APARTMENT SERIES: KITCHEN/PANTRY ORGANIZATION

Your girl has moved to a new apartment so let’s welcome me to this new chapter in my life! I have always been fascinated with HGTV, home decor and interior design, so it’s no surprise why I am extremely excited to share my whole process of transforming my place from a blank canvas to a place I am calling home. The first phase I want to tackle is the kitchen and pantry because it’s probably my favorite place in my apartment. Not only do I love to eat, but I genuinely love cooking and have a crazy obsession with jars, neat shelves, containers, etc.

When I first moved in, my roommate and I put everything we had in the kitchen just so we can get everything out of the boxes. We spent the first two weeks using the items wherever they were placed but those two weeks were actually helpful in giving us a better sense of what we reached for frequently and how we can better organize our kitchen. Being the OCD person that I am, I knew we had to spend a weekend organizing because I wanted everything to not only look aesthetically pleasing, but also practical and functional as well.

With that being said, here are my tips on how to organize the pantry/ kitchen:

• First, measure the shelves and pantry closets, so you know what containers/ jars to get. I am obsessed with clear jars and knew I wanted to get them in different sizing so I can mix and match. Bormioli has a great selection and I got mine from them! I also knew that I wanted all the spices, vitamins, other kitchen items to be organized in baskets/ containers so it would look neater. If you measure the shelving dimensions, you can better assess what organizers to get so everything looks uniform and would fit properly. I love the containers from MUJI because they were spacious and fit a lot of our kitchen items!
• After you have ordered the items, make sure you clean them and put them to the side.
  
• I would advise to take everything out of the shelves and pantry and put them on your table/ living room.
  
• Decide what items should go where and this is completely dependent on you and your preference. For example, we decided to use the large clear jars to put cereal, oatmeal, flour, and pasta. For the little mason jars, we thought it would be perfect to put chia seeds, sunflower seeds, goji berries and flax seeds. Adding a bit of color here and there can also add a little something to the shelves but again, go for the vibe that best suits you.
• *If you want to go the extra mile, get a label maker and put labels on everything so you know what’s what.
  
• After you have organized the shelves, feel free to add a bit of decor if you have space. I decided to include some cooking books but feel free to also add flowers or paintings to give your kitchen more personality.
  
• The same process goes for the pantry but I would recommend keeping the pantry almost like a storage. These are things that you should keep that aren’t necessarily great for display such as canned items, extra cereal, napkins, etc. The key is that you organize according to the size of the items and keep similar things in the same shelf.

These tips might seem basic but I know it can be overwhelming to organize. I didn’t think it would take a long time to do this but it actually was quite a process. I am the type of person that finds organization therapeutic, but I know some people dread it. I would suggest doing this with a friend or significant other and blasting some music. You can make this to a fun activity and the best part is that the aftermath will make you feel accomplished! There’s nothing like a clean space and it’s a better feeling when it’s a neat kitchen!