How to Keep Your Pantry Organized and Maximize Storage Space

When we moved into our new home almost two years ago I think I was most thrilled about the pantry that we were getting in the kitchen. Coming from an older home that had a pretty small kitchen with not a lot of storage space, I was more than enthusiastic to be acquiring an actual pantry with actual shelves and an actual door. It might sound crazy, but I'm a stay at home mom, I'm obsessively organized and we often stock up on certain grocery items when we shop so extra space is always something I cherish.

To maximize the storage space in my pantry I used a couple of different products to keep things organized, readily available and visible. The first line of products that are really great to help keep your pantry organized is Rubbermaid's line of kitchen organization products. The Helper Shelf can be used one of two ways. You can hang the shelf from an existing wire shelf, or you can set it on the shelf. Either way you get an extra area of storage for hard to stack items like bags of lentils, noodles, spices, etc. The Rubbermaid Tray can be set on any shelf in the pantry and can hold small items like bottles of spices, condiments or bags of candy. Basically, items that usually fall through the wire shelving. Also, the 2-tier Can Rack provides a whole extra row of shelving for cans and the entire unit slides out so you can grab what you need easily, without having to pull cans out from the back and knocking everything over in the process. They also have really great over the door organizers that add a number of shelves to overall storage space.

Way Basics just released the Quad Cube which is a four-cube design made of non-toxic Z-Board. No formaldehyde will be released from the product so it's a great find for pantry organization. My Quad Cube fits underneath the bottom shelf of my pantry and adds four cubes of storage for bulky and heavy items like cases of juice boxes, boxes of freeze-pops or larger bottles or cans. The finish of the painted Z-Boards makes for an easily wipeable surface and it holds up to frequent use. You can buy fun colors like orange or green as well.

Keeping your pantry organized is important because if you maximize the amount of space you have you can use it as a central location for everything that might normally sit out on the counter, making for a disorganized mess. Your kitchen will be easier to clean if you don't have to spend a half hour putting things away first, just to wipe off the counters. Rubbermaid's pantry items can be found on their website and you can visit Way Basic's website for more information on how you can utilize their products for whole house storage solutions.