In our household, my husband owns the “cooking” stack (planning, shopping, dishwashing). Pro: Less managerial mental load. Con: I don’t interact with (or regularly optimize 
) our food prep systems. Cue: A long overdue upgrade with specialized spice and baking storage! 
Time for an Audit
Our food prep systems weren’t bad. 
But great organization is designed around lifestyle, and lifestyles evolve.
| New Behavior | New Requirement |
|---|---|
My husband leveled up his cooking and baking skills! 
|
He deserves the best tools and space. 
|
| Regularly-used spices & grains expanded and diversified. | More, better storage!  
|
| We host our friends and their kids 1+ times/week for dinner. | Cooking/baking efficiently, cleanly, and at scale is critical. |
So for Father’s Day this year, I worked on two quick kitchen upgrades: spice and flour storage systems!
Kitchen Upgrade #1: Spices
The Before: Original Spice Organization
Commonly-used spices were stored in a vertical rack in the cabinet right next to the stove, and “backstock” (refills) were stored in the pantry.
Emerging Spicy Problems
Spices in the pantry are hard to see. We started storing complementary (not just overflow) spices in the pantry as recipes became more adventurous. 
Eventually, the hard-to-see pantry inventory led to accidental purchases of duplicate spices! 
Newly-purchased spices are ~4oz. Spices are sold by weight, not volume. The full contents of newly-purchased spices rarely fit in 3oz jars.
Bulk salt is awkward to store. Our (great!) stoveside salt well requires frequent refilling, but the more efficient/economical salt refill box is… large.
The Spices Fix
So I got to work…
I moved all of our spices into 4oz square jars that won’t roll around on a new spice rack that now extends the full cabinet width. The salt refill box is now on the top cabinet shelf (instead of in the pantry closet).
The pantry now stores less-frequently used spices that can be immediately transferred to 4oz jars (with labeled lids) upon purchase! 
Kitchen Upgrade #2: Flours
The Before: Bulk grain buckets
We had been using 5-gallon food-safe buckets for storing all sorts of specialty grains and flours that we pick up in bulk once per year through our grain share CSA.
Emerging Baking Problems
However…
Grain storage inside the food-safe bins was atrocious.
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
|
Grains were getting lost in nondescript, opaque brown bags. |
Transparent, flour-ready containers! |
Whole-wheat blends need multiple raw ingredients, requiring storage of (identical-looking) flours and their unprocessed groat/berry counterparts.   
|
Labels everywhere! 
|
Countertop stand mixer is too far from pantry baking ingredients for our kiddo sous-chefs to transfer without spills. 
|
Countertop flour storage! |
The Flour Fix
So I began reading about professional bakers’ kitchen solutions. I decided on ProKeeper+ containers, which may be the overkill option, but we’re committed to this optimization thing, and it’s Father’s Day, after all! 
Flour containers fit standard-sized bags and include magnetic levelers! I added an expandable cabinet shelf to stack more flours.
The whole baking setup is tucked out of sight behind the refrigerator.
In the pantry, we finally ditched the opaque bins. Unmilled grains are stored in 16-cup Rubbermaid Brilliance containers directly behind their milled counterparts.
In the corner, I added a 15” lazy susan for infrequently used baking ingredients.
The powdered sugar container comes with a dusting spoon, and the brown sugar container includes a terracotta disc to prevent clumping. How cool!
Cost (New Products)
It feels silly to detail “costs”, because the amazing bread and baked goodies all three of my boys make me is priceless. 
Making chapatis to accompany their mattar paneer! 
Yum, our Drożdżowe Bułki z Makiem (Polish poppy seed swirls). 
My (minor, hopefully helpful) contribution to the family baking escapades is to at least make our spaces look good and function as well as possible !
| Materials | Cost (+ tax/shipping) |
|---|---|
| 4-pack ProKeeper+ 4-qt large flour containers | $106.23 |
| 2 boxes 4oz spice jars | $57.32 |
| 5-piece ProKeeper+ baking containers | $51.91 |
| 2-pack ProKeeper+ 1.5-qt specialty flour containers | $42.49 |
| expandable countertop shelf | $34.07 |
| 16” wide spice rack | $24.43 |
| 15” lazy susan | $12.75 |
| TOTAL | $329.20 |
Shilpa Kobren is the Associate Director of Rare Disease Analysis at Harvard Medical School where she focuses on analyzing genomic sequencing data with patient clinical information to derive insights into human diseases. Shilpa lives in an 1890s urban apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband and two energetic toddlers. She retains her sense of peace amid the chaos by creating and iteratively improving systems that optimize daily efficiency in her family's constrained living space.