"I think I can . . ."
Our new kitchen is bigger than our old one,
but we have less cabinet space and our pantry is smaller.
Stuff It
So I read a hundred blogs, magazines and books on kitchen storage ideas
to prepare for the big put-away.
Indispensable IKEA Lazy Susans: $7.00
With lazy susans from IKEA, and spice stackers from Walmart, I hit the shelves about 11 p.m. the night after we moved in. The lazy susans were great, but I could only fit one on a shelf, and there was wasted space above the cans. I unloaded the pantry and started again from scratch at midnight.
The second round worked better using tiered stands on the shelves, but there was still stuff out that needed to be stuffed in. In my pile I found a hanging wire shelf that hooked onto the shelf above it, but I couldn't reach it unless I put it low, which would hinder access to the cans. If I didn't redo it now, I'd never do it, so I unloaded the pantry again and started over at 1:00 am.
The second round worked better using tiered stands on the shelves, but there was still stuff out that needed to be stuffed in. In my pile I found a hanging wire shelf that hooked onto the shelf above it, but I couldn't reach it unless I put it low, which would hinder access to the cans. If I didn't redo it now, I'd never do it, so I unloaded the pantry again and started over at 1:00 am.
An hour later I was sitting on a stool, staring at my cans. They still didn't look quite right. So I rearranged them by category (soup, fruit, veg) and then again by height. Dee wandered down about 2:30 to see what I was doing. By then my head was swimming with obsessive thoughts of canned goods. I invited him to view my efforts.
"Have you been Sleeping With the Enemy?" he asked, referring to Julia Robert's freaky soup-can controlling husband in the movie. "Can you remember him?" "I can," I mumbled and stumbled off to bed.
I must have been obsessing even in my sleep, worrying that my cans weren't as cute as they could be. I dreamed I sewed them all little clothes.
"That's weird."
4 comments:
I can really relate on having less cupboard/pantry space in a new place. Although I didn't stay up all night trying to figure out where everything would go, I did mourn the loss of a drawer wide enough for my spice tray and flatware tray. I thought I solved the problem when I found a spice rack online that attached to a cupboard shelf and pulled down. I measured my cupboard and ordered it and a few other organizer thingys. When the order finally arrived, I was excited to get the spices off the counter and organized. My excitement turned to dismay when I discovered the rack was just a tad too wide...my measurement was a 1/4" off. Most of the other organizer things didn't fit either. Then to add insult to injury, to send everything back cost almost as much as what my refund would be. Bah! I still haven't solved the spice problem. For now, they are just in the cupboard.
You know, even though it was an apartment and I complained a little about the kitchen, when it came to cupboard/drawer/pantry space, we had a pretty good thing going, didn't we?
It seems to me like there is wasted space in the corners around the lazy-susans. Do let us know how it works out.
I too have grand ideas about how well my pantry will be organized when we finally have a house and a pantry. For all the planning I've already done, I'm sure that when the time comes I will end up staying up until the wee hours of the morning like you, just trying to figure it all out.
Your pantry looks great. I was pantry space deprived most of my married life while raising my family. Designing my own custom home fixed that.
One stores my opened food items and my small appliances (all plugged in and ready to go.) and the other has my unopened food storage.
Paper and cleaning goods has their own place too.
I was a late pantry owner bloomer but I am making the most of it now!
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