryidea1.jpg

I love this idea. DH's aunt has a similar set up. It seems to work well. My mother has a larger walk-in pantry, it's a rectangle with door on longer side, so she has shelves on the left (short side), in front (long side) and on the right (short side) an upright fridge and freezer. It's my dream pantry. So much space. She needs a step stool to reach everything at the top. Everything is labeled and certain shelves are for grouped items.

I think if you got rid of the bifold drawers and put pull outs for the bottom shelves, you'll be surprised at the space you have. I have much more in my pantry, and it's not as wide or as deep. Mine is 23" by 23".

But if you have the space for the pantry in this picture, I would go for it. Drool.

[KrisM]

Thanks for the pictures, Nicci. That's probably what mine would look like, size-wise. I think I need to figure out a way to pretend I have slide outs for a week to see what they're like. Maybe a couple big bins that hold tons of things to see.

I put tape on the shelves last night to simulate a 12" deep shelf along the back and a 4" deep shelf on 1 side. I'll put stuff on them again later this week.

Since I started moving things around, I am really liking the food in the upper cabinet. It's only 10.5" deep, so nothing is lost. It's organized and easy to find things. I have boxed and canned things there, as well as spices.

[kristenk]

Here are some pictures of my pantry. They're a bit messy right now, so just ignore that!

View when the cabinet doors are opened:
http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w404/BBkristenk/full-1.jpg

One drawer pulled out all the way:
http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w404/BBkristenk/open-1.jpg

Angled view of the opened drawer:
http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w404/BBkristenk/angle-2.jpg

[KrisM]

Oh, I like that you have more slideouts that aren't super tall. And the taller sides are great. More to think about!

I tried the 12" deep and 4" deep shelves and it's just not enough space. It was very nice looking and would be easy to find things, but just won't hold enough, even with adding 1 more shelf. So, I think roll-outs are the way to go.

Are roll-out shelves adjustible?

I've never kept spices and oils in the pantry. Those take up 2 upper cabinets. And, right now, 2 more cabinets hold food. If those are empty, what do you put in the uppers? I'm sure baking dishes, mixing bowls would take up a good amount.

I think it's a good thing we aren't doing this project until the fall!

[kristenk]

Our roll-out shelves aren't adjustable. We could have changed the location of the shelves when they first installed them, if we wanted, but we decided against it. (We toyed with the idea of having the top shelf be a little lower so that tall cereal boxes could fit in it. We decided against it b/c we could easily put cereal in the cabinet above.)

As far as things in the upper cabinets go, we have spices, baking items (powder, soda, vanilla, etc.), honey, molasses, etc. in one of the cabinets on the side of the stove.

Other upper cabinets contain:
* rectangular glass baking dishes (the round ones go on the lazy susan in a bottom cabinet), mixing bowls, liquid measuring cups and small glass bowls generally used for food prep

* plates, mugs, bowls

* plastic cups, thermos containers, non-glass cups and bottles, all of the containers I use to pack DD's lunch

* glasses of all types

* coffee, oils, vinegars, teas

The upper cabinets above the fridge, pantry, cooktop and wall oven aren't included in the list above. There's a mix of small appliances, cake decorating supplies, tea pots, and other random stuff that I don't need to access often up there.

ETA: The only pull-out shelf that I can't easily see into is the very top one. I still use it often enough, but I'm generally just reaching up and grabbing what I know is there!

[essnce629]

Latia - how deep are your shelves? They look very organized. I am going to try a few things this week, but wonder if having more than 1-2 bins deep would be a pain.

My shelves are 24" deep which is pretty deep (and 27" wide). Most of my bins are 14.5 - 16.5" deep, but I have a few smaller ones as well. Yes, having more than 1 bin deep is a pain. I usually just have one bin in front and if there's space behind it's either empty, or I'll put bulk stuff back there that I don't have to get to often (extra boxes of oatmeal, dried coconut, Torani syrups, etc that I get from Amazon in bulk). My ideal would be pull out shelves combined with the clear bins. That way you can have multiple bins filling up the entire shelf, but then can pull out the shelf easily to see and reach everything easily. That's how I had it at our last house and everything was easily accessible. Or I'd want a walk-in pantry with shallow shelves that I could have single bins on with none behind. But you'd need a much bigger space for that.

[essnce629]

Here are some pictures of my pantry. They're a bit messy right now, so just ignore that!

View when the cabinet doors are opened:
http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w404/BBkristenk/full-1.jpg


This is exactly like our panty in our last house and how I want our current pantry to eventually be like. Works well for a small space.

[essnce629]

I've never kept spices and oils in the pantry. Those take up 2 upper cabinets. And, right now, 2 more cabinets hold food. If those are empty, what do you put in the uppers? I'm sure baking dishes, mixing bowls would take up a good amount.


In our upper cabinets I have all our oils and vinegars, spices in Spice Stacks http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002N3NTVY, cereals, canned and jarred food, coffee and teas, candies I don't want the kids reaching, and another bin of chips/pitas. I also have all our glasses, coffee mugs, plates and bowls, vitamins, and serving platters in the upper cabinets.

Lower cabinets contain all my pots and pans (pull out shelves), potatoes and onions, pyrex storage containers (pull out shelves), baking sheets and muffin pans, mini chopper, glass measuring cups, mixing bowls, large rectangular pyrex dishes, and large roasting pan. I want to add more pull out shelves to our lower cabinets as well. At our last house, the pantry and ALL the lower cabinets had pull out shelves and it was great!

[niccig]

My upper cabinets by range contain oils, tea, coffee, sugar, some baking chocolate (up high, so I don't go foraging for it). I have a cabinet above the built in microwave that has all my pasta, rice etc. Other upper cabinets have our plates, bowls, glasses. Those that have cabinet door and not glass, have cake decorating supplies, napkins. Above the fridge, I put appliances and baking pans I don't use much, like the waffle maker, bundt pan. The regular muffin tin, loaf tin, cake tins are in the pull out drawer under the range. I have a narrow bottom cabinet for baking trays and cutting boards.

I think you need to work out what you have and where you want to store it for best use. Consider how tall/wide your things are. The pantry photo with the narrower shelves wouldn't work for my baking things as I have those in tall canisters. I could just get new canisters to fit.

[KrisM]

I think you need to work out what you have and where you want to store it for best use. Consider how tall/wide your things are. The pantry photo with the narrower shelves wouldn't work for my baking things as I have those in tall canisters. I could just get new canisters to fit.

Yes! I do. It's hard! I keep moving things around. DH can't find anything any more :).

Kids like having things down at their level, so I want that as an option for sure. Maybe I need to make myself a box the size of a pantry shelf and fill it up and see how it looks. Figure out what would fit on each shelf, generally speaking and what other cabinets would open up if things were in the pantry. I'd have to make room for my bread maker and mixer somewhere, since those are now in the pantry.