Dry Food & Spices

For most cooks, organizing foodstuffs, cooking oils, and spices is as much an issue of visibility as it is of space. How often do you make emergency runs to the grocery store because you’ve suddenly run out of flour? Or how much time do you spend searching for that one critical spice? The solution is to arrange supplies efficiently while keeping every item in view.

Dry foods and baking supplies work best on shallow shelves lining the walls of a pantry or in pull-out trays or drawers in cabinetry (see pages 40 to 43). If you don’t have a bona fide pantry, perhaps you can install pantry-style shelves in a nearby closet. For spices, visibility and easy access are key. Shallow spice racks can mount inside cabinet doors or onto the backsplash wall space between the countertop and wall cabinets. For drawer storage, transfer spices to identical shaker jars and write the name of each spice onto the jar cap.

Keep baking staples like flour, meal, and sugar in clear containers so you can see when supplies are getting low. This also eliminates the mess of paper bags. Just make sure the containers have large openings so you can easily reach in with a measuring cup.

These days, lots of people buy in bulk, which saves money but creates a super-sized storage problem. One solution is to designate an out-of-the-way storage area—in a laundry room, utility room, or the garage—and use it like a merchant’s stock room: With all of the bulk items stored in one place, you always know where to go for backup supplies. Basement stairway shelves are another good option for bulk-food storage.