If it were my kitchen, I would leave it the way it is. Place for stuff that you do not use everyday, yet accessible when you need them. I would not put books there since I fry a lot, so the books would get greasy. But I would quickly fill the shelf up with container with extra bigger jar with cooking oil, and another one of saved cooking oil that is still usable, a container of scented candle or scented incense with a container where you burn them (mine is a nice glass or crystall filled with rice and covered with small pebbles (so mice will not be able to eat the rice), and a saucer so the ash falls on the saucer, and not on the shelf). I use them to eliminate fishy smells etc.-----
Under that shelf, I would build a special cabinet where I would be able to house all my spices and bottles of sauces. a cabinet has a thick door with shelving (sort of like the door of the fridge), that goes into the cabinet, so you can see everything what is where, and organize (a friend used to have those kind of cabinets in her house, and I wished that I had seen that house before my house was renovated. Family used to work at the Dept. of State, so they had lived in lots of different houses and countries. They are now retired.
