Critique my idea for food storage shelves. Show me yours!

[diana_of_the_dunes]

My DH is building me a set of shelves in the basement for our food storage.  It will house both home-canned goods and store-bought staples.  I have a basic idea of what I want, but I'd like to see other mama's photos to get some inspiration. 

Here's my basic idea:  It'll be 4 feet wide, 18" deep (to accomodate 4 mason jars), and approximately 6 feet tall.  Bottom shelf will be 18" high for bigger items, like our water storage, sugar, and flour, some of it possibly stored in 3 gallon pails.  The next 2 shelves will be 12-15" high to accomodate cereals, pastas, rice, beans, etc. which I plan to store in 1/2 gallon mason jars or (for cereal) in their original box.  Shelves 4-6 will be 10" apart and house quart, pint, and half-pint mason jars of sauces, broth, veggies, and jams.  Also some store-bought canned goods such as soup.  The very top will hold my canning equipment, dehydrator, and maybe some extra kitchen gear.

We bought some heavy-duty wall mounted double-track metal shelf brackets (like these: http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/how-to/intro/0,,550857,00.html                except much heavier).  DH has some extra 3/4" plywood that we will be using for the shelves.  The brackets are rated to hold 150 lbs each, and we'll be using 3 per shelf.

How does this sound?  Also, are there any mistakes you made when designing yours?  Any must-haves that I should include?

[columbusmomma]

I love This Old House

I think your shelves sound perfect! I am wanting to do something very similar. I have smalll kitchen cabinets with only 4 shelves to hold all my stuff. The other cabinets are for dishes. I was thinking, why not create a pantry at the foot of my basement stairs, very close to the kitchen. I can keep canned goods,etc there that I don't use too often or just don't have room for. Wish my DH was as crafty as yours! I think you have a good idea! Can't think of anything to tell you that you could add...