Another Pantry Makeover - How it can look when you purchase all-new containers

This month, I helped my sweet friend, Alison, do a complete makeover on her HUGE pantry.  She practically gave me free reign (I was giddy) and we worked together to create a functional and beautiful space.  The goal of every good organizational project should be that it's functional, but because they're getting a glass pantry door, it obviously has to look good too, because everyone who walks by will be able to see inside.

I have to admit, I'm pretty proud of us.  Alison saved up some money to spend on new containers and bins for each of the "zones" I suggested.  Honestly, most of her groceries were pretty much in zones before we started, but lots of non-food, non-cooking items had found their way into this giant space over the years.  Decorative items, toys and crafts, games, even electronics...the first step was to get rid of everything that didn't belong.

Next, I made lists of the logical groupings of items in the space.  Breakfast items, beverages, baking, canned goods, dinner, snacks...you get the idea.

At this point, I would usually gather whatever containers, bins and baskets that could be repurposed to hold like-items, but in this case, we put a date on the calendar to go shopping.

Unfortunately for us, we had to make two trips to IKEA, two weeks apart (mostly because of annoyed kids and lack of room in the car to bring everything home), but it worked out just fine. Yesterday was our final trip to purchase the last of what was needed to finish the project.  With two full shopping carts and four loud kids...checking out was interesting!

Here is the result of all of our planning.  The total hands-on time that we spent on the pantry itself (including removing everything, mopping and wiping down shelves, assembling, washing and filling the new canisters, rearranging to decide where things would go, etc) was about 4 hours.  So, except for shopping time, this huge project was done by two sets of hands in 4 hours...including multiple kid disruptions.  Just wanting to encourage you that, whatever the size, you DO have time to give your own pantry a face lift!!!

Alison purged some of her cookbooks and only kept what she uses and loves.

She uses the top shelves to store rarely-used appliances and serving pieces, which were mostly in their original boxes before the makeover.  I thought the boxes looked tidy enough, but Alison suggested taking them out of the boxes and I was shocked that it looks SO much better. Plus, with things out of their boxes, she'll be more likely to use them.

There were some items that made sense to put in the same bin.  Like baking supplies, for example.  Now, when she makes cookies or cupcakes with the kids, all of her icings and sprinkles are easy to grab and put on the counter.

We also picked out these really cool acrylic canisters for her baking staples, like flours and sugars. They have a pour spout and measuring cup AND the back part of the canister shows how many cups of each item is the container.  She also got glass jars for chocolate chips, nuts and raisins. (you can see them in the back, with the silver lids)

Here are some of the snack bins and her candy section, complete with a dessert jar for the kids.

The can shelves and the two Oxo Lazy Susans were  both from Target, but the rest of the items were found at IKEA:

- Rationell Variera Small and Large Boxes- Red bins holding snacks and other like-items
- Small, Medium and Large Burken Jars - Glass jars displaying candy, chocolate chips and trail mix
- Raritet Food Savers - the plastic, divided containers holding Chex Mix, pretzels and other snacks (in the 2nd picture up top)
- Raritet Jars with Lids - for flours and sugars
- Small and Large IKEA 365+ Jars with Lids - cereal containers with pour spouts, we also used them for oats and granola
- Slom Jar with Lid - the largest size for the spaghetti noodles
- Lekman Boxes - Storage bins for extra groceries
- Vessla Storage Crate with Casters - the white bins with lids (on the floor, under the bottom shelves)

I had so much fun transforming Alison's pantry.  It just energizes me, for some reason. After IKEA yesterday, we each went home to nap our kids before putting everything away.  I bought the last few items I needed for my kids' playroom and was on such a roll that I spent most nap time organizing at my house.  That post will be coming up next...

By the way, here's what our kids were doing while we were setting up the pantry. Dressing up is a favorite pastime, no matter where they are. (Do you love Ryan's cape and rain boots in the first picture? I'm not sure what look he was going for here.)