Organizing the Kitchen

We moved into our new place back in July, right before I went on a business trip. We are just now, finally getting organized. So now, I have some tips on how organize your pantry. We have a SUPER tiny pantry to start off - it's only about 2 1/2 feet wide with three shelves and a giant space at the bottom. Not that great of a pantry, see?

The blue block at the bottom is my dust pan, which is attached to the broom and everything in that bottom space is paper bags (from the grocery store), the swiffer, the broom, other random items that fit down there. The top shelf is for appliances that aren't used everyday or boxes for the ones that are. The middle shelf is called the baking shelf - everything I need to bake except oils, found there. The bottom shelf is the 'other' shelf with drinks (a box of tea bags, cocoa packets in a box, etc.), tuna, peanut butter, other random items that did not fit into any category I made. In the two basket on the door, the top has storage stuff (tin foil, saran wrap, ziploc bags) and cooking spray. The bottom basket has all of the jello and pudding mixes, as well as smaller drink mixes (kool-aid packets or single-serve packets). The baskets are held onto the door simply by ribbon. I think it looks pretty:

That other door goes to the backyard and my apron hangs on the hinge because it won't fit anywhere else. I have a weird kitchen. Onto the mini-fridge. We originally wanted to use the mini-fridge just for drinks, but we realized, we actually don't stock the fridge that much. So, one day I turned it off, unplugged it, and now.... it's a second pantry!

The top freezer part, I just took that little door off and canned veggies and beans now go there. Next layer is for the pastas! We love our pasta. Below that is the breakfast shelf - oatmeal and cereal go there. In the door, we have the oils and sauces (plus a random box of corn bread mix. The absolute bottom part would house extra bottles of gatorade if we had just bought them or we wanted some warm or whatever. Next we have the little armoire for additional pantry space - the top has recipe box, recipe books, take out menus, daily products like a mixing bowl, strainer, toaster and at the very top, adult drinks. I didn't bother taking a picture of the upper-half. But more importantly, the drawer - bread drawer! We have almost no counter space, let alone space for a bread box.

Then, the bottom section has snacks that are easy to get to and rice, another food staple for us.

Then, because I'm obsessed with organizing, I even have places for everything in the freezer and fridge. The freezer main section has 2 'sections', entrees on the right 1/3 and appetizers taking up the rest of the space, divided between frozen veggies on the far left and 'other' in the middle. Under the ice box is our ice packs. In the door, the top part is frozen fruit (fruit drink mix) and the bottom has my Velata chocolate or other sweet things that need to stay cold until used.

The fridge now; the door has the more common condiments on the top shelf, the little closed section is for eggs (dollar store eggs work just as well as any) and the other side has butter, and the bottom shelf has other condiments like ice cream toppings, salsa, etc.

The main part of the fridge has drinks up top (to keep them the coldest), juices on the right, milk in the middle, and adult drinks on the left. The middle area has left overs, anything that doesn't fit in the drawer, etc. Tortillas seem to be the only thing that lives on the top of the bottom drawer, it's not that tall, either. Then of course finally, the drawer (the only one in the fridge, of course) has meat on the top right, veggies normally bottom right (We need to go shopping, I think.), cheese on the lower left and then fruit top left!

I think this works well for us, it's easy to find everything, at least! Hopefully you can take away some tips for organizing your small (or even large) kitchen. Maybe I'll take a photo one day so you can see how small my kitchen is. ;)