The '70s Kitchen Storage Trend That Outshined Modern Pantry Organization

Although they may be full of convenient features, like smart refrigerators and other appliances, modern kitchens and pantries tend to leave something to be desired on the design front. Kitchen design in the 2020s is full of trends everyone secretly hates, from sterile white everything to so-bland-it's-boring millennial gray, to decanting everything from grains to utensils into clear containers. For a more personalized, groovier, but still well-organized kitchen space, you need to travel back in time — to the 1970s.

Take a peek into a '70s kitchen and you'll find more than just avocado-hued appliances. People also organized their pantry staples in style, using colorful canisters they proudly displayed on their counters. Some of those canisters, like the Merry Mushroom line created by Sears, are in high demand with collectors today, with people scooping them up at estate sales or tracking them down on eBay.

Sears wasn't the only company in the canister game 50 years ago. Tupperware also had a popular set of nesting containers, available in a rainbow of hues. And plenty of other brands produced canister sets with patterns that ranged all the way from whimsical to funky. If you're tired of the bland and sterile kitchen styles of today, give your countertops or pantry a distinctly 1970s flair by adding a vintage canister set or two.

1970's-era canisters come in two major categories — ceramic and plastic. While the ceramic ones, with their cutesy mushroom, frog, or strawberry designs, deserve a spot front-and-center on the counter, the plastic ones may be better suited to the inside of a pantry cabinet. Plastic canisters, like those from Tupperware's Servalier line, can be valuable, but may not be something you want to look at every time you step foot into your kitchen. The beauty of the plastic Tupperware containers in particular, according to the fans, is that they are virtually indestructible, so you'll have cupboard organization taken care of for some time to come.

As for the contents of the canisters — the sky is the limit. While flour, sugar, and similar dry goods are popular picks, think about how you use your kitchen and what items you access the most. If you're not a baker, it might not make sense to have a canister full of flour on your countertop, for example. You may find it more convenient to fill a larger canister with packaged snacks. With smaller ceramic canisters, consider setting up a drinks station, filling one with teabags or loose leaf tea and another with coffee, and placing them by your coffeemaker or electric kettle.

You aren't limited to using a canister set for storing food, either. Instead of chucking odds and ends into a junk drawer, sort your stuff in canisters instead. Use a medium-sized or large canister to keep small tools, like a measuring tape, screwdriver, and hex key, at the ready. Packaged batteries can go in a smaller container, so they're easy to find when you need them. Pens, chopsticks, reusable straws, and other narrow, vertical tools are all fair game in the right-sized vessel.