As featured in The Suburban
There’s nothing worse than being in the middle of a recipe and having to spend 15 minutes searching through your pantry for the baking soda. Or buying a third box of cornstarch when you know you already have two open ones that you can’t seem to find. Welcome to the black hole that most people refer to as their pantry. Many of the homes I organize have deep kitchen pantries, which theoretically offer more space, but ultimately cause you to lose items in the back of the pantry.
Enter the “Zone Pantry”. Although it’s a bit cliché for a Professional Organizer to use bins and baskets to make a space work, it’s cliché because it works. Every client I have set up with this system has loved it and has maintained it. Depending on the height and depth of your shelves you may want to go with tall, clear bins, or lower open baskets. Ultimately it comes down to what works for you and your home.
The first step is to take all the food out of the pantry and group it together. The most common groupings are: oils & vinegars, baking, syrups & sweeteners, sauces, sweets, chips & crackers, pasta & rice. It ultimately depends on your style of cooking but try to put “like with like”. This way of organizing really cuts down on the time spent looking for items as well as allowing you to take stock of what you need at a glance.
Cans and spices can also be difficult to organize. If you don’t have a wall mounted spice rack that works for you, try storing your spices on a Lazy Susan. It offers easy access for your most common spices without having to move things around to find them. For cans, one of my favorite products is a can holder or can rack. These allow for easy visual access to your cans and can usually be adjusted based on the sizes of cans you have.
Happy Organizing!