If you're a foodie who loves nothing more than trying new recipes and spices, you might consider that really fun, but as for me and Steve, we consider cooking pretty much work these days, so going out to cute bistros where someone waits on us and we get to enjoy the wonderful food, decor, and romantic ambiance would be our version of fun!
But in case anyone hasn't noticed, cute bistros of the eating-out-variety are out of the question at the moment, in our opinion, due to you know. And so, my lovelies, we must create our own at-home-bistros, and to do that best, we need pantry storage!
First off, an update:
I showed you our new at-home food pantry storage system and it's working great after a week or so of using it! I can see everything at a glance so that makes grocery shopping online so much faster now as I know what I need to order at a glance. How and why I organized the baskets and bins the way I did. If you're seriously considering doing this in your home too, I say go for it!
Our new skinny pantry:
And now we also have a skinny pantry in our small galley kitchen too. On sale! This pantry's not for food, but for things we need to easily cook and do food prep quickly. Example: These lovelies work great for storing pourable cooking oils; I cut the lid thing-y off to make it easier to pour without fiddling. And I set them on an old cutting board to catch drips which soak right into the board. :)
We placed this cabinet to the right of our range since we are both right-handed. And it's all organized inside like an airplane cockpit -- everything is right at hand.
The cabinet package includes all the shelves, the handle, and feet that turn so you can level it.
It had to be assembled, so my handy hubby Steve did that for us. Paper instructions were included.
Leveling it was relatively easy with just a turn of the included feet. (And me saying to Steve: "Please turn it a little more to the left.") :) Having two people helps; one to turn the feet close-up and one to eyeball it from further away and give their two cents. Then at the end, a leveling tool works best to be sure.
We didn't need any more shelving, but there are holes to add additional shelving if you wish.
PROS & CONS
PROS
I like the height of this cabinet as it really holds a lot even though it's skinny.
The quality is pretty good for the price and it's strong with thick sturdy shelves inside.
I love Wayfair ordering and have had wonderful delivery service. This arrived quickly, without damage, and it was easy to track the package to see when it would arrive. (Helpful with snowstorms that impede deliveries.)
CONS
It's made from particle board with melamine over it so it has a strong chemical smell that outgasses. We placed our big IQ Air air purifier that helps remove chemicals right near it and turned it on high and that helped a lot. BTW, if you want an air purifier in your home for things like this, (and wildfire or cigarette smoke etc.), this air purifier has been repeatedly recommended to me by the many allergist MD's I've hired over the years. We run two of these 24/7 in our home. (But I have severe allergies so you may only need one. And, I don't know about you, but the extra cost for electricity for ours is fine by me so I can um, breathe.)
Back to our new skinny pantry cabinet. If you're looking for fine custom cabinetry, this isn't it. But it's just dandy for the use we intended, sturdy, and you can "cute it up" with some flowers and greenery on a tray on the top like I did, and a pantry decal on the front door. (My pantry decal is on order from Amazon. So cute!) I also think these herb pots decals would be adorable on the front and easy to do.
I hope this gives you another idea of how you can easily add storage to your kitchen/home, even if you don't have a big kitchen.
Bistros-at-home don't have to be indoors. Outdoors works fine too. Our bistro set. I love all the new colors, especially the red and school bus yellow!
Keep calm, organize your pantries, dream of future bistro outings, create a bistro at home, and think outside the box!
Kathryn :)