I have some inexpensive wooden Ikea shelves next to our fridge, and keep the trash/recycling cans under the lowest shelf, the cast iron stuff the next shelf up, and the next two shelves are an open pantry. As long as I keep things neat and orderly, I don't think it looks that bad - and it's easy for me to remember what canned goods (etc) I need from the shop. It also kind of takes the edge off this incredibly "modern" kitchen (gloss white everywhere, with black slate floor).
I did go with the silver powder-coated wire shelf unit after all, and it arrived yesterday. It's put together, and looks nice enough - it's basically a large plant-stand, after all. And it doesn't put out the beams of light that the shorter chrome one we were using did when the grow light is on. It cost about 25 pounds, and is just a hair under five feet tall. There are adjustable feet on it, which is nice since our floor has a definite slope to it.