Weekend Report: How Did the Pantry Reorganization Go?

As a refresher, here's our "before" picture:

Here's the full spread from the cleared-out shelves. (Actually that's only about half. We had to spill over onto the floor!)

And the empty shelves. By the way, we forgot to mention one step last Friday: cleaning the shelves while everything was cleared out of them. Done and done!

Here we've actually gone through to remove expired or otherwise unusable items. We've also grouped all the food together into their shelf assignments. Plus, everything now off the floor and on the counter!

And here's the completed re-organization!

Again, it may not look like much has changed from the "before" picture, but now everything is so much better organized.

Items are grouped together so it's easy to find, rarely used items are in the back while frequently used items are in front, and all the baking supplies are happy on their very own shelf. There's even room on each shelf for items to shift and be added, instead of having everything crammed together.

So pretty and clean. Now we just have to keep it this way...

How did it go for you?

(Images: Emma Christensen for the Kitchn)

I had some time off where I got to work from home and took the opportunity to reorganize my pantry, drawers and cabinets for the first time in two years.

Behold the power of decluttering and organization. The pantry from top to bottom reads: pastas and rice, packaged-ready to eat foods, teas and honey, spices, chips, pretzels, etc., flours, sugars and baking supplies.

It was nice to have everything pulled out and placed onto the counter so that many different things could be consolidated and/or pitched.

It's also nice that you may realize, when you are finished, that you have more room than you thought you had.

posted by art on February 9th 2009 at 11:50am
view art's profile

Art, I totally agree. I actually have one entire free shelf that I didn't have before! So nice.

posted by EmmaC on February 9th 2009 at 12:19pm
view EmmaC's profile

umm, I started then realized it was like 60 degrees outside and stopped...I'll try again this weekend

posted by wwoolsey on February 9th 2009 at 1:22pm
view wwoolsey's profile

I need to do this. I got the first step, which for me was getting SQUARE containers for flour and sugar. Suddenly I have almost a foot more shelf space than before. Funny that. Now I just need to sort and reallocate. And possibly do something about my basket o' spices that I can't find anything in.

posted by Tiamat_the_Red on February 9th 2009 at 2:29pm
view Tiamat_the_Red's profile

How did the pantry reorganization go? It did not. Was a melange of sick, lazy and hibernating all weekend. Was nice until I went for some soup crackers and they fell on my head.

posted by EasilyAmused on February 9th 2009 at 3:21pm
view EasilyAmused's profile

I did this in the fall and also inventoried all the contents as I went. As a result, I have had a list to consult as I make my weekly menu. I try to include the items that don't usually get much play often, like poppy seeds and five spice ppwder.

posted by Knerq on February 9th 2009 at 3:39pm
view Knerq's profile

Cabinets look great now is it time to move onto the fridge? Check out these easy tips for keeping the fridge clutter free http://tinyurl.com/bxwx9x

posted by Kimmy23 on February 9th 2009 at 4:47pm
view Kimmy23's profile

Thank you, your account has been registered.

We have sent an email to the address you registered with for verification purposes. Please use the link in the verification email to activate your account.

apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time