This was not a chore I did voluntarily! I think I’ve mentioned this before but the pantry . . I guess you call it a pantry. The top half (or almost half) has cabinet doors with adjustable shelves). The bottom almost half has cabinet doors, then pull out drawers. In the middle are three little drawers.
When we moved in, the little holes where the pegs were that held the shelves were kinda loose from 17 years of holding Jeremy & Angie’s pantry goods. Vince said he would fix them but I began putting stuff in there before we officially moved in and by the time Vince had time to fix them, the shelves were full and their instability had been forgotten about, til one of the pegs fell out and I almost had a disaster on my hands. Vince stacked books under the shelves on all four corners underneath the three shelves which took up so much of the storage space. More and more cans and jars ended up on the dining room table or on the kitchen counter and it was about to get the best of me. I said “Vince, we HAVE to get these shelves fixed.” OK! We started taking everything out of the shelves and he could find the little things he had ordered to put in the holes to make the pegs fit tightly again. We both searched. He knew EXACTLY where he had left them but nope, they weren’t there. So, he ordered more of them. They arrived about a month ago. We brought in a plastic 6′ banquet type folding table and set it up in the kitchen so we could take everything out of the cabinet and fix the shelves. The plastic table has been sitting in the kitchen but the shelves had not been fixed.
The new oven will be installed tomorrow so last week, I took everything out of the pantry and then I took out the shelves. I couldn’t get the little grommet things in all the holes so Vince did that, then he put the shelves back up and I started re-loading the pantry.
Most of our food is stored in the basement. It stays cooler down there. I make my menu for at least a week ahead of time. On Sunday I will usually take all the frozen food out of the big freezer, put what we will use Monday and Tuesday into the fridge, put the rest into the fridge freezer. That way I’m not opening the big freezer so much. I’ll also use a large canvas bag and bring all the canned goods, pasta, sauces . . anything that’s stored downstairs that will be used in the next week’s meals will be brought upstairs.
So all that’s stored in the bottom part of the pantry are things that I use every day or things that I’ve noticed we’re getting low on and I brought up a replacement. I see a jar of cherries in the pantry. The jar of cherries in the fridge is almost empty so I brought that jar upstairs and when we empty the jar that’s in the fridge, I’ll stick the new jar in there. I’ve already purchased a replacement/backup jar of cherries to keep in the pantry.
On the top shelf of the pantry is where I store things that are lighter and easier for me to get down with my reacher/grabber.
Hopefully today I will get everything in the cabinet and get the plastic table out of the kitchen.
These shelves are almost 30″ deep so they hold a lot but they can also become a black hole if I don’t stay on top of what’s where.
Pat Anderson says
What a chore that was! I’d be in quite a mess if my pantry had shelves that deep. I’m short and wouldn’t even be able to reach back there! I have problems reaching things in my washing machine and dryer! Glad you got it done, but you must be exhausted! Hope you can stitch all day tomorrow!
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I’m 5’2″ and the cabinets are way tall! The ceiling in the kitchen is 10′ and the cabinets go way up! Yes, it’s a mess and we haven’t even been here two years. I tried to organize it but with the installation of the new oven happening tomorrow, and needing to get the kitchen cleaned up, a lot of stuff got stuffed back into those cabinets that should have gone downstairs.