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Monday, January 9, 2012

GRANNY'S KITCHEN: Food Storage Shelves

I have always wanted those wonderful food storage shelves that rotate the food storage, but didn't think I had anywhere to put one -- I have no basement and my little pantry is not where you could get behind the shelves to load from the back.  I finally had an epiphany and decided I could put them in my kitchen at the snack bar (where I have access to both sides of the cupboard!).
First, Mark (my dear, sweet hubby) put wood strips on shelves to keep the rows of cans separated.  Then he drilled extra holes in the sides of the cupboard.  There were already holes for the adjustable shelves, but it gave the shelves too much of a slant (by putting the back of the shelf one peg higher than the front).. so he added holes in between so it would not be such a rise -- I think maybe an inch and a half taller in the back.
He also put a strip of the wood across the front to hold the cans in place.
This is the picture of the bottom shelf from the back side.  This side is under the snack bar and was a cupboard that I didn't use much. I kept large pots in there as it is not easily accessible.  I'm not sure where I'll put my large pots now!! BUT, I love my shelf!
Here is the completed side (from the front).  We're going to leave it open, but when I get new cabinets one of these days, I will have the doors on them.  Mark likes the way it looks like this! And, I have to admit, I like it, too.

This opening is larger than the back where the door was. This cupboard was originally a corner piece and another cabinet came across from here, so there was just a piece of paneling covering the hole. We took that out to make this opening. The back still has the cabinet door on it that I open up to fill.
This particular cupboard ended up holding exactly 16 flats of veggies (if I use all the same size -- less because as you can see, I have some larger cans in there. Each shelf holds 8 of 4 different cans.  With my 6 shelves, I have space for 24 different canned goods. I can tell I am definitely going to need more of these, as I have some product that didn't fit!  PLUS, I've not included ANY soups at all!  I need one just for soups and the smaller (mushroom, tomato paste, etc.) cans.
The spacing was perfect to hold 2 of the canned chicken (or tuna) cans, so there is room for 16 on my shelf.  The space seems wasted when I put mushrooms and other small cans on the shelf because of the dividers.  Our next shelf needs to have specific dividers for these cans or possible adjustable dividers -- we are thinking of how to do that. 

Now, to vacuum up the sawdust mess and plan for my next storage shelf!

2 comments:

  1. what a great idea!

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  2. This looks so great! Good job. Like you guys, I love seeing the neat rows of all my "stash". :-)

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