My say would be a pantry storage if you get the huge boxes and don't want to put them into other containers.

We keep almost all food (including all cereal) in the pantry which is very tiny but it works.

Thanks!

No room for even a tiny pantry in our remodel. I'm working with an approximately ten by ten space with three doorways. One of my major goals is to increase counter space and another is to improve the window situation so I'm taking out the small cooling pantry that is in the current kitchen.

I could turn one of my lower cabinets into a door instead of drawers. . . .

Any chance you can make the lowest drawer in a drawer stack extra-tall?

I'm pre-reno and I'm the only one who eats cereal, but it's current home is in a narrow/deep bottom drawer. I don't decant it, but I toss the box. I just keep the clipped bags in there. The drawer is just tall enough to hold the small cans of oatmeal upright.

ETA: Also in there are protein bars and the dried/dehydrated fruits you can throw in cereal.

This post was edited by cal_quail on Sun, May 18, 14 at 11:05

Yes, an extra tall drawer is definitely a possibility.

What about a 12 or 15 inch pull out?

I keep the cereal boxes that are in use in a pantry pull-out. It's one of the top ones which is fine for my 10-yr old DD to access but if I had any little ones I could easily fit these in one of the bottom pull-outs. Extra boxes of cereal are stored on their sides in the top pantry cabinet until they're needed.

If your pantry space is too short for tall cereal boxes you could store cereal in plastic storage containers with a pour spout. I used these for cereal when I lived in a beach condo that had no pantry (and where dry goods were prone to infestation).

I have the pantry and made sure that the second shelf from the bottom was sized for cereal boxes, even though we eat very little (I tend to think cereal is expensive for what you get)

Certainly a large deep drawer would work and give you flexibility for other uses.

Thank you all! That picture is super helpful! Yes, I am planning for plates, bowls and cups to be low enough for my four year old to reach just like that. The ten year old can reach the bottom shelf in an upper cabinet, but it will be a few years until my four year old can.

We put cereal where the kids eat breakfast, in the dining room. The containers can pour and we have a scoop in each, less little kid hands digging out cereal. We put everyday dishes in the dining room too. The kids don't spill carrying full cereal bowls from the kitchen to the dining room table. Instead, they just grab a spoon and the carton of milk.

We have a small stack of overflow shelves for bulk storage in the laundry room in the basement. It's only 24"x12"x 5'. But it's helpful for those big cereal boxes and the bulk amazon snack deliveries.

Hmm, I was planning on napkins and silverware in the dining room. (Silverware actually already lives on the dining room table in an antique tool caddy.). I was thinking the "good" dishes would go in the dining room. Currently searching for an antique buffet for that.

I typically plate our meals so I don't think I want the everyday plates, etc in the dining room. What about adding the milk to the cereal? We pour cereal and milk into the bowl in the kitchen now. So if the cereal were in the dining room we would carry it back into the kitchen to add milk, or take the milk to the dining room to pour. Do you just put the milk on the table? I will give that some thought. My kids often eat about an hour apart because my four year old gets up early. . . . So I'm not sure about setting the milk out in the mornings.

Cereal boxes can always lay on their sides, they don't have to stand upright, so they could fit in some lower drawers.

For milk, you could put it in a jug big enough for two or three cereals, it should be okay, or you could use an insulated jug like they have for coffee.

I'm way too lazy to pour milk into something that I then have to wash. Lol.

Thanks for all the ideas! It so helpful.

We have our cereal sideways in a lower drawer, normal height. Not so certain those costco boxes would fit. I don't usually buy those because they aren't convenient in a small space.

Thanks! I'm not a fan of the Costco boxes because I always seem to be the one who ends up finishing them just to get the annoying huge box out of my cabinet. Maybe the answer is to convince dh that we should not buy cereal at Costco anymore!

One if the kids usually brings the milk into the dining room. My littles are 8, 7, and 5. They self-serve cereal in the dining room. Most days, the milk doesn't stay out for a very long time.

I felt like we always spilled the full bowl of milk/cereal walking from the kitchen to the dining room. The doorway is 30" and there is a couple of inch step down, so the doorway is a great spot to bump one another. And DD1 would always want more milk and/or cereal adding to the back and forth. So this set up works better for us. Yes, we still have spills, but at least we have eliminated some of the mess. This set up moved weekday breakfast out of the kitchen and made room for weekday lunch making. As soon as we find some extra tea spoons (sandbox is likely) I'll have breakfast spoons in the dinning room too.

Sometimes I do have to grab a plate or bowl from the dining room to plate, but (thanks to our small dimensions) the small hutch with the plates is just steps (about 4 feet) away from my cooking spot. So our set up isn't that much of an inconvenience. I like the 3 drawer stack too. Wish I had another 3 drawer stack....
Good luck.

Those Costco boxes are huge! I don't often buy cereal at Costco but when I do I just take the double bags out of the huge boxes right away and recycle the boxes (unless DD wants to use them for an art project first!). I then stack the cereal bags we're not using in the upper pantry cabinet for later and pour the ones we are using into the plastic containers with pour spouts. You don't really have to wash them every time unless you're switching cereals.

We buy cereal from Costco too-we go through a lot and it is so much more cheaper. We decant them into tall and skinny Rubbermaid boxes with a pour lid and store them in a sideboard. I am pondering where to put those after the renovation as the microwave, milk and bowls will be on or near the peninsula and the sideboard is a few steps away in the dining room. I think annkh has hers stored in a pullout over the fridge but that won't work for kids helping themselves.

I like the solution ardcp posted. I did something similar to that I call the "kids' stack."

Everything they used to have to climb up for is now in the kids' stack, and they are doing a lot more for themselves now. They even make their own lunches because all the stuff they need for that is reachable now.

Also most of my everyday dishes are in drawers so the kids can set the table and unload the dishwasher without having to climb on the counters.

As they grow taller I think I'll move the dishes up, but for now it's great having things set low for them. They can be more independent and more helpful in the kitchen.

I wouldn't change a kitchen remodel around small children - they won't be small forever!

I have a "breakfast station" in our kitchen. I put bowls on the bottom shelf, and adjusted the second shelf down so it's easier to reach.

When our twin sons were small, we poured enough milk for a bowl of cereal in a glass for each of them, and put them in the fridge at night. In the morning, they could easily carry the glass to the table and pour it alone. Better to wash a glass or two than clean off a whole carton of spilled milk from the dining table and floor! And DH and I loved not having to get up early on Saturday morning to make them breakfast.

Ours is in our lazy susan.

If you currently have a lower cabinet that works for you, why are you opposed to putting one in the new plan? The lowers don't have to be drawers only, a mixture is really ok. And if the time comes when your family no longer a big consumer of cereal, you will certainly find something else to store there.

I have mostly drawers which I love. But there are a few cabinets mixed in by design because of my needs and I am completely happy with the function AND look.

The existing lower cabinet arrangement isn't ideal as the adults in the house have to crouch way down to get to the cereal. A drawer or even a pull out would be an improvement if feasible. In seven or eight years when I don't need the cereal to be stored down low anymore, drawers would very likely also be better for whatever goes in that space instead.

Thanks for all the help and pictures!