Battling basement clutter

Let your lifestyle guide what shelves certain items will sit on.
By REBECCA SLOAN
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
Do dusty, outdated canned goods hide in the darkest corners of your pantry?
Do half-used boxes of baking supplies topple from the tallest shelves without warning?
Perhaps it's time to put things in their place.
After all, an organized pantry not only saves space, it can also help you save time and money.
"If you know exactly where things are in your pantry, you can reach for them immediately and save yourself time. And if you keep stock of your food items, you'll save money because you won't buy unnecessary things at the grocery store," said Ron Donofrio, owner of Organized Space in Youngstown.
It doesn't matter if your pantry is a modest-sized kitchen closet or the size of a small room; the steps toward getting it organized are the same.
Taking inventory
The first step toward tidiness is to take inventory of everything in your pantry and decide what stays and what goes.
Obviously, outdated food items should be tossed, but other things should also be weeded out.
"Save the space in the pantry strictly for food items. Unless your pantry is extremely large, don't use it to store small kitchen appliances such as electric mixers or electric skillets. Items like these take up too much space," Donofrio said.
Sue Groszek, owner of California Closets in Boardman, said a person's lifestyle should dictate what goes front and center in the pantry.
"For example, if you have small children, there might be certain foods that you want within their reach and certain foods that you want out of their reach," she said. "Or if you use a certain kitchen appliance regularly to cook, then it's OK to keep it in your pantry."
Once you've decided what stays and goes, devise a new system of organization.
For example, group food items together by type.
Put all canned fruit in one area, all cake mixes in one area and all jars of pasta sauce in one area.
Keep labels facing forward, and place taller items toward the backs of shelves.
If you don't seem to have enough shelves, or your shelves are the wrong size, consider new shelving.
Shelves
"Inappropriate-sized shelving is the biggest problem people have in pantry organization," Groszek said. "A lot of people think deep shelving is the best because you can store many items on a deep shelf. That's true, but deep shelving cuts down on visibility, and if you can't see what you have, you'll end up with a lot of old cans of tuna shoved to the back of the shelf."
Groszek said 14 inches is an ideal depth for most pantry shelves.
If your shelves are deeper than 14 inches and you can't afford to build shallower ones, invest in some inexpensive "helper shelves."
Helper shelves come in different heights and widths and fit inside the current shelves, doubling the horizontal space. Most home-improvement centers sell helper shelves.
Pullout baskets or trays can also provide space-saving solutions for deep shelving.
"Pullout trays and baskets work well for small items that tend to get lost in the back of deep shelves," such as gelatin boxes or seasoning packets, Donofrio said.
Groszek said pullout baskets are also ideal for onions and potatoes because these vegetables need ventilation to keep from molding.
Wire or wood
If you decide to have new pantry shelving installed, you must next decide what material to choose.
Groszek recommends wood shelving for several reasons.
"Wire shelving is not as sturdy as wood. Sturdiness is especially important for people who do a lot of canning because glass jars that hold canned goods are very heavy and easily breakable," Groszek said. "You don't want to hear a loud crash and find your jars broken all over the floor because your shelves couldn't hold the weight."
To help ensure stability, Groszek said shelves that hold heavy jars should be 30 inches or less in length.
"Longer shelves tend to bow or buckle under the weight," she said.
Groszek said wood shelving is also more level than wire shelving.
"Wood shelves are more flat and level, and items won't lean or fall over the way they might on a wire shelf," Groszek said. "Items also can't fall through any cracks on a wooden shelf."
Donofrio also likes wood shelving, but he said there's nothing wrong with the right kind of wire shelving.
"We install a wire shelving that has a very tight mesh and is very durable," he said. "It works very well in pantries."
Whether you choose wood or wire shelving, you should select a type of shelving that's adjustable.
"If it's adjustable, you won't have to change everything around if Campbell's decides to change the size of their soup cans," Groszek said.
Lighting
Proper lighting also plays a role in a tidy pantry.
"A lot of people who design pantries don't seem to consider lighting, but if you can't see what's on the shelves, you can't keep them organized," Groszek said.
Groszek said the new trend is to mount a fluorescent light bulb on the pantry's inside door frame.
"That way you don't have overhead light shining directly downward on shelves, creating shadows. Instead, you have light shining into shelves, illuminating food items," Groszek said.
Keeping it neat
Getting a pantry organized is only half the job. How will you keep it that way?
"Make sure you rotate your food items and put things back where they belong," Donofrio advised.
If your pantry has high shelves and you don't own a stepladder, invest in a small one so you'll have easy access to high places.
"Being able to reach everything comfortably is important. People are creatures of habit. If you organize your pantry in a way that you are comfortable with, then you will be more likely to keep it organized," Groszek said.