I don't really have hacks, but I am pretty pleased with my storage.

Baking cabinet with under-shelf baskets. The countertop oven is below, and the trays for it are on the middle shelf at the side. I have dry measuring cups and slim measuring spoons in here just for baking.

Drawer under baking cabinet (all other utensils are kept by range at other end of kitchen)

Left doors off this cabinet b/c it's under the counter. Perfect for my rice cooker, crock pot, and hand vac (missing from pic)

I stressed over what to put in the corner cab and am very happy I decided to put kitchen textiles and snacks in it. Nothing tips over or falls out, and I don't have to bend and open it all the time. Only problem is we can't leave it open or the cat will go in!

Rita, that hafele page is a treasure trove. Your pantry sounds likes my current kitchen situation and pantry.

Stillpitpat, I was looking at (the one and only) hanging undershelf baskset in my pantry earlier today and thinking that might be the way to go and then you posted a pic of yours. Great idea (!!!) to store like accessories together and there is so much extra height in my current pantry. I love your idea of grouping things by function.

I love just opening my "baking cabinet." It seems so luxurious to have one compared to my old kitchen! I also have a wire shelf in my pantry cabinet and two metal lazy susans in my upper corner cabinet (not built in).

We had dinner guests recently, and my son stood at one end of the kitchen making cookies, and I stood at the other end making dinner. it's so nice to have the space and organization to do that, and my kitchen is still fairly small.

Oh, and since the cabs above my fridge are deep, I was able to slide my very large mixing bowls into one. They did not have a good place to live in the old kitchen. They are opposite of the baking cabinet, but that's ok. I don't use them a ton.

stillpitpat, I totally get that. Cooking in a kitchen which is well organized and spacious is a game changer. Can't wait until this one gets renovated and looking for good planning strategies while trying to still manage until then,

Best storage areas:
- vertical dividers (4” apart)above fridge for sheet pans, cutting boards, baking pans, trays and even the long boxes of aluminum foil and parchment paper
- pull out drawers in lower cabinets. Pots and pans, bread drawer, plastic storage containers (multiples of 4-5 stackable sizes not a mixture).
- wire racks 6” high and length of shelf double storage space in the upper cabinets. Eg Plates/ bowls above; glasses/mugs below. Choose glasses/ mugs to fit space instead of trying to accommodate multiple sizes
-knives in an IKEA rack in drawer instead of knife block on counter
- various sized rectangular plastic baskets with straight sides ( dollar store) to coral similar items. ( eg. Salt and pepper shakers, packaged soups, dried legumes, small kitchen gadgets, jams and honey, napkins etc)

Worst storage ideas:
-lower cupboard with pull out shelves. Works fine for small appliances and accessories. Does NOT work for pantry supplies or below a frequently used section of counter. My mistake was using this for baking supplies in my baking centre. Needs two (clean) hands to open and when pull out shelf is out the counter is blocked. Sigh.
- built-in spice rack drawer with bottles displayed at an angle takes up a lot of space and is inflexible. Increasingly the new jars of spice blends don’t fit. I now use small glass canning jars instead (labels on lid) in shallow drawer instead.

And finally, The game-changer: does an item really deserve to be in my kitchen. Do I like it and is it easy to use? If not, I move it along. This has made the kitchen far more functional and pleasant to work in and even resulted in a couple of empty shelves that can be used seasonally