Ours are quite deep so I outfitted them with sliding drawers so you could actually get into them. It still requires a ladder, but it far less inconvenient that some other setups.
We use one side for gadgets and supplies we rarely use (the blender, my wife's huge water bottle collection, etc.).
The other side is long term storage of bulk basics with a long shelf life. Crackers, pasta, etc. When we run out of the read supply, we refresh from long term storage. When long term storage runs low, we stock up on more.