Over the past couple of years, my baking cupboard organisation has fallen short. I used to bake on a weekly if not daily basis before I had children. When I was pregnant with my first, I completely went off all baked goods. Cake was disgusting and I barely baked at all. I couldn’t stand the smell (shocking, I know).
Now the children are older, I have a little more time to bake and I’m not horrified at the thought of cake. I often have more ingredients in, and I’m trying to get back to baking more. Flats in London, though, are tiny and often the smallest rooms are the kitchens, which gives you very little space to organise with. Our baking cupboard is more a ‘baking shelf’ and until this morning, was a hot mess with half empty packets of flour and a few items that were out of date as well as several duplicates of things because I’d end up buying things twice because I wasn’t sure if I had any.
Last week, I sat down and worked out a plan for the shelf. It looked a little like this:
This is part of my re-organisation process. I rarely walk into a store and just pick jars or storage containers off the shelf. I need to have already measured the space, looked up containers, visualised them within the space, draw them into the space (in a little sketch like the one above) and then I make purchases. That way, I don’t have to stop mid-process and I haven’t wasted money on anything or time having to return things.
Once I had everything I needed, I cleared everything off the shelf and then gave it a thorough clean.
I then put some of the containers in just to visualise how I was going to position them.
After decanting everything into the containers and throwing away things that were out of date or ruined and putting other things where they actually belonged, I was left with this:
Here’s what I used:
Lakeland storage caddy – At £4.99 this was an absolute steal. I knew I needed something that would keep small bits and bobs together, but that was easy to pull out of the cupboard when I needed it and would also fit my very shallow cupboard without taking up too much of the width. This was perfect.
IKEA KONCENTRAT and KORKEN jars – These were also very inexpensive and they have an excellent seal, so I used the KONCENTRAT jars in two sizes to store chia seeds, flaxseed and cocoa powder. I would have loved the same jar in a taller size (straight and narrow) but the only alternative was the KORKEN jar which I was happy to get at £1.75 a jar.
OXO Good Grips POP containers – I LOVE these containers. They are a little more expensive but they have this fantastic seal when you press the little button in the middle down and to release the seal, all you have to do is pop the button up again. We had a nasty weevil infestation once and everything was ruined. I’d like to see them try get past these! They come in a variety of sizes as well so no matter what you have to store, you should be able to find a size that is just right for your space.
I then needed to label everything and was umm-ing and aah-ing over chalkboard labels and printed labels – If you’re on my Instagram, you probably saw the poll! I ended up going with printed labels because I had some longer things to type out and they just wouldn’t fit the label properly using the chalk marker I had. I also think the size of the printed labels is perfect and doesn’t overwhelm the jars.
I am thrilled with how this turned out and even happier that I was able to get it done with a relatively small budget. I can now see everything on the shelf at any given time so making shopping lists is quicker, taking things out to bake with is quicker, and it just isn’t an eyesore anymore.
Do you have a shelf you need help with or recommendations for how to organise your space? Leave your question in the comments below – I’d love to help! I hope you enjoyed the baking cupboard organisation process and hope that you are inspired to tackle a drawer, shelf, cupboard in your own home to have it looking great and working better for you!
12 Comments
Yasmeen
November 20, 2016 at 11:36 amI love your organizing ideas! What do you do with the larger packages? Once I’ve stored the item (chia seeds or sugar for example) in the container, I don’t know what to do with the left over amount in the bag. Any ideas? Thanks!
Samsam
November 21, 2016 at 1:59 pmMy cupboard looks like the before pic..hahaha good job for organising your cupboard, it looks great. I need to buy something similar to the Storage caddy to keep all the little things out of sight; I’m now inspired to start organising.
Yousra Naeem
November 21, 2016 at 2:08 pmWow Mashaa Allah❤
ChristalBlogs
November 21, 2016 at 4:58 pmIf there’s one thing I love its IKEA jars! This has defo motivated me to be more organised. It’s so easy to get bogged down by clutter and even harder to put yourself into gear to clean it up
Fatima
November 21, 2016 at 11:16 pmThis looks really good. I have all my kitchen cupboards organized quite well. It’s just the ones which are in the reach of my son are sometimes in a mess but they just have some pots and empty storage boxes. You have done a great job!
Gemma Elizabeth
November 22, 2016 at 10:16 pmThis is so inspiring! Nothing makes me happier than organisation and organisational tools! Your baking shelf looks great, and it will make baking even more pleasurable insha’Allah. Those OXO good grip POP containers look cute…I might have to get some of those. Keep up the good work Iman!
Chelsea
November 23, 2016 at 5:23 pmI love this! I totally need to reorganize. We have very little storage space as well, especially in the kitchen. I especially loved those pop containers. That a great way to store flour and sugar instead of leaving it in the bag and it often spills out lol. I’m inspired to reorganize 😉
Nazima
November 24, 2016 at 2:00 pmAs soon as I read your post a few days ago, I went and reorganized my spice cupboard! Thanks for the inspiration!!
Naila
November 25, 2016 at 10:07 amBeing a baking enthusiast myself, I enjoyed reading the post. The final result is so neat; hope it”ll make you want to bake something real soon 🙂
Zainab Dokrat
December 8, 2016 at 1:12 pmI’m obsessed with organisation especially when it comes to the kitchen. Love your ideas and I love the chalk labels they look so cute and everything looks so neat. Thank you for sharing the tips 🙂 (www.beautywithzainy.com and http://www.spicyfusionkitchen.com)
sharon martin
December 24, 2016 at 2:27 pmgreat organizing ideas, lovely blogs post, very useful
Iman
December 27, 2016 at 10:15 pmThank you for your entry Sharon! I have just announced the giveaway winner in my edited post above and I am inspired to incorporate all this lovely feedback into my content planning for 2017! Happy New Year!