Don't Throw Away An Old Loaf Pan, Use It For Helpful Kitchen Storage

No matter how many hacks to secretly add more storage to your kitchen you follow, it feels like a constant fight for space or a place to put the items you constantly use. If you are looking for a way to add more storage to your kitchen counters and give you a place to put items you commonly use in easy reach, then an old loaf pan might be just the solution.

These pans are made to be skinny, with high sides to hold bread as it bakes in the oven. Because of this, they also happen to make for an excellent solution to add a little storage in your kitchen. You can set them on a shelf or counter to give you a place to store all your loose or commonly used items. You don't even have to do anything to the pan. Just set it somewhere out of the way yet within easy reach and fill it up. 

Some items fit particularly well in loaf pans, including your more random and cumbersome utensils, napkins, and even fruits. If you have spices that you use often, placing them in a loaf pan by your stove is a great way to save you time and keep everything organized. Or, if there are items you commonly use together, like frosting, cake, and sprinkles, then you can place them in the loaf pan and set them in the pantry so they are easy to find when you're ready to bake.

They don't just have to sit on a counter or an open shelf, either. If you own loaf pans without handles, they can be used in cabinets and deep drawers as utensil organizers. In fact, these are so useful that there are many ways to make use of old bread pans with amazing repurposing ideas around your kitchen and home, including using them to hold your herb garden, as a cutlery caddy, and keeping like-minded kitchen ingredients together.

While you could leave your loaf pans as-is and therefore be able to reuse them for baking whenever you need, you may decide that you don't plan on ever using them for their original purpose. You can have fun painting them to match your decor. If you own several loaf pans you want to use for storage, you can also set them on a tray for more organization in one place.

Another fun way to increase storage and use up some random loaf pans you have lying around is to create hanging shelves out of them. This involves drilling through the metal to attach chains or into a board, but it can help save space and give you more storage that isn't on your counter. Or, you can add some country flair to your countertop with a bread pan DIY, which you can use to hold a small herb garden, fruits, or just general storage.