Organizing Those Open Shelves in the Farmhouse Kitchen

I have a love/hate relationship with the open shelves in our kitchen.  As the renovation continues, I debated whether or not to have solid cabinet doors made so everything could be hidden inside. I finally decided that they don't need to be enclosed, I just need to better organize our stuff.  So I have been on a quest to find organizers that will match our newly renovated kitchen and hopefully cut down on the messiness and clutter that our big family generates.

Much of what I was looking for could be found at Home Goods.  I brought along most of my children after school one day and we perused all the aisles and shelves of this store, along with Pier 1 and Michael's.  I love the white canisters with the chalkboard labels on the front, and these were the last two on display.  The metal basket with another chalkboard label will be used for storing boxes of teas and other miscellaneous items.  The glass canister with the wood lid will hold rice or quinoa so we don't have bags spilling out over the front of the shelves.  I would have preferred to buy a few more of those, but this was the last one.

Earlier this month, I picked up this white ceramic crock at Bed, Bath, & Beyond for holding various kitchen utensils instead of keeping them stuffed in a very cluttered drawer.  The three-tiered bamboo spice rack was purchased at Weis, and I may get a few more of these because this is only a small portion of the herbs and spices I regularly use.  I found the basket at Target and am using it to hold medicines, vitamins, bandaids, and first aid supplies that we always need to have on hand.  There are some really cool spice racks made from pallet boards on Pinterest that I might try to persuade my husband to build for me during his many hours of leisure.  (Just kidding, Hubby.)

I think that we might be moved back into our like-new kitchen by the end of the week. Time to start deciding what to hang on the freshly painted walls.  I might just leave them simple, clean, and bare for awhile.  I think the rest of the family would rather I spend the week planning what we'll have for dinner the first evening I have access to the stove and oven again.

I'll leave you with another peek at the kitchen project in progress.