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We have lots of cans of food in our cupboard - different kinds of beans, corn, etc. They are all the same size, your standard size can of black beans or whatever that you can find at your local supermarket.

Is there a way to keep them in which they are organized and all easily accessible? Some end up in the back, and to get them we have to take everything in front of them out, or we end up forgetting that they exist and they go unused.

We have several different sized cabinets. The one they are currently in is about 2 feet (0.6 metre) deep, and about 2 feet (0.6 metre) tall and 1.5 feet (0.46 metre) wide. There is a shelf which splits it into being probably about 6 inches (15 cm) and 1.5 ft (0.46 metre). They don't have to stay in that cabinet, and I'm willing to move them to a different cabinet if they need to be moved, but the common denominator is that all our cabinets are full - there isn't room to space things out or just keep things at the front.

I tried keeping things together by type, but things end up getting left in the back, and the arrangement is too time-consuming to maintain when things need to be moved around to get things out.

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  • @YeZ, Please reply 1. Are all the cans cylindrical? 2. How many cans approximately do you have? 3. Are the shelves below your eye level, better if you mention how high the shelves are from floor level
    – Joachin Joseph
    Dec 24, 2014 at 6:26
  • @JoachinJoseph 1. Yes, as stated, all the cans are like your standard can of beans. 2. The number varies as they get used/purchased, but let's say around 30? 3. I have shelves that are both, but the current one in use is below eye level.
    – Y     e     z
    Dec 24, 2014 at 19:06
  • Put in more shelves. They only need to be as far apart as the tins are tall. Always push new tins right to the back, behind the old ones. be systematic about it. Once a year take them all out, wash the shelves, and reorder them. If some are 10 years over the date you can throw them away ;-)
    – RedSonja
    Aug 17, 2015 at 14:24

2 Answers 2

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The simpler option, and what I generally do, is give a column to each type. e.g.,

| corn | beans | etc |

piled up within their column to the back of the shelf. But you can also make your own organizer:

enter image description here

There are instructions here, which take plywood (pieces for either side, and the sloped inside) and glue them together to create what you see above.

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Something my mother uses in miniature for her spice cabinet might help you in your cupboard.

My mother bought a small, plastic lazy susan with multiple shelves on it to keep spices on, and that organizes the spice cabinet quite nicely. All the spices are easy to get to, and none get stuck in the back of the cabinet.

You'd probably need one that's a little bigger than my mother's, but you should be able to find one that you could buy or (if you're feeling DIYish and adventurous) you might build your own.

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  • OP wants to store the cans in a cupboard(not general organize) for easy & efficient access. I feel your post is not answering the OP.
    – Joachin Joseph
    Dec 24, 2014 at 10:17
  • @Joachin Why can't that go in a cupboard?
    – Tim
    Dec 24, 2014 at 11:20
  • @JoachinJoseph I don't understand the issue you raised with my answer.
    – Shokhet
    Dec 24, 2014 at 19:01

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