Customize Your Pantry

“If you can’t see what you have, you end up buying 15 boxes of Bisquick. This is a high-traffic, rough-and-tumble spot, so it’s got to be well thought-out and continually maintained. It’s all about smart placement.”

Wine “attic”: Move bottles to a (high) safe place. A wine rack keeps wine properly stored on its side. Stash the corkscrew here, too, so you’ll always know where to find it.
Party fare: Fill the top shelf with crackers and nuts. Double usable space with risers.
Spinning supplies: Put anything small or sticky (think honey and molasses) on a two-tier rotating rack so you can spin and search (and on occasion remove and clean). Set it in back, with high-frequency essentials, like favorite cereals, in front. Two-tier revolving spice rack, $30, williams-sonoma.com.
See-through storage: Decant lentils and the like into clear containers—eye candy that happens to be practical. Also use trans-parent canisters for spillables, like spaghetti (once the box is open, forget it). Place related items together: pasta next to the tomato paste. Blanca canisters (white), from $16 each, containerstore.com. Anchor Hocking canister set, $20, bedbathandbeyond.com.
Supermarket shelf strategies: Stock bottom shelves several cans or jars deep, with one item in front to mark the category.
Baker’s tray: Corral flour, sugar, and vanilla so when it’s cookie-making time, you’ve got everything you need in one spot.