Agree- clear container bins are not too expensive and would help you group items and pull out a bin to reach another behind it since these look decently deep.

Yes Cath Clolek they are deep. Containers yes but I can’t see what are behind the items because the pantry is deep. Lazy Susan’s might work but may take up too much space. Thank you!

Can you put some "risers" in the back so that items are raised slightly back there. How do you feel about labelling the front of the shelves? So if you want to just try it temporarily, then just use masking tape. If you divide each shelf into say 3 sections. For example "Sauces", "Soups" and "Tinned Veg" on one shelf. Then "Pasta", "Rice" and "Dry Soup". Etc. Choosing whichever categories work best for your items. Even just a "Baking" "Lunch Items" more general labelling. Then if you are looking for a tin of tuna, just have to check one area on one shelf. If you can get some pieces of wood cut to raise some of the back items and group things together it might help a bit. It looks like lots of storage just awkward shape.

Think about how your family eats. What do you buy for every day versus a rainy day? Store little used items on the lowest shelves.

Label the shelves with the kind of labels that a P-Touch makes. The Contaiiner Store has a good one. This will help everyone keep your pantry in order.

Pull out containers are perfect.

Keep all opened boxes and bags in a designated spot.

I have a clear acrylic lazy susan that has 5" high sides so little things like cans or vitamin containers can't spin off.

Please donate any food you might not use, yet is still within date, to a food pantry.

The deep corner of a corner pantry is the issue. Lazy susans or long, narrow bins will enable you to bring things from the back to the light of day.

First, do you have another space, like in a basement, where you can put the back-ups? Like the second bottle of mustard that I spy, extra pasta, etc, on a cheap bookcase? and things you use less often? or, things you use a lot of? It sounds odd, but when our kids were all at home, I just kept ALL the pasta in the basement, except packages that were already open.

Next, categorize.

Baking—related = sugars, flour, Jiffy (love Jiffy!), baking soda, baking powder. Even if you use them for non-baking purposes, we think of them as baking. You have already done this, mostly, it looks like.

Pasta and rice and lentils and beans. And pasta/tomato sauces for good measure.

Oil, vinegar, condiments.

And so on.

Next: you do need lazy Susans. Probably three large ones. In a cabinet like that, I’d go for a susan without high sides, no higher than a jelly roll pan. You won’t spin it so fast that things fall off, will you? Higher sides mean you need room to lift the items over the sides; save those for, say, sink cabinets.

I have a new key word for you. Instead of ”maximize”: think “optimize”. Say it with me: ”Optimize”. Will you use every square inch? NO! But can you access every square inch? Pretty much. That’s how lazy Susans help. The space around them may seem useless, but you can reach everything on the Susan. And you can organize things on the sides of the susans, maybe there is room for two susans on a shelf? Or a narrow bin, that you easily pull out to select something from it,

Not everything has to be stored upright. Maybe boxes can go on their sides, or on their fronts and stacked.

Lucite/plastic boxes can store things in opened pouches/bags, like pasta. I have some tall skinny containers that can hold three or four bags and skinny boxes of opened pastas, all in one container. On its side.

Here’s another thing you might not be expecting: do you plan your menus for the week? When the kids were all home and I did all the shopping and cooking, I had menu plans for the week. The kitchen pantry held one of anything we used on a regular basis. Anything else, like things I stocked up on because we used them often and they were on sale, went on an inexpensive bookcase in the basement. And, the ”next one”, things like mayo or mustard thwt I knew I was almost out of in the fridge, the fresh one was ln the bookcase in the basement, too.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cabinet like that with light switches. Interesting.

Remember, OPTIMIZE not maximize. It looks like you are already maximizing the space, but you can’t reach, use, maybe even know, what’s way at the back. Optimizing means yiu know what’s in there, reach it, and use it, Before it expires. reach it, use it.

Like in graphic design, ”white space” is good.

Yes to lazy susans. We had upper corner cabinets that were shaped like that and the only way to get any good use out of them was large lazy susans. Get the largest that will fit. You may have room for some bins on either side at the front.

I love my can racks for tomatoes and beans. OXO clear stackable containers for pasta and other dry goods, and of course lazy susans. I also have the under the shelf bins that hook onto the shelf above and Ikea bins for the little packets of "stuff". Costco sells a nice set that holds flour, sugar et al. I use these for storage in my baking center but you can make a baking shelve in the pantry easily.

Thank you all for putting effort into responding!!! This helps me soooooo much!!! The light switches are for the can ceiling lights. I am going to the container store soon. They should have everything. I don’t have menu plans for the week. I Live alone and have one son an hour away in downtown Charleston. I don’t have any storage except an armoire with built in shelves and a garage which is not climate controlled. Optimize! lol

I haven’t read any of the above; I will after I submit my reply. Pull everything out. Organize by category. Put grains together, baking supplies together, condiments/spices together, cereals/breakfast foods together, cans together, etc. Then, you can purchase some inexpensive pull-out trays or containers to corral the items. Put the items in order of expiry date- the earliest expiry date ones go in front. This will take a bit of time, but so easy to keep up with and actually know when supplies are low.

i have large glass jars for sugars and flours. I leave pastas in their boxes/original wrap.

The ’official’ container store is expensive. Shop around. You can do as well for much less.

Thank you maddie260! I agree with the container store being expensive. I have never been in the store. lol

Clutterbug did a declutter of someone's pantry that was similarly shaped (starts at 7:00): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTTkBiy5wZc&t=0s 

I LOVE bpath's philosophy on optimizing vs. maximizing!

Those of us that have upgraded from upper diagonal corner cabinets to easy reach uppers know exactly what bpath is talking about. The diagonal upper has more actual shelf space - by quite a bit - but so much of it is impossible to get to. Easy reach uppers have less physical space, but ALL of it is readily accessible, making it so much more functional!

Sas 237, I understand your reluctance to use a lazy susan, but I suggest you find the biggest one that fits, and try it on one shelf. You might find it to be more useful than you think.

I agree with the suggestions to group like items together, and gather them (as much as possible) in pullout bins.

Or, here's a full-on radical idea (perhaps completely impossible): since the sides of the cabinet are parallel to each other, is is possible to build pullouts in place of shelves? Blum Metaboxes are fairly easy to fabricate of you are reasonably handy. You would need to get 2 sets of glides for each shelf, since the left and right glides would be different lengths. It would be a major project (possible easier to replace the whole cabinet), but it would certainly make everything accessible!

I got several containers at, I think TJMaxx or the like, for less than at Container Store. But of course the selection is always changing. One thing I like is Fridge Binz and similar. Besides using them to make the impossible side-by-side refrigerator’s freezer possible, I use some in an impossibly shallow upper cabinet where I haven’t found a lazy susan that small. One holds different peppers, one holds sweeteners, one holds salts.

And in the pantry, for small mixes like Jiffy, bags of beans. Just containing them keeps everything else tidy. It’s easy to pull out a bin and get a bag of lentils from the middle of the bin. And sometimes there is something intentionally stored behind the bin, because it is easier to pull out a bin to reach it than to pull out 6 individual packages, get the item and hold on to it, then put the 6 packages back, all with only two hands.

I’ve even, gasp, used a corralling container like a plastic basket or bin or Gladware ON a lazy susan!

Course411 . Yes that pantry is similar to mine but my shelves don’t slide out. 🙁
AnnKH I will give the lazy Susan a try!

Lazy susans do work well however you may also have dead space with these. If you want to invest, I'd say rev-a-shelf. Pricy but worth the price to optimize your space.

I have clear stackable rectangle boxes for some things like pickles, sauces, flavorings, etc. I Groupe canned things like beans, fruits, milks. Pastas are stored in airtight containers with pop top lids, labeled and grouped together.

I have a baking sesectional tion in one section of cabinets. I put differen flours, cornmeals, cornmeal, sugars, nuts. raisins etc in airtight see thorough containers with pop top lids on the counter top. I bought large print labels for all containers. In the upper cabinets are flavorings, mixes, spices, flavorings. In the drawers are, measuring cups, spoons, hand mixer, wisks, a drawer for thermometers, pizza cutter, biscuit cutter, pastry blender and a drawer for parchment paper, tin foil, cling wrap and zip lock bags. In bottom cabinets are poll out shelves for mixing bowls, casserole dishes, cake plates etc.