Kitchen: Pantry

It took over a week and a couple different trips to Waterloo for shelving material, but I finally got the new pantry organized.  It's amazing how fast the space fills up even when you don't feel like you have a large inventory.  It makes a big difference when things like cereal and snacks are added to the pantry rather than in a kitchen cabinet.  It's still a bit of a work in progress, but I'm pretty happy with how things turned out.

I found a spot for my white board menu planner on the inside of the pantry door.  It also has a spot to pin up the school lunch menu.  There is a small basket with markers and the Fareway ad in the closet. 

Inside the pantry to the left is the recycling/collection center.  We collect all recycling items in one bin and then sort them in the garage.  I also have separate baskets to collect Milk Moola lids, Box Tops for Education, and Labels for Education.  Above that is the snack shelf.  There are small disposable containers filled with serving sizes of different snacks.  There are also bins for fruit snacks and pre-packaged snacks. 

My baking supplies fill the floor and a shelf.  Then it's all the open cereal boxes, snack boxes and cooking supplies.

I bought a shallower adjustable shelving unit for smaller boxes/cans because I didn't want it to stick out so far by the doorway.  It doesn't hold as much as I had hoped, but it's nice to be able to see everything instead of moving and digging.

It took two tries to find a shelving unit for inside the original coat closet.  This one holds the beverages that don't fit in the beverage fridge. (I like to have options and to stock up when things are on sale.)

You can't see it in the picture, but on the right side of the upper shelf is all the electronics that connect to the TV with the cords going through the wall to the TV on the other side.






The shelves also hold the paper products, mixer and crockpot.  In addition, there is an outlet wired by the bread machine on the floor.  This allows me to simply slide out the bread machine, fill and insert the inside bucket/pan thing and let it run on the floor in the closet, thereby eliminating the need to ever lift it up or take up counter space.

The best part of the pantry, though, is the motion-sensor light.  You never have to flip a switch or pull a chain to turn it on or remember to turn it off.  Brilliant!