If someone seldom bakes, canisters on the counter are not so necessary; sealed containers go in cupboards, in my case I keep my flour in the freezer.

I think in many cases, canisters and other counter "clutter" (not that canisters are clutter, but you know...) are put away for pictures. I have mine in my walk in pantry, which are just two steps from my baking area.

I have mine out but only because I'm not able to pay attention to decorating my kitchen right now. I'd like to find something more interesting than the standard graduated canister look; don't care for lots of stuff on the counters.

I've never had any canisters on the counter. My flour and sugar containers are very large tupperware pieces. They reside on a bottom shelf in a pantry. I'm in the process of making choices for a new kitchen and I think I'll probably keep these containers in my lazy susan corner. I do think many canisters look dated and cluttered. Of course, there are ALWAYS exceptions!!

Mine are out...but...empty! I love these cannisters, and the pop of red they give to this area, but they would be the dickens to actually use -- too narrow to really scoop stuff out of. So the flour, sugar, etc stay in the pantry, sealed up tight, and the cannisters are decorative, tho maybe out of style if your observations are correct. That's okay, my kitchen is uber-traditional, so I'm not too worried about style trends!
--Amy

I've never had mine out either. I use the Click-Clack containers to store sugar, flour, coffee and tea, and store them in my cabinets.

I love clergychick's canisters and can't wait to use mine. Mine are vintage chrome ones bought on ebay in anticipation of the new kitchen. Even if I don't keep the flour, coffe and sugar in them, I can keep other things that we use a lot. I was trying to think of what I will put in them and think I may put my thread and sewing stuff in one (in a tupperware in the kitchen cab now) and maybe scissors in the other. The smaller one may be for loose change.
I'll have to play around with placement when the big day comes :)

I love the look of them if they complement the decor.

I do bake a fair amount, but I keep all of my baking supplies in sealed Tupperware containers in the cupboard. It's less to do with clutter than keeping flour beetles out and the sugar from clumping up due to humidity. If I had those cool red canisters that Clergychick has, I might have to just put bay leaves in the flour and chip out sugar as needed... those are really beautiful.

Cj

My lack of canisters on the countertop is more a matter of practicality than anything else. In Florida, canisters are just not a good way to store staples. As Cj mentioned, bugs and humidity make completely airtight containers a necessity. In my experience, Tupperware is the most reliably airtight container. We use "Modular Mates" and they just aren't attractive enough to leave out on the counter, so into the pantry they go!

My containers are out. I love large glass containers and have them right now in the corner of the counter - white flour, wheat flour, sugar, rice, some beans. In a temporary configuration we had them on the shelf which was pretty but too impractical because they are heavy. I haven't really thought about arrangement - we just moved in so they are were they were put when they came out of the boxes so they could probably look nicer than they do if I just took a minute to arrange them.

It is also about function - I like to just drag out and measure.

Mine our out..2 sets!

I've never had canisters before, but I find them very helpful with my baking and cooking zones so separated in this kitchen. Canisters would never be large enough for my baking supplies, but they do allow my to have flour and sugar near the stove for the smaller additions used in cooking at the stove. I admit that some of mine are empty still and the big one is our cookie jar.

More of the same here, although some cannisters are really attrative. This is the humid buggy South, though, so I use the tightest sealed plastic bins I can find. BTW, now that you've noticed no cannisters, go back and look for the fridge magnets that were in so many of the "before" kitchens. Or the toaster ovens, toasters, mixers, can openers, other small appliances, knife and paper towel holders, bread bins, mail holders, etc., that en mass were so key to that classic "before" look. :)

Ditto about living in the South -- need to have things well sealed here, and those plastic containers just are not pretty.

But it is also because I am lazy. It just means 3-4 more things to move when I'm wiping off the counter.

If I had one more cabinets worth in my kitchen, I might well have them on the counter or above in glass jars on open shelving. As it is, I can have a counter for the mixer, kneading and other owrk or I can have room for canisters and half that space. I'd rather have work room.

I have my ginormous canisters out. Well, at least the flour and sugar ones, and then I have a brown sugar crock by the cooktop because I do tend to use it for cooking as well as baking.

(Before glass doors on uppers)

I had some cute canisters out in my old kitchen because it needed cute. They were empty. The staples are in airtight Click Clacks. My new kitchen counter is highly decorative, so doesn't need hiding with stuff. I'm used to smaller kitchens before this house where there's no room on the counter for canisters, and my mother always had them in the cupboard. Now, mine, as planned, are in drawers between the baking area and the stove, which is very useful!

I do see canisters on counters in a lot of kitchens. Maybe not FKB ones which are often photographed before people really finish moving in. A lot of people carefully choose canisters that enhance the look of their kitchens, or they have antiques or heirlooms. Since mine are clear it's best to have them put away to prevent light damage. (I also have a lot more than the standard three...)

Ooh, shelayne, I like your backsplash.

I'm in FL and I have canisters that seal, but I don't have them out because there's no counterspace in my current kitchen. It is part of the plan for the new one, though.

OMG, I forgot about the humidity & bug issues of down south. I guess I've been up north too long!

Looks like huge glass containers is the winner. That's what mine are too. I'm really thinking once the new granite goes in that I need to store it away. Plus, I'm trying to lose some weight, so the baking enticement on the counter might not be a good idea!

Thanks for sharing everyone!

Thanks, writersblock. We're getting there. Sloooowly, but surely. ;^)

Shelayne, I have some glass containers like yours. Do yours have a gasket and seal? Mine do not so I end up using one as a sweet jar b/c nothing lasts long enough in this house to spoil!

Kayl, I have a piece of counter that is reached from the eating area. I keep one huge and 2 large glass containers on it. A decorator friend suggested this but I do not know what to keep in them!

My flour and sugar are stored in large glass containers on the top pull out shelf of the pantry. The jars come with a rubber gasket that forms a nice seal.
-Laurie

In the old kitchen they were out, but I'm not sure why as they were empty!

Now I keep my sugar in my baking drawer, and my 10 kg bag of flour is under the counter (corner cabinet).

My grandmother's canisters in my old kitchen:

. . . and they made it through the renovation:

But, being a good soul, I recently gave them to my little sister for her new kitchen. She mentioned she didn't end up with anything from our grandmother's home.
I now use large glass mason jars with the baling wire tops--they hold more, I can see how much I have, and things stay fresher.

oh yes, the canisters! well, for me they are purely decorative as flour should never be stored out on a counter. it belongs in the freezer, and even if i did keep it on the counter those pretty canisters are much too small to hold a decent amount of flour anyway. i think a lot of people here take great pride in the design of their spaces and are equally as serious about the cooking and baking that goes on in those reallllllly nice kitchens. while we want the space to be lovely, above all else it must function. i think my kitchen is very pretty but it is a very utilitarian space. there's not a lot of superfluous "stuff" taking up the valuable real estate in my dream kitchen.

if you come to my house you'll notice there are no fake flowers, either. or bric-a-brac, tchochkes or anything else that would require dusting for no apparent reason. i've adopted a very minimalist aesthetic. it just cuts down on the clutter! BUT if canisters make you happy, i think they're a really nice way to store tea bags. even if you like them for flour, then whatever makes you happy. i don't judge a person by their choice of dry goods storage.

what kind of microwave is that you have? what's with the little drawer thingy at the bottom? is it a micro ...or some kind of toaster oven? i'm intrigued!

For me, standard canisters are too small (and I have too many) to leave out on the countertop. I been using 128oz pickle/mayo glass jars for the past 30 yrs, and I keep them in a cupboard. I have one or two tea caddies left out, but they are tiny compared to flour/sugar jars.

The little drawer is a pizza oven -- or anything-not-tall-oven, really! It's a Kenmore, and got the highest owner ratings of any microwave I saw online, and the most important thing was it fit our shelf! But that little oven drawer really is great -- no preheating, bakes evenly top and bottom. One hitch -- can't use the oven and the microwave at the same time.
It was funny that it was in stock at the local Sears, but not out on the shelf, so I had to buy it online and just go pick it up. Cost was about $200.
HTH!
--Amy
(now back to cannisters!)

Owls4me,

That is so weird. I had responded to your question to me, and it is MIA. Hmmmm, gremlins. ;^)

You asked if my canisters had the seal, and unfortunately they do not. My aunt who baked constantly had the same kind of canisters for years, and they were fine for her. I live in the upper midwest, where we don't have consistently high humidity (usually a couple of weeks, at the most, in the summer) or flour beetles. That being said, if I could figure out how to MacGyver a seal on these bad boys, I would be on it!

BTW, I used to have "normal" sized canisters, and next to those, these babies are monsters! The flour easily holds a 10-pound bag, and I just poured an 8-pound bag into my almost empty sugar canister. Lovin' that.

thanks amy! wow! that really does seem like it would be really useful. i'm going to look into that. thanks again!

Mine are out, but not on the counter.

Clergychick, can you tell me what the finish is on your cabinets?

I have canisters on my counter, but they hold coffee, brown sugar and cane sugar. They are right next to the coffee maker, in the corner so they are kind of out of the way. I compromised with DH b/c I didn't want them at all on the counter, but since he is a big coffee freak, I said this is all that I will let him have out. : ) That area is like our little coffee station.

Flour is in a lower cabinet. I have a blender on the counter that I am trying to find space for but so far it hasn't happened. DH also uses it all the time so he's mad that I don't want it out. I hate clutter on counters.

Cabinets are Shiloh's soft white with cafe glaze and highlighting. -- Amy

I love the look of canisters on counters but I don't like moving them to clean around. We also have the problem of clutter accumulating on the counter so starting off with as little clutter as possible helps.

We have old copper flour and sugar canisters (dh had made them before I met him 26 years ago) in our baking area. The pull out shelf is at counter height which means I can pull it out while baking and use the canisters without having to move them. I keep small jars of flour and sugar in the prep area for the tablespoon or teaspoon I need when cooking.

{{!gwi}}

Love this topic. Interesting to hear that people are using redundant containers in larger kitchens so there's flour, etc. in both baking and range areas. Am trying to decide whether I'll clean off the countertops before posting my finished kitchen (in a few months? years?).

I need to de-accession my old red-lidded glass canister set, sigh. Part of the ritual removal of real red which is going on in my kitchen life.

dian57, thanks for posting your oldie canisters. Have been finding myself considering various matching vintage/antique ceramic canister and cruet sets at sales lately. They don't really match my decor because they're often folksy, but the idea of them pleases me--evidence of a working kitchen concept. Saw some wonderful French ones with pink roses and pearl white finish, apparently a commercial line of products about a century old that people collect. They were absolutely stunning--I would have created a decorating scheme just to accommodate them if I had seen them sooner. Your family's are less feminine and fussy and not attention grabbers--better for a mod kitchen.

I went looking for plain glass tight lid containers last winter during my planning and found some really practical, affordable ones in two or three sizes at the Ace Hardware near Mac College in St. Paul; other Ace's didn't have them so they must be an intermittent product at Ace. Am considering whether that's what I'll buy.

Have to be stern with the storage for baking ingredients. Bugs in the flour stored in cupboards has been a problem. Flour seems to cling to things, including plastic containers and cookbooks. I like the idea of having canisters and cookbooks out where they can be monitored and washed off frequently.

(Not trying to hijack, just sending a quick note)
kateskouros--I have the same m/w. We cannot use the drawer, because there is not enough clearance. Even though the helpful lady at Sears said, only and inch on each side is fine, the instructions inside the box said 4" on each side are needed. My cabinet is 24" wide, it fits great, but not enough clearance for me to use the oven. We kept it because it was taller than other m/w ovens we found and it filled the space the best.

Back to the canisters--I used to have them out, but that was a long long time ago. I just keep this stuff in tupperware hidden in the pantry. I really hate keeping stuff out anyway that I don't use on a daily basis. I just don't have the room for it.

thanks, bee for the warning! i think we'll have enough clearance but i'll check it anyway.

I knew there was someone else here who had that microwave! I just wanted to say, I was concerned about that, but when I checked the sides for heat after using the oven drawer, they were cool to the touch. I've got about 2" of clearance on each side. -- Amy

Dian- Beautiful kitchens...both of them! Where do you put your lovely blue and white dishes in the new kitchen?

I have one ceramic canister set that just holds teas, another clear glass one for flour and cornmeal, and another colored glass set for sugars, more flour, rice, etc. I bake a lot and like to have things close at hand. We also have the small jadite pepper, salt, flour and sugar shakers, which belonged to my husband's grandmother :)

Canister sets match the country/farmhouse style of our kitchen, but may not work with everyone's design. They'll probably be more popular in the next few years...things always seem to be cyclical in design.

Oxo pop-tops in the pantry and freezer. One infestation, and now nothing stays unsealed! Plus, I like the wide mouth access so that I can dip my measuring cups right in. Just wish my flour container was even wider.

Some stuff is in the freezer, but the frequently used and/or unspoilable stuff is in big glass canisters in a drawer. And yeah the drawer was sized to fit my big old glass canisters.

I don't have room on my counter.

I have a set of three vintage "1950's pink" cannisters that I keep on top of my fridge. I do have flour in one, but another holds my decaf tea bags, and the third my flavored tea bags. I love them and they will still stay on top of my fridge even after the remodel, even though they don't "go" with the walnut cabs and white granite. They are quirky and fun!

I never had canisters on my counters until I got my new kitchen a couple months ago. But I don't use them for flour or sugar. I have one pair holding different kinds of tea near our tea station, and another pair on our peninsula holding nuts and cookies. Each pair was originally made to come as a set of three, and I found them at TJ Maxx for a fraction of the cost. I am not normally a canister person, but they spoke to me.

Here is a link that might be useful:

We have very limited, inconvenient storage.

I love the big glass canisters; two of them hold a 25lb bag of bulk flour, one big one holds rice, the next size down holds sugar. They don't seal, but that is not an issue in this climate, and weevils/grain moths are rare.

A collection of air-tight glass storage canisters holds all the tea, and two big air-tight ones hold the coffee.

Anything 'grain' stored in the pantry is in clear, sealed plastic containers just in case.