Unconventional Pantry

Our kitchen has a very sorry excuse for pantry and cabinet space.  I struggled with storage when I lived in this house alone.  Now, with a husband and three children, space is as much needed as it is missing.  I rearranged my garage a few years ago and bought this storage shelf.  This sits right next to my kitchen, so it is conveniently close and also hidden from view.  I needed to freshen up the space.  This is what I accomplished in an afternoon.

Before:

Front view of pantry shelf - Before

As you can see, chaos reigns in this space.  I need this shelf to cover a lot of bases for me.  It holds our bulk storage of paper towels, toilet paper, and tissues.  I keep my baking supplies and canned goods in the pantry I actually have in my kitchen, so this is mainly extra boxed goods.  I have some cake platters, an extra pan I cook with twice a year, and some random junk dispersed throughout the shelves.  There is the kid's refrigerator on the bottom shelf.  This is perfect for their Gatorade, bottles of water, and Capri Suns.  Next to this small refrigerator is supposed to be extra 12 packs of sodas, but you can see that it is a bit messy now.

The very top shelf (not pictured) is very organized.  It has three large, clear tubs that hold (1) party supplies (for when I need purple plastic forks), (2) school party supplies (collected through the 5 years of being homeroom mom), and (3) over sized seasonal serving bowls (for the one time a year I need a leaf shaped chip and dip serving platter).  These are things I need easy access to, but I don't want cluttering up my kitchen cabinets.  On top of those tubs is bulk Ziplock bags.  I obviously buy in bulk!  That space is working for me, so I didn't make any changes there.

A different view of the BEFORE space:

You can see how deep the shelves are in this view.

This project all started because I dropped a can of Pringles on my foot.  I had just stocked up on chips at the store.  The holiday weekend was bringing lots of friends over, I like to keep snacks on hand.  Since I really dislike broken Pringles, I decided a change was in order!

I have two shelves over my washing machine that is right next to this shelving unit:

Above the washer - Before

Due to the proximity of these two items, and the fact that there were similar items stored on both shelves, this area had to be included in my project.

I pulled these lovely items from the two areas:

Glass jars, anyone?

How many glass jars do I really need?  There are 5 vases in here that I have gotten over the years.  Honestly, I am not the type to buy flowers, I suck at arranging them, and I kept the 2 that I actually will use on the rare occasion I need to put something in water.  The rest of the jars have just accumulated over the last few years.  One at a time, they just take up more and more space.  I am going to offer all of these to my crafty friends.  I know that there are a million ways to craft with these, but I don't have the time right now.  I will let them go.  I need the shelf space!

I have a lot of plastic tubs and containers around my house that are underused or just sitting on a shelf waiting for something to hold.  I found a few that fit of my shelves.  I also asked my sweet husband to lower the second shelf a notch to accommodate taller items.  I threw out anything expired (I should do this more often, obviously).  A few trash bags later....

Front view of pantry shelf - After

So much better!
Bottom shelf:  The drinks are where they should be on the bottom shelf.  My boys are in charge of restocking their drinks.  Now they can actually reach them all.  I buy coke and sprite when they are on sale, we don't drink that many sodas!

Second shelf from the bottom:  Toilet paper in front and paper towels behind on the left.  Animal crackers and goldfish are staples and easy for my daughter to reach.  The chip box is full of a variety of chips for lunches and snacks.  The white tub on the right is where we keep my daughter's milk and smaller snacks.  She can get to them and they are messy on the shelf otherwise.  I may change this system, but for now it works.  The apple juice will move to the main refrigerator soon, this is a temporary home for it.

Third shelf from the bottom:  The height difference from the before and after is subtle, but makes a big difference, IMO.  I got those pretty blue tubs on the left from our local Dollar General.  I can't remember what they held before, but they now hold...
(1) Pop Tarts.  No one in my family seems to agree on a flavor.  We have several boxes in there.  This is just a prettier way to store them.
(2) Crackers.  I took them all out of the boxes.  There are a variety in there.  We always keep snacks in the car for after school (15 minute drive home is too long to listen to hungry children).  This will be a great place for me to pull from.  I like that they are all together. Again, no one can seem to agree on a favorite.
(3) Oatmeal.  Only 2 of my 3 kids eat it, but we go through it pretty quickly and need to be able to see all the flavors we have.  I don't like this being low enough for my daughter to reach, those things are messy when opened "accidentally"!
The Pringles shouldn't fall on me from this new home!
There is another chip box full of larger chip bags.  We have a theme of not all liking the same kind of anything; everyone has a favorite bag in here.  This system has worked for us for a while now.  It may not be perfect, but I am not trying to reinvent the wheel.
What you can't see on this shelf is extra boxes of Kleenex, 2 bottles of ketchup, a bottle of ranch dressing, a large package of ring pops, and a plastic tub of popcorn.  Don't judge me too harshly on the ring pops!  It is cheaper to buy them at Sam's and throw them in my "game day bag" for my kids.  It saves me at least $3 and a million trips to the concession stand.  Life of a coach's wife...

Top shelf:  The napkins moved from the very top shelf to this location.  Much easier to reach and less likely to spill.  Before, there were two games with small pieces living here.  I relocated those to another area.  I am going to make labels for these containers, but not today.
The first container with the blue lid has candy in it.  We have blow pops, pez candy, and some small bags of Skittles.  I want this higher and I put the lid on for a reason!
The next container is currently empty, but I imagine that I will keep seasonal snacks in here (Halloween is around the corner). 
I have some randomness in the next container.  There are probably 4 ponchos(maybe 5), a box of matches, coin sorters, and a kite in here.  It may not make sense to anyone else, but they have lived here for a while, and I know where those items are.
The fourth container has sunscreen and bug spray.  Where we live, those are both needed almost all year long and I like having them close by, but out of my younger kiddos reach.
The last thing on that shelf is one of my favorite wedding gifts.  It is a Tupperware cupcake/cake tote.  For nearly 13 years, I have used that thing at least 6 times a year.  It is awkward to store, but I love it living there.  When I put this shelf together, I actually used that piece to determine the height of that shelf.
What is hidden on this shelf is a special pan and it's accessories.  I use it maybe twice a year.  It is bulky and difficult to store, but it isn't something I would want to replace.  I also moved one of the bulk boxes of Ziplocks down here.  The other 3 sizes are still on top of the party supplies.

Another view:

I decided to take the advice that I have given several of my clients and get an over the door shoe holder to hold some smaller items.  This door isn't pretty on the garage side, but I have many other projects on the list ahead of it.

The top row:
Flashlights, BINGO daubers, a measuring tape and my rose bush trimmers, and Skin So Soft OFF (I don't like it stored flat like the others)
The second row:
Hot chocolate packages and drink mixes (lemonade and kool aid for water bottles)
The third row:
Fruit roll ups, star crunches, and nutty bars.
The fourth row:
small packages of cookies/crackers
The fifth row:
Easy mac
The bottom row:
Raisins and three empty pouches!  Room to grow :)




The other shelves were pretty easy to clean up.  I threw out the things I am never going to use, and the jars and vases took up a lot of space!  I actually decided that I was tired of walking all the way to the back of my garage for the cleaning supplies I use on a regular basis.  I brought a tub up from the back and did some rearranging to get this:

Above the washer - AFTER

This area may get some tweaking in the coming weeks, but it is a start.

Now, I just have to get rid of all these boxes..

Cleaning up is always my least favorite part!