Behind Closed Doors

At the beginning of the new year, I had decided to keep up with my blog.  As you may notice by the dates, I didn't succeed with that resolution.  My only excuse is that life got in the way.  :)

In the previous post, I said that I would share with you how I organized my kitchen.  Well, here's part I.  Better late than never, right?

The following photos are of the inside of my pantry.

 Here's where we keep miscellaneous items:  crackers, tortillas, drink packets, granola bars, baking mixes, dried fruit, etc.  The shelves are deeper than they are wide, so I store the boxed items on their sides.

 Here's where we have shelves for the bread and candy jar, popcorn, nuts, and seeds, cereal, dog treats, and several for salty snacks.  These baskets are great for putting snacks in.  They pull out so you can see what you have.  I chose plastic so they are easy to clean.

 The baking supplies are located above the TV.  Notice my use of a Lazy Susan.  I did a previous post about how useful they are.  The basket holds ground nuts and various flavors of baking chips.  The narrow shelf holds sprinkles, pudding mixes, and bagged items.  The top shelf is where I have the sugars and flour.  I use the canisters to keep the items fresh.

 This is where we keep shelves for the pasta, bread crumbs and mixing packets, oils and vinegars, peanut butter and oatmeal, sauces, and rice and stuffing.  I love the glass jars for keeping the pasta.

 Canned goods, soups, condiments, and unopened rubs and spices are stored here.  I do like the tiered shelves so you can see more of what you have.  My husband found a sale on soup.  We usually don't have this many cans.  

 Lastly in the pantry, we have storage for disposable items and vitamins.  The empty shelf is where my husband stores his work backpack.  The plastic wraps and foil are in a magazine holder.

Onto the storage in the island...

 I use deep plastic baskets and a tool turn-about for storage.  They hold a lot of stuff and are easy to clean.  Here's what I keep in each:

 Things that are used for measuring; the jar holds miscellaneous measuring spoons.

 Things that slice and/or chop

 My personal blender and its accessories

 Lids for my pots and pans, since they don't have holes to hang.

Specialty baking items

While each basket isn't that neat, it is easy for me to pull the basket out and find what I need.  The standing pantry and the island have allowed us to double our storage space in our kitchen.  I recently met someone that lived in my house about thirty years ago.  He said that the cabinets are original to the house.