If you're like me, your kitchen doesn't have nearly enough storage space. Once you get the pots & pans, dishes, glasses, etc. put away your cabinets are about full. The kitchen pantry in my house is a joke, but I'm lucky to have one.
So where do you store your food? I've heard people talk about putting food under beds, in garages, in sheds, behind couches, you name it. Some of those spots may be okay (if your food is impervious to heat and cold), but all of them share one thing in common. They're hard to get to.
I like to USE my food. Everyday, so I can keep tabs on what I have in stock, what I'm running low on, what I should really quit procrastinating and go out and get. Which means I need to be able to access it easily.
So I stole my son's closet.
No really. One of the kids bedrooms had a walk-in closet, So I made DH install shelves everywhere they would fit. Add one of the back-of-the-door organizers from WM, some bins for bulk storage of staples, and a doorknob that locked with a key (to keep the rugrats out) and I have a good sized pantry.
Looking at the picture I'm a little embarrassed by how messy it looks. I swear I know where everything is, though.
The trick to it was to use every available surface. Shelves everywhere that shelves would fit, all the way to the ceiling, and wall mounted doohickys where we couldn't fit shelves, bulk bins on the floor. There's floorspace for two people to stand inside, if they're skinny and know each other very well.
One of my favorite wall mounted doohickeys.
I did manage to fill the tiny kitchen pantry with can organizers for my regular canned food, though. I hate fishing around on the shelves looking at all the labels to find what you're after, and finding the one can in the back that's been there since you bought the house. I also hate spending lots of money on things, so I found these cardboard organizers.
Yes, they're cardboard. I know how that sounds, but they've held up for a couple years now and I love them.
