We’re back with another two-post feature where we invite you to tackle a house project right along with us. Last summer it was cleaning out our garage, and more recently it was straightening out our chaotic closets (read about part one here and part two here). Well, hold onto your hats ladies and gentlemen. This time we’re turning our attention to those dreaded kitchen cabinets.
There’s not much explanation necessary as to why our two big double cabinets need a serious dose of structure and organization…
Yup, between these two spaces (which house every edible item in our kitchen other than the stuff in the fridge) there’s definitely room for improvement. Especially when there are cookie cutters mixed in with cous cous and lasagna noodles in a completely different spot than spaghetti. So this weekend we’re planning to pare things down, group like items, and just generally add some easily maintainable order to our “pantry” of sorts.
So who’s with us? Anyone else down for a little spring cabinet organization? Whether your food storage is calling out for a hefty dose of structure or your glassware, servingware, pots and pans or other cabinet-bound items are in need of some attention- let’s tackle it together this weekend. And you know we’ll back to share the full photo rundown of our process and our cabinet makeover early next week. Stay tuned…
Christine says
I’m so in, we don’t have an actual pantry but our food cabinets are in dire need of help, its a total go for me this weekend!
Tiffini, I have one of those corner cabinets and have a cheap lazy susan all the way in the back corner it helps to avoid those “science experiments” because everytime I look for something I spin it around.
Jenna says
For Tiffani:
1. I have one of those annoying cabinets too, and it doesn’t spin. I just put things in rows so I know what’s hiding back there.
2. If you go to any camping store (Like RV things) they have these awesome stools that actually fold up for easy storage. My little stool sits right next to my fridge, unseen by guests and totally out of my way. I’m not sure where you live, but I’m in NV and we use camping world.
3. My husband does that as well… It drives me nuts. In order to stop it we just take everything out of the packaging when we get home. All the soda’s get taken out, waters lose their packaging, and those hefty boxes are tossed as well, and we use baskets in our pantry (since they’re see through) to hold the small things. Hope that helps!
kitarita says
good luck to ya! i totally have the organizing bug right now, too! nesting,nesting, nesting. :)
Melanie Beth says
This is something I SO need to do. My biggest struggle is our canned food, and our spice cabinet! It’s ridiculous how unorganized it all is! Cant wait to see what you guys come up with!
Mignon W. says
I don’t know how you are planning to organize your herbs and spices, but I just re-organized mine. They were in a rack on a wall below a heating vent, which I knew wasn’t good. I put them in a cabinet on a little step organizer (sort of like yours), but I couldn’t see what was on the back row without taking a jar out. So I used my P-Touch label maker and put labels on the side of the lid, facing out. Now I can see everything in a quick glance. White tape and black lettering makes them all easy to read.
For Clara, Tell your mom and dad—many more pictures, please!!!! You are so sweet and cute.
caligurl says
the only suggestion i have is for the corner cabinet conundrum…. see if you can find a large lazy susan that will fit in there? otherwise just use the back most area for stuff (non-food) that you want to keep but rarely use?)
as for the other…. i’m no help…. we have a step stool that moves from the game room to the garage and back again…. depending on where i used it last….
as for the empty stuff????? sounds like the refrigerator syndrome…. ya know… where if you can’t find something… look to see if it’s in the fridge?
Erin says
Hey Tiffini! I have that same problem with my husband! One thing we did to organize our pantry was to buy small plastic containers (we got ours from the dollar store) and put labels on the front for things like “granola bars” or “ice cream sandwiches” (those go in the freezer!). When we unpack the groceries, the box is emptied and the food is put in its container and the box recycled. :) (Plus they stack so we have a lot more room for items!)
When one of us notices the supply running low, we write the item on our shopping list so we replenish the next time we’re at the store.
This way if I reach for an ice cream sandwich and none are there, I’m not doubly disappointed to find no ice cream sandwiches AND an empty box!
Jill Stigs says
Oh yay! For once I am ahead of the game. I cleaned my pantry out 2 weekends ago! I remember your post about eating up your food before buying more and I challenged my Dad (who lives alone) to do that but I think he *likes* to food shop (he’s retired). :)
Jenna says
http://www.campingworld.com/search/index.cfm?Ntt=stool&N=0&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=p_keyword&Nty=1&Ntpc=1
Kasey says
I have a very large corner cabinet with those same ‘hidden’ spaces and crannies. My solution? I don’t store any food goods in that cabinet for that very reason. Instead I placed dishes that we had in a flat cabinet [our plates, glass trifle dish and glass casserole dishes] into that corner cabinet and utilized the flat cabinet that the dishes were once in, for food storage. It’s more functional for us since we tend to use the food type items more then the glass casserole dishes and trifle dishes so there is no worrying about creating a ‘science’ experiment in the back of the large corner cabinet.
I’m not sure on the step stool, I am also interested in this since I am 5’3″ and could also use a stool instead of dragging in an old dingy wal-mart special table chair from my first apartment [that is what I use for my step stool now which is stored in the Garage… so annoying].
As far as the empty boxes im no help… I guess maybe leave a sticky note in BIG black letters inside the cabinet stating something along the lines of ‘If it’s empty… THROW IT’… that’s what I would do anyways lol.
Cassie says
Love the link to the Clara pics. She is so sweet! I have to say my favorite photos are of Clara and Burger. They seem so calm and relaxed around one another.
Meagan says
I’m looking forward to your after photos and advice. I also have a pantry in a tiny one door cabinet. It’s tough!
Oh where are you storing all your baby food? (when that time comes)
Rachel says
Our pantry-designated cabinets are pretty well organized. It’s an ongoing process every time we grocery shop. You can’t let it get the best of you! Whatever doesn’t fit upstairs goes on built-in shelving in the basement storage area – now that area could use some work.
I’ll be curious to see if you adress spice organization. I could use some help there.
For Tiffini, I’d recommend the E-Z Foldz Folding Plastic Step Stool available at Bed Bath & Beyond:
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=13990999.
Christie says
Wow … that’s all of your non-refrigerated food?!
Amy G says
@ Tiffini
1) Lazy Susans and roll-out shelves make big or cupboards easier to manage
2) Most step stools these days can collapse and be store in small spaces like beside a fridge (if against a wall), in a closet, etc. I also can’t count the number of time’s I’ve seen stepping stools at thrift store that would just need a coat of paint to look super-cute, and they’d only run you $0.50 to $5!
3) From personal experience, I’ve gotta say: Get over it. The man will never change. My man’s the same. And it takes just as much time to toss it yourself as it does to yell at him – only, doing it yourself saves the energy of a fight and you can both get on with your lives. In all likeliness, he doesn’t view it as “she needs to pick up after me and I’m spiting her” – it’s just not important to him, and it is to you. Just deal – I had to, and so do countless other women. It’s not a feminist issue, or about being the guy’s mom. It’s just not a big deal, period.
@ The Youngsters
I’ve got company coming this weekend, so it’ll be a mad dash to get the place whipped into shape before they enter our abode! The kitchen is the worst! Spoiled food in the freezer (to avoid smelling up the fridge until it’s tossed), old and tattered cook books and recipes on scrap paper, expired boxes of cupboard food, not to mention the gunk on the shelves from care-free cooking (spilled oil, vinegar, spices, etc.), etc. It’s going to be an exhausting day of cleaning tomorrow.
Rachel says
I redid our pantry last weekend. It was a complete disaster, but after a couple of hours and one trip to Target I had things back to order.
Pictures here: http://rachelmb.blogspot.com/2010/05/pantry.html
S says
Oh oh I’m with you!!! Sort of… we just finished (ok almost finished) our kitchen remodel – so we’ll (meaning I’ll) be working on creating an easy to keep organized system with our totally fabulous new cabinets and kitchen layout.
S says
I got a little craxy with the @ signs on my URL there. All better now. In case anyone wants to check out our kitchen makeover… I’ll even share my organization (lack of) skills after this weekend too! :)
Amanda (modernation) says
I’m in. I actually started this project yesterday with the purchase of a lazy susan for our most-used spices that were always blocking access to our other pantry items. Love it already!
Randa says
I got this great in-cabinet spice rack from Target but I see they don’t sell it anymore there… however, it is available on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Get-Organized-Spice-Stack/dp/B000I9QJ4Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1275673747&sr=8-1
I love it!!
Danielle says
Tiffani —
http://www.organize.com/polfulrounla1.html
A lazy susan like this will work perfectly. Organize.com has a whole bunch of great options!
Christa M says
I was just thinking about a pantry re-org last night as I was cooking dinner. Thanks, now I feel I NEED to do this!
Megan says
We have a rental townhouse with no pantry and just enough cabinet space for our non-edible kitchen stuff. Huz had a small bookcase left over from his old office that is now our make-shift pantry. Even though I made a cute IKEA fabric curtain to cover the front, I know the terror that is behind the curtain. I haven’t organized the shelves in almost a year… it’s alike Tertis meets the Labyrinth in there. Scary stuff… perhaps I’ll tackle it tonight. Thanks for the motivation!
Ashley says
There was an organization article in Real Simple a number of months ago that had the MOST AMAZING cabinet organization system I’ve seen. They removed everything from the original boxes and used clear plastic air tight containers (so you could see things) and a label maker to make everything organized.
I WAS IN LOVE. However, after a little math I realized that such a beautiful cabinet situation would require a pretty serious investment. So far, we haven’t done much but I look forward to seeing what you guys do! Maybe it will provide a slightly more budget friendly situation!
Eva says
I tackled my out of control messy kitchen cabinets during the Snowmagedon storm this winter. Since I was stuck inside anyway it was the perfect thing to get done! Good luck getting everything organized. You’ll love how great it looks after! Especially when you forget and open up the cabinet door only to be shocked at how nice everything looks. It is such a pleasant surprise!
Sue says
I use my corner cabinets for glassware. I line them all up so I can see one of each in the front: high ball, juice, etc. That way you never have mystery stuff in the back. As for our pantry – we don’t have one! There’s a big rectangular basket on the top of the fridge for everyday snacks like Goldfish and fruit snacks for the kids but everything else is in the bottom on my hutch in the dining room. It’s annoying to get to but it keeps us from over spending because we have no space to store all the extra stuff.
KATY says
I have one of those corner cabinets also but was very lucky that it came with a 3 tiered Lazy Susan already in it! As in it’s bolted down into it and I couldn’t remove it if I wanted to (crazily enough I wanted to when we moved in because it’s an ugly shade of brown……i got over that eventually and now love it!)
I keep all my morning items in it…coffee beans, sugar and creamer containers, oatmeal, raisins, brown sugar, etc. The rest of my food is in a pantry that is located off my kitchen in the laundry room…such a pain!
Katie says
Wow. I know I already commented about how much I needed help with this and how excited I was to follow you through this process. Looks like that was true – I’ve already put up cork boards on the inside of a pair of kitchen cabinets. It is such a great idea, and I can’t wait to conceal more clutter in my little secret hiding place!
Sara says
Wow, that’s all the food you guys have? I try not to keep too much food on hand cuz our kitchen is tiny, but I don’t think I could survive with that little!!! I too suffer from kitchen cabinets that won’t hold a box of cereal upright – so frustrating! Our cereal lives on top of the fridge, not the best solution.
Congratulations on the new addition to your family!!!
Kat says
I suggested changing your oil when you posted about it dying! So glad that it worked! :o)
Beth says
I recently organized a bunch of cabinets in my kitchen. I found a great solution for spices, which you can see here: http://remarkablydomestic.com/2010/05/01/small-organizing-frenzy/.
Natalie says
Ooooh I definitely need to do this! Thanks for the inspiration! :)
Rita says
Hi!
I love your blog–it’s a great inspiration, stress-reliever and cheaper than therapy. Like you say, score!!!
I also need to go over my cupboards soon and do some major clean up, so thank you very much for the little nudge. I am vertically challenged–only 5′ tall so I need to hop on a chair or stool to reach the top shelves. Don’t feel sorry for me though, I seldom get hit on the face by tree branches when I walk.
I have a lot more kitchen things than you mostly because I like to cook from scratch and minimize my consumption of processed food. (Well, it also has to do with the fact that many processed foods don’t taste very good to me because when I was growing up my mom always cooked everything from scratch, so my palate prefers that kind of food.) Here’s some rules I follow when organizing the kitchen:
1) I keep all the spices together, on the bottom shelf of a cupboard that is near the stove. That way when I need to add something to a pot of cooking food I can reach for it easily while keeping an eye on the food.
2) Pancake mix and the likes are kept on a top shelf because I don’t cook breakfast everyday and when I do, I have enough time to hop on a stool to get it. Pasta is also on the top shelf because I only cook dinner and we don’t cook pasta every day.
3) I drink a lot of tea and coffee, so all the drinks are together and easily accessible. Near here, I also keep jars of unopened jam. So I try to keep breakfast things together, savory things together, and (future) sweet things together too.
4) Not surprisingly, all the things I need to bake (flour, sugar, vanilla essence and pods, baking powder/soda, etc.) are also kept together on a shelf. On this shelf, I also keep the spices that I usually use to bake sweet things like cinnamon, ginger powder, etc. but the choice of spices kept here have more to do with the way I cook rather than a fixed rule.
Hope my system makes sense to you and thank you very much for all the work you two do to keep us inspired and on the right track :o)
Ashley says
So glad to hear I am not the only one who dreads opening up the cabinet and seeing a mess. This project is actually on my summer to do list. I’m super excited to get some great ideas!
We also have a pantry that is a big mess that I will be tackling. Who knew having more room would be such a headache. :)
Christina says
I have a ton of cookie cutters, in shapes for every holiday. I keep them in holiday tins to match. You can usually find them at the dollar store around those holidays. Baskets would work well too and might look prettier. You could put them across the top shelves.
Have fun reorganizing.
Janelle says
Question on the cork board on the inside of the cabinet. How do you have that tacked up there? I think it’s a cool idea and would love to add it to my kitchen cabinets.
YoungHouseLove says
Here’s that post for you: https://www.younghouselove.com/2008/11/somebody-put-a-cork-in-us/
Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Amanda says
Hi-
Tiffini-
When I moved in with my fiance I inherited 2 of the dreaded corner cabinets. Hated them… at first. We found an old school ‘lazy susan’ rotating cabinet insert. It’s the most wonderful thing ever. I got it on Amazon for about 60 bucks.
The other dreaded corner cabinet was way bigger. Like I can crawl into it and shut the door and you would never know. So I decided to put my cleaning supplies in there. Chemicals on the bottom and paper goods on the top shelf we installed. (It’s just plywood cut to fit with rivets under it.) We also placed a child-safe lock since this cabinet contains hazardous materials.
betty in munich says
I did a complete redo of my pantry a few months back. What works for me is to store things in see through containers instead of the original packaging. Take a look here for the great results:
http://www.theperfectpantry.com/2010/05/other-peoples-pantries-121.html
This website has some great ideas for organizing the pantry. You should submit your after pictures when you are done. By the way after I sent this in, I also redid my spice cabinet. Threw away all and started fresh. Purchased all from Spice Island so they would be in the same size glass jars. It looks much better now.
Christie DeSivla says
CORNER CABINET with BLIND SPACE! There is the coolest product designed to use the blind space. There are really expensive ones and much cheaper ones. Google shop search blind corner pantry organizer. Here’s a link to a half moon shaped lazy suzan that goes in and OVER into the blind spot. :)
http://www.kitchensource.com/lazy-susan/rv-halfmoon1.htm
Chrsitie DeSilva says
Here’s the CRAZY expensive blind corner pull-out shelf for almost $500. I’m thinking there has GOT TO BE A CHEAP DECENT knock-off! Hmmm…now I’m on a hunt.
http://www.amazon.com/Chrome-Organizer-Pullout-Kitchen-Cabinet/dp/B001ROS8Y8
Christie DeSivla says
http://www.leevalley.com/us/hardware/page.aspx?c=&cat=3,43648,43653&p=43657
This has a great diagram of how the blind corner unit works. FANTASTIC! However, the price of $219? Not so nice.