I use Tupperware (circa 1990? Strawberry pink lids) for flour, sugar, brown sugar, confectioners sugar & store in my pantry. I don't think it is tacky to have them sitting out but in that case I'd use something more decorative. You might search the kitchen forum as there have been threads there before about canisters.

I think there are lots of stylish sets. As for your budget, maybe consider you'll have them for X number of years and what is $10/year or so for something that adds style, color, organization, etc. to your kitchen? (I rationalize shoes this way too!)

Here's my canister set which I dearly love! it is glazed ceramic, and yes I have flour in one and sugar in another,tea and instant coffee, I first put a zip lock bag in then dump in sugar etc.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1543462}}

I have clear jars from IKEA mixed with a few that I've received as gifts or found. Here's three that are on my counter:

We have one canister for coffee on the counter. Sugar is alongside it in a pourable thing. Anything else is stored in a cabinet.

I used to use tupperware circa 1970's but you know tupperware doesn't last that long so now I have rubbermaid. It is important that there be a good seal with canisters. I store flour and sugar near my stove in a cabinet with the rest of my baking supplies. Coffee and tea are stored near the coffee machine in cabinet.

While I don't mind seeing pretty canister's out on the counter, in my own kitchen I prefer less clutter out on my counters.

Back when I was decorating in blue and yellow, this is the canister set and cookie jar I used - just decorative, I never actually put anything in them because I was afraid of my kids chipping them:

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They are currently on a high shelf in the laudry room.
I've had several other sets over the years, but the corner I put them in now has a stand mixer.
The only thing I've ever actually stored in them is cough drops. I always keep my flour in the freezer, and the sugar and coffee in the pantry.

I really like the big stainless canisters with hinged tops lined with silicone that click shut like canning jars.

I only keep one on the countertop (a med. size one for coffe beans) but I have big, big ones for sugar and flour in the pantry.

I got the idea for humongous ones from Ina Garten(the Barefoot Contessa). On her show she has big glass ones (like gardenergwen's) and works right over the canister. She just dips measuring cups into them and knifes off the excess right into the canister. So much easier, and far less messy, than trying to dip a spoon in a smaller canister and transfer to a measuring cup! I like the looks of the all-glass ones, but went with the stainless ones for the tight seal.

I scout out the kitchen depts. at TJMaxx, Marshall's, etc. and pick up different sizes I need when they go on sale. There are almost always some on clearance.

I like ceramic ones for decor, but for function prefer the stainless or glass.

I wasn't going to have canisters out (I keep staples in large class containers in the pantry), but then DH bought me three Portmeirion Botanic Garden canisters as a gift (I collect it). He so infrequently buys me anything that I didn't have the heart to return them, so I have them lined up on the counter. I have flour, sugar and brown sugar (in a zip lock so it doesn't dry out) in them. They've grown on me.

Just as an aside - the glass ones that I purchased at IKEA have a rubber gasket around the lid so that they do have a nice, tight seal when closing.

Gardnergwen I have those same canisters and I love them. I've wanted those big glass canisters that have a good seal and that you can stick your whole hand and measuring cup into.

Ikea has the best prices - WalMart and Target both have them but Ikea is much cheaper.

I keep flour (two kinds) in the pantry in Rubbermaid containers that are large enough to hold 5 lbs. each. Sugar is in a glass container with a tight seal in the kitchen cabinet, and coffee is in a stoneware container in the cabinet above the coffeemaker.

I also have three Botanic Garden canisters on a shelf in the kitchen; they hold rolled oats, wheat bran, and popcorn.

She just dips measuring cups into them and knifes off the excess right into the canister.

With flour, it's important to know which way the recipe intended for you to measure, because dipping a measuring cup into the flour will result in about 1 Tb more flour per cup than spooning the flour into the cup.

A few months ago, I went on a big glass canister search. I wanted to store them in my pantry, not on the counter. I wanted glass because I prefer it over plastic for cleaning purposes. I wanted an airtight seal.

Okay....

Ina's glass canisters. I found a look alike at Crate and Barrel. However, there is no airtight seal. I don't have an IKEA here.

I looked and looked and looked online and in stores. Many of what I found look great, but didn't have the airtight seal. Also, I found so many Made in China.

I looked at stainless steel, but I have one already by the coffee maker and those are just too pricey to hide in a cabinet.

I ended up at World Market. I purchased Italian glass canning jars with wire and bail sealed closures. I also purchased glass pasta jars with airtight bamboo lids, but those are made in China. My most expensive Italian jar was $6.99. I store rice, sugar, flour and cornmeal in the Italian jars.

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I really don't like the way plastic makes food smell or taste. I have never seen a recipe that instructed you to "spoon" your flour into the measuring cup....in fact I can't recall ever seeing a cooking show, reading a recipe, or attending or teaching (I teach) cooking classes where anyone spooned in the flour.

Gardnergwen, I love those glass canisters. Wish there was an Ikea nearby. I know their prices can't be beat.

Catt, the glass ones at our WM & Target don't have seals, except the Montana line and those things are huge.

I just bought a wide mouth glass canister from WS. It was pricey, but good quality. I may order more.

Here is a link that might be useful: WS glass canisters

Natal the ones at Ikea are huge - well the biggest ones anyway - they hold over 5 lbs of flour or sugar and I don't see them at Ikea on line - that's too bad. I do like the WS ones but I use 4 canisters and that would be roughtly $120 plus shipping and tax - more than I would want to spend anyway.

One thing - those big glass canisters do take up a lot of room on the counter.

I keep my large coffee and tea plastic containers/canisters in the pantry cupboard.

I use the Click Clack canisters -- the rectangle ones to save space!

Here is a link that might be useful: Container Store -- Click Clack canisters

Save your old metal coffee containers as they are quickly becoming dinosaurs and coffee is best kept fresh in a metal container with a seal in a dark place. Never store coffee in a well-lit area in see-through containers, as it will not stay fresh.

It is not necessary or even desirable to store coffee on the countertop as it will lose its flavor when exposed to heat, sunlight and/or bright light.

I'm so glad you just said that, Patricia. I was just thinking how beautiful and scrumptuous coffee beans would look in one of those glass canisters.

Do you think the same holds true for other ingredients that would be set on the counter in a glass canister? What about just regular light, too, not just sunlight?

Squirrel, if you just want the look of the coffee beans, what about taking one glass canister, put a smaller container inside that would hold whatever you wnat to store in it and then filling the gap between the two w/ some coffee beans?

Squirrel, I keep my flour and sugar in the fridge in glass containers, those with the metal latch on them. Growing up in the south, I learned to keep any dry ingredients that were not going to be used shortly, in the fridge to prevent weevils and ants. We don't use much sugar, flour, meal at our house since DH is diabetic and the kids are all grown up and gone. When the kids were growing up and before diabetes, I did keep it in the glass containers on the countertop but I used it up very quickly.

Just make sure that whatever you choose has a tight seal, as was mentioned above. Many moons ago I had a pretty one with a lid, but no seal. I opened up the flour one day to noticed it had spots in it. Then upon further inspection I saw that the spots were moving - they were little tiny bugs.

Have you ever looked on Ebay? Maybe that's not your thing, but that's the 1st place I look when wanting something specific. Just a thought...

Wow thanks for all the feedback!

Ebay is the first place i look for everything. I love ebay! :)

That's actually where i saw the crystal canister sets. Maybe some type of tupperware container would be better....i would want at least a 5lb bag of flour or sugar to fit into the canister that way i'm not constantly adding stuff. These canisters are nice but i'm not totally gaga over them. I'll have to keep searching!

I was just thinking how beautiful and scrumptuous coffee beans would look in one of those glass canisters.

You can keep beans in glass jars, just make sure it's inside a cabinet or pantry away from light. I store mine in a Ball jar.

I find the easiest way to search for something is to do an image search like I've linked you to below.
As for what I have in my canisters and if I have them on my counter. I have two sets. One four piece ceramic in my kitchen that have flour, sugar, brown sugar and confectioner sugar. A set of three clear glass with silver lids in the master bath that hold cotton balls, Q-tips and kleenex which I fold in half with top up so I can still pull them out one at a time as from the box.
Here's the ones on my kitchen counter. Sorry I don't have a picture of the ones in our bathroom.
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Here is a link that might be useful: Canister Sets

I am in the market for some new canisters. I was leaning towards these all-clad canisters. I also like the WS link above. I currently have a cheaper stainless steel set with screw on lids (PITA).

I use glass cookie jars out on my counter with wooden, air tight lids (with seals). I use them because I like them, but also because they hold full bags of flour, sugar, and big tubs of coffee. Just wanted to say that I love your kitchen gardenergwen. Love the subway tile and countertops. What are your countertops if I may ask. Thanks.
Joanie

I use old blue Mason jars. I have a few different sizes. All of the stuff doesn't fit in them so I do have to store the rest of the bag in the cupboard but I don't care. I have jars to hold Sugar, flour, brown sugar, Sweet-n-Low and Tea bags. They actually sit in an old wooden tool box on my counter :)

I got some plastic pantry containers at Costco for in the pantry. The containers are different sizes and quite large (one of the smaller ones can hold a box of cereal). I just put the packages in the containers, primarily because I've had a lot of trouble with pantry weevils. I had been storing my packages in baskets.

On the counter, near the coffemaker I have a sealed glass jar for coffee beans, and two smaller ones for powdered creamer and sweetner. Coffee doesn't last long enough at my house to go stale. I buy super fresh beans, they're very oily. If I've got more than I know I can use in a week, I store the extra in the freezer in an airtight bag.

I don't have much counter space, so I keep the stuff up in the pantry.

Snookums -- the little tiny bugs in the flour ... I think those actually come with the flour :) My mother had that problem with stuff she kept in her upper cabinet -- which was over the oven. Apparently the heat was a factor in hatching those things or something. I've never had anything like that happen and have had old bags of unsealed, opened flour around in the cab cause I just don't use it very often. I suppose they could have been long since dead and gone, though :) although I don't think so.

Chris8796 -- I am a big fan of All-Clad (have 4 drawers of their pots and pans), so I looked at the All-Clad stainless canisters in two Williams-Sonoma stores. Beautiful, but I couldn't for the life of me get the tops off! They are definitely airtight. I didn't want to have to put a canister under my arm to hold it to pull of the lid! So, go try those before you buy them.

Here's a great tip for those of you who worry about bugs in your flour or any dry goods, just put whole bay leaves inside, I also dropped one inside container, and you will never have bugs...this is a fact!! and for white rice, keep this in your refrig. no bugs...

I prefer to store flour, sugar, etc. in the pantry, cabinet or closet... my favorite things to keep those in are actually olllld Schwan's ice cream buckets! They have to be at least 15 years old, and might be as much as 20. I need to get a couple of nice canisters for DH's coffee, coffee filters, and sweetener packets because I detest the look of the boxes and coffee can just sitting out on the counter, but we're not overendowed with counter space (most of it is peninsula, which is no good for putting things on) so I prefer to keep canisters and such to a minimum.

cattknap said: "I have never seen a recipe that instructed you to "spoon" your flour into the measuring cup....in fact I can't recall ever seeing a cooking show, reading a recipe, or attending or teaching (I teach) cooking classes where anyone spooned in the flour."

Hate to contradict you, but most of my cookbooks instruct exactly that, including an obscure little oddity called "The Joy of Cooking". :-) Usually it says in the book's introductory or supplementary material rather than in the recipe itself whether the recipes in the book are written to use the spoon-in, sift-before-measuring, or dip-and-sweep (or worse, dip-tap-and-sweep!) methods. When I attended culinary school, we were taught in both the cooking and baking sections that if you're not measuring flour by weight (by far the most accurate way), you should stir/fluff/shake up the flour in the container and use the scoop that you should ideally be keeping in the container to fill the measuring cup. The difference can actually be more than 1 tablespoon, it can be up to a full ounce (that's a lot!) which can really make a mess of a recipe. The talking heads on cooking shows botch a great many things up, so I certainly wouldn't consider how they do things as gospel!

squirrelheaven said: "I was just thinking how beautiful and scrumptuous coffee beans would look in one of those glass canisters."

If you have the space to spend on a display-only item, why not get some cheapo coffee beans (whole-bean Chock Full O' Nuts or something like that) to put in a pretty glass canister but not use, and keep your good coffee in a cabinet away from the light? You could put a strip of tape with "not for use" written on it over the mouth of the jar under the lid so no one would use the stale coffee beans!

Here's a great tip for those of you who worry about bugs in your flour or any dry goods, just put whole bay leaves inside, I also dropped one inside container, and you will never have bugs...this is a fact!! and for white rice, keep this in your refrig. no bugs...

Don't know how biscuits and grits would taste seasoned with bay leaves but I do like that taste in sausage. :)

I think I've heard that generally, Patricia, to put bay leaves around to keep the bugs away. Thanks for the tip!

I just found mine, I think I got a great deal! I wanted the drake design (over $100) but could'nt bring myself to pay the price. I found these at Ross (similar to TJ Maxx) for less than $30 for all four. I have flour/sugar/tea and splenda in mine. They have a good seal, so I think they will be fine.