Happy Wife's Pull-out Pantry Shelves

DIY pantry pullout shelves | Classy Glam Living

"Can you help me?  I can't reach...  argh!"  Calling for help to my taller hubby is a common thing in the kitchen.  Maybe I'm just not tall enough, my hands are not long enough, and/ or poor shelves organization, but we just had to devise a better way of organizing the pantry!  Our pantry is as deep as the kitchen counter, and sometimes it's a challenge to reach for stuff at the back of the higher shelves.  I tried to put the small things in front and the bigger items at the back.  That means my favourite family-sized TV chips would always be shoved to the back, though it wasn't doing much to deter me from not having them!  We were always trying to rearrange the items in the pantry for easy access, but the depth of the pantry is a constant challenge.  After pinning numerous pictures and tutorials, and bombarding the Mr.'s mailbox with them, he went to Home Depot in search for some hardware to make the pull-out shelves.   

He got the fully extendible drawers sliders that were just smaller than the depth of our pantry. Instead of removing the existing shelves, he just made the trays out of MDFs and installed the drawer sliders on the shelves so that the trays glide out...  the easy way out =)

DIY pullout pantry shelves | Classy Glam Living

Yes this is still a mess, and I know the pantries on Pinterest are so beautifully organized, with printed labels and other bells and whistles.  But this is real life for us.  Until I have time for those (most likely never), we're very happy with how well our pantry functions now.  Afterall, there are only 3 of us in the house, and only 2 are literate, for now anyway.

We didn't put any sliders on the top shelf, since I won't be able to see what's up there with sliders anyway.  The best way for us is to just leave it, and use that shelf for our medications.   One basket for the babe, the other for adults.  Another smaller tray for knick knacks - a pen, notepad, scissors, room spray, essential oil. 

DIY Slide out pantry shelves | Classy Glam Living

I organized the shelves with smaller and most accessed items on the top, and larger and rarely used on the bottom.  For now, this system seems to work well.   We don't really stock up on any particular items, so only a few containers for the shelves are needed. 

DIY Slide out pantry shelves | Classy Glam Living

Many thanks to my honey, for finishing another project that makes our home a much better place.   It's a small project, but it means a great deal to me.  To the Mr.:  Happy Wife, Happy Life =) 

What challenges does your pantry pose?  What prompts you to rearrange the items in your pantry?  Do you ever think to yourself "why did I put this there?"