Pantry Remodel

It used to look so much neater

The pantry has taken a downturn from its glorious organization.  I realized this when I almost dropped the food processor on my head.  Why was it on the highest shelf I can reach?  It was time for some serious redesign.

First, I had to conquer the spice cabinet once and for all.  At 5:30 on a Saturday morning, I decided enough was enough and I was going to get that plastic shelf out.  Only four screws held on the door, and they weren't even hard to get out.  The plastic thingy made it through the opening with a millimeter to spare.  Getting the door back on was a touch harder.  I really needed a third arm.  Still, I managed to set it evenly and the entire project took me a whopping 15 minutes.

Ah, that's better

Next up was how to put the spices back in.  I decided that duplicates were no longer allowed.  Ground spices on the bottom shelf, herbs and whole spices in the middle, and seeds and extracts on the top.  Everything fit with loads of room to spare and nothing was difficult to find.

So, what to do with all the duplicates?  Went out and bought some plastic boxes.  Placed them in the boxes neatly and kept multiples of the same item together, labeled the lids, and snapped on the top.  Which brought me to my main project of the pantry, where these boxes needed to be kept.

Everything came out again.  Wiped down all the shelves again.  Scrubbed the floor again.  Sorted out stuff to throw away or donate for Yom Kippur again.  And then it was time to put it back.

I bought a small wire shelf to put opposite the wine rack, even though I'm really not fond of putting things on the floor.  It's just that the first built-in shelf is so high that you lose a lot of storage space.  The wire shelf is for cat food, to protect it from the ants that found the pantry.  Sidebar, the most environmentally friendly way to deter ants is to pour table salt over their point of entry.  Another thing of which I have way too much.  Close to four pounds.  Two tablespoons of it got rid of the ant problem in about three hours.

All the heavy stuff like the food processor, ice cream maker, and my canning jars went on the bottom shelf, even though I don't use them very much.  The foods I use regularly moved up to the second shelf, leaving the baking supplies on the third one, where they've been since the last sorting.  The top shelf became storage for rarely-used, lightweight items like sprinkles, party sugar, and the duplicate spices from  the spice cabinet.

Fall cleaning accomplished

It will take a little getting used to, like any change.  But, now I know for sure that there is only one of each kind of spice in easy reach, and where to look if I run out of something, rather than run out to buy more.

Which reminds me, I discovered that my baking powder is six months expired, and here we are approaching baking season....