Pantry Organizing Challenge Hall Of Fame {Part 2}: Before And After Pictures

Lots of readers have participated in the Pantry Organizing Challenge, whether they have a formal pantry or use their kitchen cabinets and cupboard to hold their food items.

In fact, this is part 2 of the hall of fame, and it contains lots of great before and after pictures that can inspire you to also organize your own pantry (scroll down to see them all).

You can get step by step instructions for Week #3 here, and get your pantry and food storage areas organized too.

Once you've done this challenge yourself don't forget to take some before and after pictures, and then share then in the Challenge Hall of Fame, so we can all celebrate your accomplishments.

Photo by Robert Benner Sr.

Before And After Pictures After The Pantry Organizing Challenge

by Amber

Amber shared her before and after pictures on Flickr and Pinterest (on her 52 Weeks to Better Organizing Board), and then told me about it on the site's Facebook wall. Talk about sharing in all kinds of social media :)

Amber says:

In bottom rolling cabinets always had can goods but now organized 1 drawer beans (all kinds)...1 for soups...1 is baking goods (sprinkles/ cupcake liners/ chocoloate/ powders....1 is for drink powders (cocoa / cider )...1 is snacks like oatmeal/ gold fish/ etc :)

In addition, she stated, "Oh and cereals in bins from IKEA as is sugar flour and WW flour :)"

Taylor says:

Amber, I like the idea of the little pull out drawers you have in your pantry, and I think this could be great for anyone that has enough room for it underneath their shelves.

In addition, I love how you've used the cereal bins to hold some of your dried goods, like flour and sugar. I've actually done something similar in my own pantry, since I've found these containers to be a good size to hold the bags. Those who are looking for new containers may want to consider the cool "bag in" containers, where you can place the whole bag in, and then pour out some of the contents (see examples below).

Here are a couple of similar pantry storage solutions you can use in your own pantry if you like what Amber has done:



Thanks Amber for joining the challenges and sharing your pictures. They're wonderful, and you've done a great job.

Awesome Use Of Pantry Storage Solutions To Organize Her Food Storage Areas

by Jan @ The Crafty Mermaid's Grotto

Jan from The Crafty Mermaid's Grotto blogged about her accomplishments when she took this week's challenge.

I was especially impressed with how she made the most out of the pantry space she had.

As she describes her pantry, it is a walk-in pantry, but quite narrow. Nonetheless with some cool pantry storage solutions she really expanded the amount of storage space she had in it, especially with the wall mounted can racks she installed. (The racks are show in more detail in the canned food storage ideas page.)

In addition, she used many other really simple but very useful storage solutions for her organizing project.

She mentioned that she used command hooks to add hooks to the wall for holding her broom, swiffer, bags of chips, and even her homemade grocery bag holder.

In addition, she used plastic food canisters for her dry goods storage and some clear small storage tubs to organize categories of food stuffs on her shelf.



You did a wonderful job Jan, and I really appreciate you sharing your pictures on the blog and taking up this challenge!

Organizing My Pantry, Spices And Food Including Making An Inventory

by Bec @ 2012 - the year of challenges
(Adelaide, SA, Australia)

Bec from 2012 - The Year of Challenges has blogged about her progress during week # 3 of the 52 Weeks to an Organized Home Challenge, and shared lots of before and after pictures on her blog.

In fact, she shared so many photos I couldn't share them all with you here, in the hall of fame, so make sure you check out her blog post for all of them.

First, I love that she created a pantry inventory for herself, and posted it on the door of the pantry cabinet, so she could reference it. She didn't use the printable pantry list from this site, but it was easy for her to create her own, and one that is so individualized can be very helpful!

I also love that she put it in a plastic page protector sheet, so she can write on it with the dry erase marker and easily change it as stuff comes in and out of the pantry with shopping trips and daily meals. That makes it so easy to keep track of.

Finally, look at her can storage in the second picture of the top 2 shelves. These shelf expanders can be very helpful to show all the cans you've got, letting the ones in the back get up a little higher so you can easily see all of them (such as the example on the right).

Please note they have similar shelf organizers for spices -- if you want one for cans just make sure you're buying one that is deeper to fit the fatter cans instead of just the thinner spice bottles.

Pantry Organizing Plus Craft Project Rolled Into One

by Andi @ Crazy Daze Designs

Andi at Crazy Daze Designs blogged about this challenge, and how she did it.

Andi loves to craft, so along with her organizing project she turned it into a craft project as well.

She used her Silhouette Cameo (see the picture to the right) to make labels for several of her food containers.

If you're not familiar with this product, it is kind of like a printer, but instead of printing onto paper it uses an electronic cutting tool to cut out things from various types of paper, vinyl, etc. Therefore, one of the things you can do with it make cute little labels.

I think she did a great job! In addition, she went to the dollar store to buy some little storage containers to help containerize the pantry. I think that is a great idea, and a great way to get some cheap pantry storage solutions.

Thanks for blogging about the challenge this week Andi! You did a wonderful job.

Before And After Pictures From Pantry Organization Project

by Lisa

Lisa shared these pictures on Home Storage Solutions 101's Facebook wall.

Lisa says:

The after was only possible because my husband agreed to do the hard work of ripping out the old wooden shelves and replacing it with new adjustable shelving and investing in some more OXO containers to smartly contain it all.

I have a lot of baking items because I have to cook gluten free for my son.

Taylor says:

Lisa, tell your husband he did a great job on the shelves, and that you did a wonderful job getting everything organized in your pantry!

I too love OXO food canisters, especially their good grips POP containers (see picture to the right). These are wonderful for many reasons, especially because they are airtight, stackable, easy pouring, have square and rectangular shapes for space efficiency in your pantry, and finally because they are made with BPA-free plastic.

I could see how someone who needs to cook from scratch a lot, like you do, would also find these canisters very helpful in a pantry. We do a lot of from scratch cooking too, and my hope is to eventually get some of these for my own pantry, some day.

Forty Five Minutes Of Work For A Beautiful Pantry

by Susan @ Camp Slinkard

Susan at Camp Slinkard showed off her before and after pictures from Challenge #3 her blog.

I've chosen some of the best pictures for the hall of fame, but she has even more, so be sure to check her post to look at all of them.

She said she had recently worked on their pantry, so there wasn't as much to do, so in about 45 minutes she had made some great strides forward in her pantry organization.

I love her use of some very simple but effective pantry storage solutions, which you can see in the third picture, which is a close up of a couple of shelves. These include lazy susans, food canisters, and pretty baskets. (In addition, notice the cute wine rack she has when you look at the big before and after pictures.)

What I love about organizing is that some really simple solutions will make such a dramatic difference, and make things so much easier for you to find what you need.

You did a wonderful job Susan! Thanks so much for blogging about the challenge.

Tricia's Pantry Storage Solutions: Both Recycled And New Stuff

by Tricia

Tricia shared this before and after picture collage of her pantry on the site's Facebook wall as well.

Tricia says:

I organized the pantry (three shelves for dried goods in my kitchen) this weekend.

I recycled several jars I already had, and I bought a few new ones, plus those handy mini-shelves for the canned goods and two baskets at TJ Maxx.

I put the food the kids want to access themselves (cereal, Nutella, dried fruit) to the bottom and moved my cooking staples to the top shelf.

I also printed cute labels for the jars and voila!

Taylor says:

Thanks so much for sharing this picture Tricia.

Sounds like you put a lot of thought into how you arranged everything, and I love that you recycled some jars for the organization process.

Plus, I love your jar labels. They are so cute, and make it very easy to find what you want, too!

Organizing My Pantry, Spices And Food Storage Areas

by Dawn @ Megwetch, Gitchie Manito
(Minnesota)

Dawn at Megwetch, Gitchie Manito blogged about this week's challenge, sharing these great pictures. (She's since taken down the blog, so I've removed the link.)

Dawn says:

I don't have a pantry but I did organize my food storage cupboards and my spices.

I was got rid of a lot of expired spices and old sauces/oils/food.

I also purchased a tiered shelf but it didn't work with the size of my cupboards. I never knew about these, so thank you for sharing their existence. I'll keep them in mind for other storage projects.

I didn't do anything very creative other than cleaning out and organizing.

You don't know how happy this makes me feel doing this project. Now I'm excited for the refrigerator/freezer challenge!

Taylor says:

Dawn, you did a great job with this challenge.

I know what you mean about the little stair steppers. They can be very handy in pantries when they fit, but if your shelves are shallow they may not fit well.

I do like that you've considered using it in your bathroom instead, and I think it would also work quite well in there. If you do end up using it there, I'd love to see a photo!

Thanks so much for blogging about the challenge, and I can't wait to see what you do next!

Organizing The Pantry And Spices: Before And After Pictures

by Caroline @ Southern Mom Says
(Fort Worth, TX)

Caroline at Southern Mom Says blogged about this week's Challenge.

She said, "Hi Taylor! I posted about this week's challenge on my blog and shared before and after photos.

I'm really happy with the way it turned out and even better was that it took less time than I thought it would!

Thank you!"

You did a great job Caroline! Thanks so much for joining the challenges and blogging about them. I can't wait to see what you accomplish next.

Are You Inspired To Organize Now?

Have these before and after pictures inspired you to organize your pantry now too?

I sure hope so. If so, I encourage you to take the Week #3 Challenge all about your food storage areas, which provides step by step instructions for how to proceed.

In fact, I'd love for you to join the 52 Week Organized Home Challenge so that over the course of the year you can organize your entire home and life, as we slowly but steadily tackle each room and type of item and get them under control.

If you do take the challenge, please try to take some before and after pictures and you can also be featured in the 52 Week Challenge Hall of Fame.

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Related Pages You May Enjoy

Getting Rid Of Food & Pantry Clutter Hall Of Fame

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