Tuesday Thoughts About...

...Pantries.

I've already mentioned how I binged the show "Home Edit" on Netflix. I love any shows and books about organizing. I don't always agree with everything, but I love getting new ideas. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Still, I really like seeing order out of chaos. It was always my favorite thing when I was organizing for other people. 

Today, I want to talk about pantries. 

There are so many ways to organize pantries. They all look fabulous--no doubt. But I question some of them. Let's take a look at a few.

Of course this pantry looks fabulous. But there are relatively few food items. Where are the canned goods? And what's up with all of those cake plates. Maybe this is some sort of baking pantry for someone who bakes professionally. It could be that, but then the crock pot is there and the toaster. What's up with those apples and limes? I don't know anyone who stores fresh fruit in the pantry.

This pantry does look a little more realistic, but doesn't have that much food in it. I do store my potatoes and onions in my pantry. But what's up with that DVD player on the bottom? And then I guess those are the disks below. Maybe this was designed for someone with a small apartment. 

This one looks good too, although it seems like there's more wine and beverages than actual food. Notice that Charles Chips tin on the top shelf? That reminds me of when I worked for them as a teen. They gave Reenie (my best friend) and I a company car ('63 Chevy) to tool around in. Okay, I digress. Back to the pantry. What's up with the salt getting a shelf to itself? Also, now I'm thinking that maybe apples are supposed to be stored in the pantry.

Now this one is incredible. But, come on! Where are the can goods and beverages? I would need a ladder to get to that top shelf.

I can see they eat a lot of fruit, but where are the vegetables? I must be missing something. I never heard of storing fruit in the pantry. I know, I've already said that.

This looks like the most realistic pantry of all. I do like the idea of those nice baskets, but I don't know what's in them. This is my favorite so far--from a practicality standpoint.

Now this. Really? Where the heck is the leftover cereal and cookies that didn't fit in these really aesthetically pleasing jars? There have to be boxes somewhere.

This one looks pretty good too. But I can't imagine the cost of all those containers.

And then there's Home Edit. This is the pantry of one of the owners. The best of all!

OMGosh! How awesome is this? It's gorgeous! They like to organize everything according to the rainbow--not just the pantry--books, clothes, toys, etc. I think it looks fabulous, but I could never pull it off. I never learned the acronym for the rainbow. I'd be re-arranging constantly---"wait, is it orange, yellow red? or blue green purple?" I'd waste too much time trying to figure it out. Plus you would have to really know the packaging of your products to find anything. Some things we've used forever would be obvious. But newer things would get lost. Probably.

Now here's my pantry. 

I'm fortunate to have a really big pantry. Sooo, there are all kinds of things in here that aren't food. It looks kind of like a jumble of random things and messier than I'd prefer, but this is about the best it can be. The entire top shelf is all Christmas stuff (you can't see that shelf in these pictures). Butch has to get on the ladder and hand it down to me. That makes it really convenient for decorating for the holidays. My cans are all organized by food groups.

Would my chip and cereal shelf look better if they were dumped in to containers. Probably. But then I would not have the right sizes and would wind up with the bags anyway.That bottom shelf is paper plates and napkins, food storage containers and extra wraps (you know my multiples problem!). Oh, and yeah, there's another row of plates and napkins behind the ones you see! Those are the seasonal/holiday ones.

In my effort to have nice looking containers, I asked for these for Christmas a few years ago. Sure, they look nice, but it's the same thing. I have to wait until the bag of flour (sugar, powdered sugar, brown sugar, etc.) are half empty to use them. 

And then there's this:

Evie brought me these when she came to Camp Aunt Barb. I was so impressed that she labeled them that I had to leave it! They are salted caramels. And a reminder that this is a little girl after my heart!

So, in closing (sounds like I'm debating--I guess I sorta am), my pantry isn't perfect. It doesn't look as organized as I might like, but it works for me. I would love to have all matching containers with everything perfectly lined up. That's not reality for me. I'll just remind myself of how grateful I am to have so much space--no matter how it looks. 

What about you? How's your pantry look? Send me some pictures and I'll post them.