Pantry makeover

My journey to a pantry for healthier living

The pantry...it's where food goes to disappear only to be discovered years later. Not anymore! The pantry in my kitchen was just a standard builder grade pantry with deep shelves, terrible spacing, and not enough shelves. For years (at least 14 because my mom remembers having a conversation with me when I was pregnant with my youngest!) I have wanted to cut the shelves in half, change the spacing and have more of them. But my husband resisted...until now!

Here is my pantry before. 47" wide with 4 16" deep shelves. 

 

And here it is after! 4 full depth pull out drawers and 3 shelves (2 are 10" deep and the top one is 5" deep)

 

 

 

When it came time to put everything back into the pantry that came out I did have to find a new home for some of the non food items that were in there (paper towels and recipe book and recipe box) but all the food items went back into the pantry in addition to some fruits and veggies that were not previously in there.

 

The 4 drawers hold tons of stuff! I labeled the lids of everything with black contact paper and white marker.

The top drawer has baskets that can hold those odd bagged items: rice nooodles, rice wraps, tortillas, tea, bread, english muffins, etc.

 

The second drawer has baskets to hold fruits and veggies that do not require refrigeration.

 

 

The third drawer down is common baking ingredients and snack items that my family will want easy access to.

 

 

 

And the bottom drawer is less common baking goods, rice and beans.

 

I love my new pantry and no longer lose items or buy something that I already had and didn't know!