Storing Cookie Sheets, Baking Pans and Serving Trays
Cookie sheets, baking pans, and serving trays are sometimes a challenge to store and organize in your kitchen. If you lay them down on a shelf, other things are bound to get set down on top of them, and then it’s hard to get to them easily. If you lay them on top of other things, their size and shape may cause things to slide around, and set off a small kitchen avalanche.
I have a great strategy for organizing your baking pans, cookie sheets, jelly roll pans, muffin tins, cooling racks, and serving trays, so that you can See What You Have.
Do you have challenges with storing your kitchen items? Contact me to see if I can help!
Before
Does this look like a familiar problem? This lovely serving tray had no permanent home. After being used, there was no place to put it, so it was set down on top of other things. This was a precarious situation, because the tray (and other things around it!) could easily fall or get scratched.
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This pretty serving tray had no permanent home either, so other things had been set down on it. If the client wanted to use it, she had to clear it off first.
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After
This particular pantry had Elfa ventilated shelving in it, so I was able to use Elfa shelf dividers that clamp onto the shelving. The great thing about these shelf dividers is that they can be set right side up, or upside down. Since some of the trays were tall, I also put in shelf dividers upside down, clamped onto the shelf directly above, to keep those tall items from leaning over too much.
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Now, she can see all of her nice serving trays together in one place, and retrieve one at a time as she needs it, without disrupting the rest of them. I bet that lovely silver serving tray will get used more often, now.
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Here’s another pantry with Elfa shelf dividers for tall baking sheets. I used another shelf divider upside down here too, because these baking sheets are tall, and I wanted to keep them separated for easy access. See how I put several Elfa adjustable shelves close together next to the baking sheets, for more storage for smaller pantry items?
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What if you don’t have Elfa shelves already in your kitchen pantry? No problem! I have a solution for you.
Before
In this pantry, the wood shelves were fixed in place, and this client did not want to change them out for adjustable shelves. No matter what kind of shelving is there, I have strategies for maximizing the existing space.
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Here, most of the shelves were an equal distance apart from each other. Up at the top, there was a taller space between the uppermost shelf and the ceiling. There were various items set up there as an afterthought, but I knew that I could use that extra vertical space more effectively.
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After
After I put vertical dividers on that top shelf, I was able to organize the client’s baking pans, serving dishes, and cooling racks, so that each one is easy to see, and access.
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For this solution, I used 4-sort dividers from The Container Store, that set down on a shelf or inside a cabinet. In this pantry, I used two of them, side by side.
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These 4-sort dividers sometimes will shift around as you pull out items. To prevent that, I fasten them down with clips and screws so that they stay put.
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If you don’t have a pantry, these 4-sort dividers can be used in cabinets, as well.
Before
This may look familiar, too. These baking pans were in a bottom cabinet, with no structure to hold them in place. To retrieve a pan, my client had to use both hands to try to hold the other pans upright and keep everything from falling down.
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After
After I put in vertical dividers, the pans are held upright and kept separate, so that each pan is easy to retrieve without causing an avalanche. The cabinet is a little wider than the 4-sort divider, so I fastened the 4-sort divider in the center, giving the client space on each side for other racks and pans.
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I have a lot of strategies for improving your access to your kitchen items, whether they are small, large, or oddly shaped. Can I help you See What You Have with your kitchen storage?
