No, I’m not talking about those little metal fasteners, I’m talking about those basic food items you can’t do without. Instead of hiding them away in your pantry and your cupboards, showcase them! This not only frees up room in your pantry and cupboards for other items, but creates a visually appealing display in your kitchen, and puts those often used food items within closer reach.

Now simply putting those boxes and bags on a shelf in your kitchen isn’t very attractive. All of these items are different sizes and shapes for one, so they don’t stack well. More importantly, the packaging generally isn’t nice to look at. Instead, take advantage of some of the newer transparent containers to organize all of these items. They make it easy to find what you are looking for, they’re generally airtight, so they’ll keep the food fresh longer than those rolled over bags and tucked in box tops, and you can choose matching sizes to make them all fit well in the space you have available.

So, what will you need? First, you’ll need some shelves to put these item on. My kitchen is pretty small, a galley style kitchen, but I have a little space available at the end where I could put some shelves. I like a more modern look, so I went with the adjustable chrome shelves that have become popular lately. They are easy to clean, and are adjustable, so they’re perfect for this purpose.

Next, you’ll need some containers. Their are many different kinds, in different shapes and colors. I prefer the containers to be transparent, so the food is easily visible. After all, when your staples are displayed this way, they look great, why hide them! The containers I use are Snapware ‘Square Grip’, which are are available in three different sizes. They are airtight, transparent, and the sizes fit great on the shelving unit I described above. Note that you can save some money by looking for ’sets’ that include a number of containers. These sets are cheaper than buying all of the individual containers, so figure out how many containers of each size you require, and get as many kits as you can to fullfill that number. Snapware has a 10 piece set that includes one large, two medium, and two small containers for about $20. Otherwise, the large (120oz) are about $7, the medium (64oz) about $6, and the small (32oz) about $5 (each). You can then by individual containers to fill out whatever sizes you still need more of.

Finally, you’ll probably want some kind of labeling. Though you can see the food through the container, you often can’t tell the difference between items based on appearance. For example, can you tell the difference between salt and sugar by sight? How about flour and corn starch? I use a DYMO LetraTag 11944 Electronic Labelmaker to make labels on their white plastic tape, and place the labels on the lids (the white labels match the white lids of my containers perfectly), so they’re easily visible, and the plastic cleans easily without damage.

Here’s some pictures of my setup, filled with all the staples I could find, and I add more all the time (I’ve already got more containers than are in the pictures). Things like pasta, rice, nuts, chocolate chips, raisins, baking ingredients, etc. all make for great fillers, they look great, and they’re handy to grab when you need them. So, add some great looks and functionality to your kitchen, setup your own staples shelves!