Five years ago, while unpacking dozens of boxes into my first, most beloved home, I went to stock the pantry only to realize...we didn't have one. How could I possibly miss that? Who goes through the whole process of buying a house, including two home inspections, and misses the fact that they have no pantry? Apparently, I do.
While I don't have a pantry, I do have a breakfast nook. A breakfast nook that we never, ever breakfast in. A breakfast nook that was all of ten feet from my dining room table. Who needs a breakfast nook like that? So after five years of living without a pantry, and six months of drooling over pantry porn on Pinterest, I took the plunge (along with two vacation days) and made the switch from this:
I already cannot believe the change. It went from a cramped, never used corner (except as a home for endless clutter) to a bright, open spot. Something of an oasis...a role model for the rest of my house, maybe?
Thanks to my Pinterest research, I knew I had to start with the larger version of the Billy bookcase. Before I assembled them, I painted the back panels a teal/turquoise color. How did I pick that color? Well, I thought a blue accent would go well with my kitchen, and then I saw a can of spray paint this color. And spray paint seemed even easier than regular paint--no clean up required. (Don't worry about my deck. I didn't. It's due to be demolished a week from now).
It took about two cans to cover both of the back panels. It was a little shinier than I expected, and there are a few spots that still look "wet", but once the pantry was stocked, you really couldn't see any of those, and the simplicity of it all was worth it.
So, what's in this thing?
1) Dollar store buckets (I lurve the dollar store) to hold onto seasonal items: swim stuff (like sunscreen and goggles), scarves, hats, gloves...and one bucket for the random cake/cookie baking/decorating stuff that my kids seem to find so tempting.
2) I bought four L-brackets from Ikea to make sure the bookcases were well-attached to the wall ($0.50 each)
3) Dollar store canisters for the kinds of snacks that used to be thrown in a cabinet with a chip clip and forgotten about
4) A snack basket for the kids' stuff. Things like granola bars and apple sauce pouches. I label them before I put them in there, because 90% of the time this stuff winds up going off to day care.
5) We always have bananas. Now they don't have to cook under the under-cabinet lights
6) Bins for the "Stuff that Builds Up." After five years of living in our house, I realized I always had piles of certain things stacking up on the counters and on the old breakfast nook table: documents to be shredded, recyclables (because the big container is in the garage) and kitchen laundry. This may be my favorite part of the pantry -- these things finally have a home, and I only have to go empty them every few days.
7) A basket for my root vegetables: potatoes and onions
8) A dedicated spot for the giant diaper bag. Finally. It's not here at the moment, but this is where it goes :)
9) Kid #1 must always be front-and-center when we're cooking. This Ikea stool now has a home so we're not tripping over it when she's not on it.
10) These are Ikea canisters (there are shorter versions of them a few shelves down)
11) We've finally figured out that we should separate the kids' snacks from the grown-up ones. These are primarily Clif bars and Lara bars that we grab on our way out the door.
12) Another favorite piece of my pantry--dedicated bins for staples. See more below.
13) The pups food in a carefully secured bin!
Before I filled up these bins, I headed to the dollar store and bought 8 sets of measuring cups/spoons. Each bin has its own, and I just leave them in there (tip: take the ring off the set and just nest them). No need to clean them every time or worry about cross-flavor contamination. I made some bread (breadmaker) earlier today and, thanks to this set up, it took about five minutes from the time I found the recipe until I hit the start button on the machine.
Next we've got the bench, which I ordered from Overstock. I was looking for something that would fit against my refrigerator. The goal here was to have a staging area for more of our constant kitchen clutter - namely the kids' lunchbags and shoes.
The big pots are for the parents and the little ones are for the kids. My wallet and iPhone finally have a home, along with any other little flotsam and jetsam (like a check for daycare tuition) that might need a place to stay. Briefly.
Shoe basket by Ikea. Kid #1 already loves to hop on the bench first thing when she gets home and pop her shoes off. She also likes to put my shoes in there for me (she's better trained than I am).
So, my secret weapons in all of this are contact paper (got it at Target--Office Depot, Michael's and Hobby Lobby did not carry it!?!), colorful sharpies, little flower wood cut-outs (dollar store!) and dental floss. I sat down with a Netflix movie and made a whole bunch of extra contact paper templates, so I can just write in "Veggie Straws" or whatever when we get a new snack and it's easy to keep things coordinated. I bought two extra packets of the flowers so I know I'll never run out and use a set of dental floss (one of those awful unwaxed kinds I shouldn't have purchased in the first place) to tie them on to everything. Quick tip: Go ahead and decorate/label both sides of the flower, because it's likely to spin and it will probably make you crazy.
So, that's all I got...hope some of this helps you make things even easier!
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