The Bounty under the Stairs

The new house into which my boyfriend and I have moved was built long ago. I estimate it was built somewhere around the 50's. It was built as a vacation home and has a few elements that make it not very efficient in winter, but it's quaint and warm in spirit.

The area that is lacking most for me is the kitchen. It is terribly small and there is no storage. When we arrived, there was a "pantry" (the marketing of the landlords), which was nothing more than the unused space under the stairs. It had a rickety shelf pushed to the back of the space, so it wasn't really a pantry at all. Both of us had ideas that we wanted to try our hand at canning foods to put away for the winter. Storage would definitely be a concern.

I took a trip to the lumber store and picked up a few L-brackets and about 6 one-by-four boards. The boards were relatively smooth finish and only cost $1 each. With some quick cutting, I was able to put up a series of shelves just wide enough to hold a mason jar or a soup can. I wanted the boards to be slim so we weren't knocking everything off the shelved when we turned around inside the pantry. I varied the spacing so we could stack cans or shelf tall bottles. At the back, where the space under the stairs got short, I put in a few deep shelves for cereal boxes. Concerned about vibrations from the overhead stairway possibly shaking down the goods, I squeezed a bead of almond-colored caulk along the front of each shelf. The cans will not walk past the caulk and after 4 months, not a single can has fallen. Hurray for our walk-in pantry!

The result cost less than $40 total, but has greatly increased our storage. The best part is that we have a place to put our canning next year!