Here's our pantry. It's about 3 ft wide x 5 ft deep. The back wall is sloped because it's under the stairwell. It originally came with 2 ft deep shelves along the back, and things were always getting lost there. DH cut back the shelves to 1 ft deep, and added the racks on the sides to make use of the wall space. They work better here than larger shelves for what I needed to store. The brooms, etc are stored on a rack on the wall behind the door. You really need to think of what you want to store in there and how best you can fit it in. We didn't have an electrical outlet in ours, but if so, I might have put our toaster in there or had the charger for the hand vacuum or some other electrical gadget find a home there.

Not worth the gas to drive to nearest ReStore (unless we were doing a major remodel). But I'll try Craigslist. I did pull a silver 12" lazy susan out of the attic (has ceramic pieces that fit inside, 1 chipped). Put an old Tupperware container of my mom's (maybe she has 1 missed a lid) inside, fit oils and vinegars (except my quart & gallon bottles of canning vinegar) inside, but even positioned right in front of clip in stud, it wobbles. Might work on wood shelf. Large square Tupperware canister fits 5 lb flour. Too bad I only have 2, and where the shelves are positioned now there is space above for half size (maybe 3 lbs?) canister of sugar, but I use that in 1 batch of jam. Have 2 shorter square containers, but all I could find in the basement were the oval containers I used to use for pasta (before DS started eating 1/3 lb by himself, now I find it easier to just grab a box even if I have a tiny bit left, rather than filling a container and using most of it for 1 meal. I currently have 1 opened bag of elbow noodles and 3 almost-empty boxes of 3 different-shaped pasta in the pantry, unopened boxes are in basement but right at bottom of stairs. The oval containers don't fit together on the shelf as nicely as the boxes, so am I right not to go back to using those? Now, the quinoa bag has a zipper (that's in the cereal cabinet), the barley and bulgur don't so I had to put them in ziploc bags - might it be worthwhile to put those in the oval containers? They're on the same shelf as the wooden boxes, all the way over on the right, just above the flour canisters (and the partial bag of Bisquick - a 40 oz box didn't fit in the small red-topped canister - grr). Steel-cut oats and cornmeal (which has expired - don't know if it's any good for dusting a baking stone?) leave in original round containers? I swear I had more Tupperware... I did pull a couple of small wooden crates I use on my table at farmer's market (mostly to stack things on top of when they're turned upside down, they're not good size for jelly jars - I do have 1 that has a divider that is perfect for a little "bookcase" when turned on end so I don't want to use that in pantry, and another that I use for paper lunch bags that I put produce in). Not sure if they work here, but I did corral the Japanese food in the smaller one and dried fruit in the larger one. One thing about having things visible - DS eats them. You can see I have only half a bag of white chocolate chips I bought at the holidays - I didn't open them but when I found them open I put a twist tie on the bag. A few years ago I found a good price on Scharffen Berger chocolate squares, used them to make peppermint bark and put them on the top shelf (in front, I was too lazy to get the step stool out) and later found half of them gone - he had been eating them like candy bars! We've never restricted the kids' candy consumption, they go trick or treating, get candy for Easter and Xmas, but last year (mind you, he was 13 1/2) I found wrappers from his Easter candy in the supply vents in the family room. At least he didn't put them in the returns! But there was no need to hide them - I don't care if they eat the entire contents of their Easter baskets in 1 day (other than they might get sick, but then they'd never do it again) or 3 months. I just ask that eating be restricted to the kitchen, dining room, or rarely, the family room. Not the living room with wool carpet and leather furniture, and not upstairs. But I do like to keep baking supplies for baking, not snacking (esp. expensive things like that chocolate, candied ginger, etc.) and don't like going to use something to find out that I don't have enough b/c someone has been eating it without telling me. I *am* going to throw out the old (who knows how old) confectioner's sugar in the green Tupperware canister, and the cocoa (very light) that my mom gave me - we weren't even sure if it was hot chocolate mix or baking cocoa, b/c it doesn't even smell like anything, she put it in a Rubbermaid container!

I have Elfa ventilated shelves (and some drawers) in my pantry and laundry room both. I love them BUT I use liners so I don't have the wobbly issue going on. That would drive me crazy. Elfa's ventilated shelves, unlike what you can find at Lowe's, HD or Ikea, have the wires a lot closer together. They also "lock" into place so the wire part is sitting really firmly in the bracket - not just a piece of wood sitting on top of the shelf bracket. As far as organizing little things, Elfa has "shelf baskets" that you can put dividers in and stack stuff in if need be. In the pic below, I have one of those on the immediate left (3 shelves up) and above the counter top oven in the back. I use it for bags of baking stuff like chocolate chips, coconut, etc on the left and treats in the back. And I absolutely love their big drawers. Container Store's return policy is great too - anytime with a receipt and the best Elfa sales is 30% off all Elfa products. It starts Dec. 24th and goes through the end of January typically. There is one in the fall that isn't as good - 25% of Elfa Shelving. (No, I don't work for Container Store, I am just a big fan and will be buying some more Elfa stuff during their Dec. sale.) Here's a picture of our new pantry.

Do you have room on the side walls for shallow baskets? We did that on a small pantry: changed the deep shelves to several shallower ones, and one side had a basket rack just wide enough to fit, and it held several single rows of cans perfectly.