I keep all of my canisters in drawers. I also keep 90% of my spices in drawers in trays so I can lift out the trays if I need multiple spices. The spices are grouped according to their purpose. All are very convenient to my cooktop. I keep cereals and bottled goods in my upper cabinets, in the same area as my canisters. It's sort of my "all-purpose" food prep area. It works out SO well and is very convenient!

Your canisters sound like what I have, labels and everything! I have wide drawers flanking both sides of my range. One side is for the pots and pans and the other is for baking stuff. 6 canisters in my middle drawer for different types of flour, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. It is nice to open and scoop, but I'm afraid I've got a drawer that needs to be vacuumed out :)

Bottom drawer has cake pans, cooling racks, etc. The upper cabinet above the drawers has smaller items like baking powder, vanilla, oils, cocoa, etc.

I'm still kind of playing with the new space. In my old kitchen I had them in canisters in an upper cab near my baking area. Now I've kept the canisters in my walk in pantry (which is easy access to my baking area) at eye level right as I enter to limit the walking distance. I have all of my spices on one side of the cooktop in pullout and baking stuff/extracts, etc. in the other pullout flanking the cooktop. in the lower cab next to these I keep a huge basket of all my decorating tools (bags, tips, color gels, etc). So this is timely as I've been considering moving my canisters to the upper cab above all of this stuff (which is empty). I don't really know why I didn't move it there since this is where I lug it to every day!! I like having the stuff more at eye level (or below would be really nice) so I don't have to carry the canisters down. After living here a couple months I'm reorganizing the pantry and finding the best location for things...so I'm in this with ya!!

I used to keep them in upper cabinets, mostly in canisters, labeled with a Sharpie if at all. (Actually before that I kept them on a baker's rack that sat against the side of my free-standing fridge.) Then I moved and kept them in a pantry cabinet that was actually a media/bookshelf with doors that I stained to match the last kitchen. Then I got my Ikea cabinet to tide me over until the remodel and put them in drawers. Supercool!

In the remodel I had to have a drawer big enough to fit my big canister, because heaven forbid I have to spend another four dollars on a cheap glass canister I've had since college when I can just build a kitchen around it.

If I had a big kitchen I think "point of use" would drive me crazy. I wouldn't like to have to go far for a spoonful of flour stored in the baking center to throw into the soup. Lucky for me I can keep supplies in all corners of the kitchen and still have them close at hand.

Someone here a while back had a serious baking center drawer with restaurant trays from which you'd scoop straight from the drawer.

ROTFL!!! Fori, I totally hear the part about designing the kitchen around the old, cheap canister!! LOL!!!

Re point of use, it's not so hard (though the great thing about a small galley is the whole kitchen is point of use). When you have a big kitchen you don't have to edit so much. Just have a little thing of flour by the stove, the way one has salt by the stove. But then, big or small kitchen, I've always used Wondra (except when I was abroad) for adding flour to cooking. No clumps. Handy canister box with shaker and spoon holes. I know it's out of style, like Bisquik and Jell-o and the rest of the household helper products from that era, but I love the stuff.

Scooping straight from the drawer sounds like a dream! But we'd have spice beetles in about 10 minutes!

Lisa, sounds exactly like my new middle drawer--I'm betting the dustbuster is going to be my new friend. :)

Ccoombs, excellent mis-en-place!

Mairin, I'll be interested to hear how the arranging goes.

I have most of my staples in a large drawer on my peninsula. All the bowls/mixer etc in another drawer close by, and measuring cups/spoons/ spatulas in drawer above.

I am actually enjoying baking now. I have to admit, I have never been much of a cook- DH has taken on that task, but the drawer thing is really a pleasure. I have less often used staples- nuts/oats, etc in slide out shelves in pantry (close by)- so everything is within a step or two of my 'baking corner'. I don't even take the flour or sugar canisters out of the drawer. (But I do have lids on them)

They've always been in Tupperware containers - first, the old round ones, which were always impervious to any kind of kitchen infestation, and later, some in square TW ones. In my 25-year kitchen, they were in the corner cupboard. In my new 2001 house, they were in a drawer. In my new house, they're back in an upper corner cabinet . . . not sure why, it just seems to work better.

I also have point-of-use jars of sugar, salt, pepper, cornstarch, baking soda and flour -- actually old glass Nutella jars -- so I can get a small amount without getting out the big canisters. They take up very little space and are very handy.

Mine live in tall shallow pantry cabinets (one by the stove, one just across from it), but if I had Plllog's kitchen, I would be so tempted to put them in glass jars on an open bookcase (wild rice, plain rice, bulgur wheat, couscous, flour, brown sugar, etc. --all those wonderful textures in earthy natural tones would be like pots of paint on a wall and a perfect complement to those amazing sunflower husk counters, IMO).

Right now, we have white flour, sugar (brown, white and powdered), and oatmeal in a big drawer. But, the easy access has been noticed by the three year old, and we haven't yet successfully trained her to NOT snitch the sugar. :-( So the drawer and everything around needs frequent vacuuming. I hope the novelty will wear off soon; if not,I will need to move them up higher.
I have glass jars from IKEA in one of my upper cabinets with rice, lentils, popcorn, and soft white wheat berries. The wheat berries for bread are in a five gallon bucket in one of the island cupboards.

ooooooooooh, i've been obsessing over this for a good part of a year. i need/want to find an airtight storage container that will hold a 5lb bag of flour in a drawer ...but they are all so tall that i'd have to spec at least a 12" drawer depth for the first in the run. i looked at the click clack canisters but they don't work out size-wise.
pillog: what are the dimensions of your drawer and which containers are you using? your help is much appreciated!

To be honest, I rarely use mine but they are out on the counter because they are decorative. It adds a splash of blue (my favorite color:)

I had mine in the pantry but now, I'm thinking in my middle drawer. That's the current plan, although I may move it in the cabs above.

For years I have been using Cambro containers. If it's good for resturants, it's good for me! I keep sugar, flour and rice in these containers and it holds 5 lbs. What's also nice is that it is squareish so it fits well next to each other without wasting space. And the lids come off easily and have never had a buggie problem.

pllog...great thread...I used to keep mine in a plastic container in the pantry cabinet...got rid of that cabinet, so right now they are in an upper in the plastic containers.

But I'm looking for canisters for the counter if I could just find something I like....ideally two large (1 flour, 1 sugar) two or three medium (brown sugar (dark and light) and powdered.

kandt,

I looked at some Cambro containers online, but wasn't sure--which one will hold the 5 lbs of rice, etc? Thanks!

Kateskouros, I have a variety of ClickClacks from different eras. I actually liked the old, uglier ones better, but I think the curvier ones probably ship smaller. According to my list the tallest ones are 10", but I only have a few that height. It's all still packed up though, and I don't know how they'll work out in the drawers. I think they have to go in the bottom, 13" outside dimensions, but they're the flours, which I would be taking out anyway. The middle drawer is 11" outside. My drawers are out being finished, so I can't even dig out one and try.

Okay, I just went to the ClickClack website. They still have the ugly, Star Trek ones I prefer!! They're called Stack & Seal. The curvy ones are called Accents. I can't remember for sure but I think the 8.3" 3.6 qt. Accent one just about holds 5 lbs. Like if you take out a cake's worth or something. That height in the Stack & Seal doesn't. But I haven't baked at home for a year! (#$%$#& kitchen remodel!) But I'm pretty sure that it doesn't hold the unopened bag--something I'd like to do before I've used up enough of the previous.

OH! I should say, I use the round ClickClacks! I forgot about the rectangles. The round ones have really tight seals. I have some smaller OXO's, which are very similar and seem to be just as tight. The square corners are kind of useful, though they also have the bulges for shipping. The tops come apart really easily for cleaning, and the pop-up button is easy to use. The 5 lb. flour size is also nearly 10" tall, though, according to the web.

King Arthur flour sells unlovely, but useful looking, flour canisters that might be the right size for your drawers. Since I'm going to be more willing to bake, if I find I need it I'll get their large flour bucket. My mother has an old pry-the-top-off-with-a-spoon popcorn tin painted to match her kitchen for 20 lbs., but they don't make those any more ;) The large bucket is 15" tall, however, and would have to live in the pantry. :) Up, not down, right?

Tinycastles, your canisters are beautiful!!

Just my message too - Tinycastles, your canisters are beautiful. Antiques?

I wanted our cannisters at counter level but didn't want to have to clean around them all the time. My baking cabinet is a tall cabinet next to the mixer and close to the prep sink and dw. I open up the door and pull out the counter level shelf containing all the important baking supplies. It stays out while I'm working and gets closed up when done. I love it.

{{gwi:1579550}}

Mine are all in Tupperware modular mates in the pantry cabinets. I really love the modular mates. I have found nothing that keeps things fresher, and they stack so nicely. They would work well in drawers, too.

I put everything in them, not just "staples." Anything that comes in a package that gets opened, partially used, and then stored (cereals, chips, crackers, beans, rice, nuts...) gets a container.

This pic is from when we first moved into the new kitchen--it's not always that neat! ;)

holligator - you are my tupperware soulmate! I LOVE the modular mates. I can't get enough of them for everything as well!! I was actually just gonna try to find someone to buy more through because I know have so much space in my walk-in pantry i want MORE :)

I love how you have stuff labeled - do you have a label maker?? For cereals I usually just cut out the small name/label on the side of the box and affix it with tape. but my DH thinks I'm nuts because we can obviously tell which cereal is which. I figure I'm doing it so my kids can learn to "read" the labels.

Mairin,

You're also teaching your kids the importance of labelling things. Good for if they have to travel with medication, for instance, even though one can tell what's what. I do the same thing, cutting out the name, and sometimes directions, if I buy some kind of grain or something that I'm not really experienced with. It makes it much easier to keep the quinoa from the millet, or making sure the steel cut oats get proper cooking time. It keeps the duh moments at bay when grabbing something quickly. :)

Those are actually from a set of Tupperware labels that I bought when I got my first modular mates. They're great because they don't come off in the dishwasher. They now have label sets you can download and print on regular clear Avery labels, or I suppose it would be easy enough just to make your own. The label sets always came with some blank labels for you to write the names of anything that wasn't included in the set.

Thanks plllog and prill:)

Confession time...My canisters are from TJ Maxx Home Goods! I snapped up these for myself and mocha colored ones for my mom. They are airtight with rubber seals, and the canister lifts off the metal base for easy cleaning.

Not to get off topic, but I love TJ! I have found so many good steals there. They sell this same style canister through Horchow in a cream color for WAY too much money. About 5 months ago I bought 6 french black distressed dining chairs from TJ for $99 a piece...just received Horchow in the mail and my EXACT chairs are in there (saw them online too), plus a matching table and buffet stand. The chairs are $1,000 for a set of 2!!!!! I also bought a Ralph Lauren mahogany coffee table for a fraction of the retail cost. Makes you realize the mark-up on furniture and accessories.

Hi Jbrig:

they are the 4 qt. size. the lids measure 7 3/8 long, wide and 7 3/8 tall. The bottom is 5 3/8 square. I got mine from a local restaurant supply shop. I can (but don't) fit 4 of these in my 19.5 x 21 inch drawer and still have room to put other dry goods (brown sugar, etc.)

hth!

tinycastles - I also love TJ Maxx and Marshalls. It's about the only place I buy anything. Such great prices. I just purchased a duvet marked $135.00 for 19.99. Amazing. Paying retail is crazy.

I have a mix of plain square canisters which I keep in my upper cabinetry. I like ones for sugar and flour that have wide enough mouths that I can "dip and sweep", and I like the square shape because it is a more efficient use of shelf space. For my countertops, I like the World Market glass storage canisters which have chalkboard labels on them that you can change as needed. Especially attractive if you have nice handwriting! The seal is good too. In case my link doesn't work, they're called "Chalk Talk Glass Storage". I like World Market for kitchen storage in general; they have a lot of good practical items at very reasonable prices.

Here is a link that might be useful: World Market Chalk Talk Storage