What Should Actually Be Stored On The Top Shelf Of Your Pantry?

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Everyone has their best practices for how to store cooking items. We've covered how to organize like Ina Garten and the way that Bobby Flay puts together his kitchen pantry. Ina likes to face labels outward, while Bobby stores foods by cuisine, for instance. There's not a "right" or "wrong" way to organize your pantry, but we find that winging things goes south all too often, especially when it comes to the dreaded top shelf of your kitchen storage. You know the one — you can't reach it except on your tiptoes or a stepladder, it's shaped weird, and things that you put up there tend to disappear into a void and come out expired, misshapen, and/or missing pieces. What should you store up there?

According to expert consensus, the top shelf of your pantry is meant for items you won't use very often. This can include small appliances that don't get daily play (like your immersion blender and hand mixer), niche baking supplies such as alternative flours or sugars, and overflow of bulk items like rice or trash bags. This can also extend to holiday goodies, your fancy china that only comes out on Thanksgiving or your wedding anniversary, and big serving platters. Still, this space shouldn't be cluttered, and it's best if everything there is clearly labeled. If you do need something up there, it shouldn't take more than a quick, painless trip up a stepladder (we're fond of this skid-resistant Rubbermaid model) to retrieve an item.

Now that you know the basic gist of what you should be stashing on your pantry shelves, let's get into the nitty-gritty of what not to do. First of all, avoid the common kitchen cabinet storage mistake of letting random household items migrate into your pantry. Your pantry is for people food and food prep items. It's not for dog food, flashlights, tool kits, cleaning supplies, or cookbooks. Being purposeful with your storage is the first step to keeping your shelves from becoming a hopeless jumble, even ones that are high up and possibly even deep and dark. This is to say that the items in your pantry should never be random.

To that end, optimize your top-shelf storage. Don't put anything too heavy up there, as you risk hurting yourself or breaking lower items if it comes crashing down. This isn't the place for your stand mixer, even if it only gets semi-annual usage. Don't stack things too deep or hide them behind other items, because you might as well kiss them goodbye at that point ... ever hear the saying "out of sight, out of mind?" Use stackable acrylic storage drawers like this set by Vtopmart to contain smaller, like items, and label generously. If necessary, place a hook on the way and affix a clipboard with a running inventory of what's in your pantry so that you don't have to rustle around. You will likely find that, with a little planning and some scrupulous housekeeping rules, the top shelf of your pantry need not become a terrifying no-man's land after all.