Organize This: Bakeware

Oh my gosh, you guys! You had such awesome and nice comments on my post on Wednesday. I am so glad you guys loved reading the “peek behind the curtain” as much as I did writing it. Thinking through the “misses” actually helped me brainstorm some new ideas to put into action and (hopefully) turn some of them around. And I was most relieved to hear I’m not the ONLY one who tries things over and over again (phew!). I’ve been wanting to do a post like that for a while. I’m definitely hoping to make the “Hits and Misses” series a quarterly thing! Be sure to let me know if there is a particular project you’re curious about.

At the very end of Wednesday’s post (it you made it that far!), I hinted that I recently conquered a mess that has been bothering me for a while! Yes, my friends, I have tackled my messy cabinet full of bakeware, and I’m super excited to show you how I did it!

Over the summer, during our marathon of cleaning out/purging/yard sales at both my Dad’s house and our own, I accumulated a bunch of new bakeware, purged out old or un-used bakeware, and got everything down to fit into one kitchen cabinet. At the time, I just piled everything in and called it a day. Little by little though, as I used things and hastily put things back, the cabinet grew out of control. It was a pain to wrestle things out, and it definitely turned into one of those grab-what-you-need-and-slam-the-door-shut-quickly-before-it-all-falls-out situations.

I knew the cabinet needed to be dealt with, but I wasn’t quite sure what the right solution was. I didn’t want to fork over a ton of money for a cabinet system that might not work…and the DIYer/make-everything-too-complicated-part of me was thinking about creating extra shelves or dividers out of wood.

Then I came upon these super sturdy cabinet organizers at Marshalls. Usually, I am completely skeptical of this kind of stuff (they often seem too flimsy, and I worry about them not fitting just right). In fact, my first trip through, I ultimately decided against them. But after coming home and analyzing my bakeware situation and (more importantly) the size of my cabinets, I went back for them, and I am SO glad I did.

I got two of the corner shelves (left) and three of the dividers (right), all in the silver finish. They must have been designed to fit in standard-sized cabinets because they fit SO perfectly. Folks, these are $20 (left) and $14 (right) on Amazon, but I got them for $10 (left) and $7 (right) at Marshalls. If you need something similar, I strongly suggest you hunt these down and check ’em out! (#notsponsored)

With my racks home, it was time to clear everything out and get organizing. Since I had already purged over the summer, pretty much everything was a “keep.” While some things did find new homes in other spots, almost everything needed to go back into that same double cabinet.

After some trial and error and puzzling everything around to find the right spot, here is where I am now!

Oh my friends, what a luxury to be able to pull out just what I need without having to unload half the cabinet or end up buried in a pile of tumbling pans! I’ll go ahead and say it now because you all know I’m thinking it: “Why didn’t I do this sooner?!?”

When I say “puzzling everything around,” I really mean that. At first I assumed the dividers would go across the bottom and the corner shelves would go in each corner on the top shelf. But that arrangement didn’t allow me to store my big roasting pot and left some wasted and awkward spaces. Stacking the two corner shelves on the left wasn’t my first instinct, but worked out so well!

I hate wasted space and things not fitting perfectly. I was having quite the conundrum fitting my sets of cake pans that, for some reason, don’t nest perfectly. I reeeeeaaaally didn’t want to use up three different shelves/spots to store all these (rarely-used) pans.

This is why I love organizing so much: with some playing around, I determined I could nest one of each size together, creating two overall stacks that could then fit onto one shelf! Score!

When I organize anything, but especially cabinets, I don’t like things buried behind other things. If it’s too hard to get an item out, then I am less likely to use it and/or put it away. I wanted everything in this cabinet to have one-step access. It’s the small things in life, but can I just say how much I LOVE that all my bakeware sheets fit vertically on the bottom shelf, making it a total breeze to get out what I need?!?! Love!

The third divider shelf was put in our narrow cabinet to hold our cooling racks and cutting boards. I used to just throw them all in there randomly together. Now, they don’t fall over or get stuck in the back! Yay!

I hate that I don’t have super pretty, styled, colorful photos here. (And you better bet I considered painting the racks and papering the bottom of the cabinets!). Sometimes, though, making something look pretty (and getting those photos for you) really slows me down. So I decided to embrace real life here; and in real life, bakeware cabinets aren’t always color-coordinated and beautiful (right? please tell me your bakeware cabinet isn’t colorful and beautiful! 😉 What matters is that this system works!

Like I said in my post on Wednesday, sometimes the most simple and basic organizational systems go a super long way in making a house function well. This $35 solution has made a world of difference at meal prep time. And because these little racks fit into our standard builder-grade cabinets, I’m hopeful they will continue to work so well in kitchen after kitchen as we move around (fingers crossed!).

Organize This

My Organize This series is all about (relatively) simple and quick organizing projects that make a big difference in your day-to-day life. These aren’t intended to be large organizational overhauls, but rather quick sessions you can accomplish in an afternoon or weekend! This bakeware organization project is exactly that: quick and easy enough to do today or this coming weekend! Catch up on other projects in this series by clicking on the pictures below:

So tell me…how does your bakeware cabinet look? Do you have a cabinet that you use and look at every.single.day that is making you crazy? I urge you to try to tackle it this weekend! The right products and an hour of your time can save you so much time and mental energy in the long run! Promise 🙂

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend. Our rain is (finally) getting out of here, and I have painting projects on the brain! See you back here Monday with a sneaky and wonderful furniture transformation!