Dark and Gloomy Pantry Fix!

Hey Y'all,

So in our last house we had a small cupboard that worked as our pantry next to our fridge. It was pretty skinny but super deep so we could put a lot of things far into the cabinet. The reason this worked for us is because the previous owners had installed pull out drawers in the cabinets so you can easily reach the things in the back. If we ever are blessed enough to be able to build our own home....I want pull out drawers OR a huge walk-in pantry (a girl can dream right?). Just sayin'.

Our current place has a much bigger kitchen than the last house with tons of cabinets to store things which we never had in our last house. I love that everything kitchen-related is actually IN THE KITCHEN. Novel idea right? No more going into the dark, creepy basement for that crockpot! 

I immediately realized though that our pantry would be a little tough to use because as you can see it is super wide with tons of space but very deep....you can't even see the back! I knew that I would end up losing cans then rebuying things never really knowing what was lurking in the back pantry abyss. I wanted to start fresh with a system that worked so this is what I came up with. 

  

I decided to sort of make my own built-in, movable drawers per say with cheap storage tubs. I bought a set of five for like $10 at Walmart (eeek! I know!). I got dry erase labels at Target thinking that I would be able to easily relabel them if the contents changed ever, but the marker just rubbed off when I pulled the tubs out so I ended up using a Sharpie. Teacher trick: dry erase marker removes permanent marker! It's true! 

I organized the contents of the pantry and came up with:

• Tea and Coffee (also includes hot chocolate)
• Rice and Pasta
• Baking
• Breakfast
• Cans
• Chips, Cookies, and Snacks along with Lincoln's food bin on the right

If I'm ever wondering if I have any cans of diced tomatoes or how much spaghetti is left, I can just pull the tub out and check. I don't have to wonder if there are anymore hiding in the back or just assume there are none then actually end up with 5 cans of garbanzo beans (true story). I keep anything big and clunky in between the tubs on a shelf (behind the wood post in the middle) like protein powder for smoothies and all our glass baking containers for sugar, flour, and oats. 

Here on the top shelf I got little skinny, low trays that keep peanut butter, honey, and hot sauce (from Guatemala and Costa Rica) and on the right all our grilling, BBQ, and smoking needs. 

Hope you like it and it helps you organize your pantry as well! 

Happy day everyone!

Love, 

Betsy