Project: Cheap Pantry Organization!

Let me start by saying how much I hate loathe our kitchen. It's small, the countertops are awful, the fridge spot is too small for a normal size fridge, and the pantry...oh the pantry! Because of the location and size of the refrigerator space we have no door on our pantry. With the addition of a toddler in the past two years, we've set up a baby gate to keep him out of there - oh so classy and chic, I know. Knowing the things I dislike about our kitchen I have had to remind myself of the lovely things about it. The cabinets are in decent shape, there are windows all around so it's easy to watch J play outside without actually having to be outside with him 100% of the time *gasp*, and I love that it's open and flows into the dining and living room areas.

I really enjoy entertaining. We don't do it nearly as often as we would like, but it holds a special place in my heart nonetheless. I don't, however, like that everyone who comes over can see right into our messy, unkempt pantry. There's no junk drawer or closet to throw it into when guests arrive. It's always out in the open, nowhere to hide. Over the past few months I had grown pretty tired of the way it was{not}taken care of. I started pinning organization ideas on Pinterest and finding ways to do it on the cheap. So, today I share with you the how and what I used to tackle this project!

Take a look at the hideous before picture:

Even the lighting is bad. Ugh. I had a plan for where I wanted things to go, so my first step was to take everything out. Y'all, my kitchen was FILLED with this junk as I cleaned off the shelves and swept up the floor. Next, I started grouping items - bread, snacks, J's inside/outside toys (crayons, chalk, bubbles, etc), baking goods, and spices/seasonings. I also gathered up my cookbooks and organized them for the pantry - they had been sitting on the kitchen counter taking up space and collecting dust. Once I had cleaned everything out I started with the large appliances, which I put on the bottom shelf - no appliances on the floor! Yay! I placed my grouped items in plastic containers and baskets. All my cookbooks went into 3 separate magazine holders and all the plastic wrap, tin foil, wax paper, and ziploc bags went into another 3 separate magazine holders. On the top shelf I organized all my glass jars, vases, and serving platters/dishes and I was DONE!

What I bought:

• 4 medium rectangular plastic containers - I found mine at Target for $5 each
• 3 small rectangular plastic baskets - Target $1 bins
• 6 cardboard magazine holders - again, Target $1 bins *cha-ching!* I love Target :)
• 2 - 12 inch round turntables for two of the shelves corners - Bed, Bath & Beyond $7.99 each, but I had a 20% coupon for one of them

The final result:

 Even the lighting is better! It's nothing too drastic, but it's enough change that I love it and it's so much more functional!

What other ways do you organize pantry items?