Dealing With The Kitchen Shelves {Amy}

One part of the apartment that has always been a bit of an annoyance is the shelving system in our kitchen. So, I decided to make it work for me, and I thought I'd share the de-cluttering with you.

 

Before: 

 

Initially when we moved in, I grouped things by color, which was fun, but didn't actually last long. So, looking at the shelving system as they were, let's talk about the problems.

• The top two shelves weren't being used to their fullest potential. They were being cluttered with items that weren't used every day, or were purely decorative. What I want to get out of them: Storage for semi-used kitchen serving-ware/mixing bowls.
• The "Jars and Such" shelf was a bit of a mess.  I don't know if you can tell, but there's a bag of flour hanging out at the other end and there's some random Tupperware items that found their way onto the shelf and never managed to leave.What I want to get out of it: An organized and clean looking method of storing bulk items.
• Below that, there's another shelf of random items - mostly tea related things that do not get as much use as I would like. What I want to get out of it: Dry food Storage to clear up space in kitchen cabinets.
• The bottom shelf has a basket with all of our spices, and then a bunch of random serve-ware (and my depleted lemon juice stock) It looks like a mish-mash, and I don't enjoy that. What I want to get out of it: Same as above. Dry food Storage.
• On the floor are baskets with out cooking oils/vinegars, noodles, canned goods, and baking supplies. I just don't like keeping this stuff on the floor. What I want to get out of it: Earl wants to use it to store our water bottles... and I'm okay with that.

 After: 

In the end, I think it worked perfectly for my purposes. I just had to get two more baskets, and straighten things out/rearrange. If you're wondering where all my tea stuff went, check over here.