My mother used to say, “Everything has a home and a place.” This is a great philosophy in theory. She, however, did not have my two little ones going behind her taking everything out! My point is, storage solutions need to be easy in order to be ongoing. Otherwise, it was a nice idea that lasted a month or so.

Adding bottom cabinets to your pantry is a nice idea and I believe in making every space attractive. However, I would probably go to Home Depot and get stock cabinets, instead of incurring the cost of the higher quality kitchen cabinets for a pantry. OR there are building “left-over” stores and nonprofits, like Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore that run building supply depots.

I also have to comment on the curved cabinet of the kitchen island! I have never seen a cabinet that has a bow before! Gorgeous!! Via AtticMag

In between cabinets, there are frequently gaps between cabinets, which are disguised by “fillers”, flat pieces of wood, or something more ornate like a pilaster. These gaps are open spaces that can be used for pullout shelving or racks.

If you saw my post on how to make a pullout spice cabinet, the pullout above is made the same way except the rails are put on the bottom and top instead of the side. Adding a front molding, like the pilaster here, further dresses it up and gives your kitchen a custom look. Via Wood-Mode

Via Kitchen Envy

Better Homes and Garden recently gave some ideas for keeping the clutter at bay with smart storage and organization ideas for the kitchen.

Hideaway bins via Bilotta

Instead of stacking plates up above, Bilotta has a pegboard drawer that allows you to change the pegs to suit your needs. This would be an easy project to put into existing cabinets.

Source: bhg

Source: bhg

Source: bhg

Source:bhg

Making the most of the inside of doors. I do this with my kitchen desk doors for my children’s school calendar’s and party invitations. Source: BHG

Via Build.com

Looking for more solutions, I visited the Container Store  and chose these to show as they were very functional and all very reasonably priced – a large majority under $10 and no item above $20 when I looked, however 2 were on sale.

Source: Worthing-Court

Country Living showed this kitchen storage option - but imagine this in a different color. The “gingerbread trim” is an interesting element and very easily added. Same goes for the crown and baseboard molding they added to the shelving unit. This could be created from any old book shelf, even a Craigslist find. The large storage jars are perfect for keeping flour, sugar, rice, etc.  and while it looks very pretty to have everything in glass jars, it’s just not practical.

Source: Houzz

Maximizing space in a small pantry

Source: BHG

Source: bhg

Source: BHG

Lastly, but most importantly, I REALLY want to thank everyone for all the kind comments on my last post. Honestly, I was a little reticent to post about Scraggly the Fox, because much to my dismay and confusion, the story has been met with mixed reactions.

Your comments just show that there are incredible people with compassion and kindness! It did cross my mind  that those who recoiled from the story just didn’t comment, but I quickly dismissed that idea ;-)

I hope you liked this post and to see you for the next one!