The Pantry

 I spent some time re-organizing the pantry this week, a task which has meditative qualities not to be underestimated.

When we renovated our kitchen in 2015 we were slightly limited as to the pantry design.  We weren't adding space to the kitchen, and wanted the La Cornue range to be the centre of the entire room.  This meant that our pantry cupboards would be chunky ones, placed in the corners of the room.  They have plenty of space but they are deep cupboards, which isn't ideal for seeing everything at a glance.

In our last house we built an addition to house a new kitchen that was open to the dining area, complete with a fireplace.  It was a really terrific room and one of the best things about it was the pantry we designed.  It was basically a little room just off of the cooking area that we could walk into.  It had narrow shelves from floor the ceiling: the narrowness of the shelves meant that pantry items could be stored one layer deep, no looking behind jars and cans for whatever was needed.  It was brilliant!

I really have to stay on top of these deep pantry cupboards or they get to be "a right mess" as they say in Newfoundland.

Before
A Right Mess

 This particular corner pantry is just to the right of the range and it holds spices and dried herbs as well as various beans and grains.
The clutter of labels was making me crazy, and you can see that in order to find items at the back of the cupboard everything has to be moved around: so annoying!

The only way to do this job is to remove everything, give the interior of the cupboard a big scrub, and then make decisions on what gets to go back in.  I moved some items to different locations in the kitchen and stored some of the labelled items in clear glass jars.
The result is much more reasonable:

After
That's Better

 At the front of this pantry I place the coffee tin and the basket which holds the filters and accessories for the coffee machine, all within easy reach.

COFFEE is Key

 This type of task is so satisfying, immediate results that just keep giving: cooking is easier and it's so calming to see a perfect row of organized jars and containers.

What's on your agenda on this Saturday?  Domestic tasks?  A day out?
I hope you enjoy it, whatever you get up to.
xoxDani