Yes, we all desire a kitchen with a big walk-in pantry and room to store all of the cereal boxes and chip bags. However, the truth is that many of us are confined to a small kitchen with hardly enough space to store our collection of quirky coffee cups.
While we are unable to change your present square footage, we do offer organizational methods that will make your room seem more cozier. Browse through for brilliant ideas on how to set up your little pantry, whether it’s in a spare cabinet, a do-it-yourself arrangement, or a teeny corner nook.
Use Straw Bins
Straw bins and baskets are popular in closets, workplaces, and playrooms all around the world, but they also belong in your pantry. Place canned goods in stacks according to kind (tomato sauces, veggies, etc.) without opening the lids. Alternately, use them as a catch-all for items like tablecloths and napkins. A pantry designed by Alice Lane features slanted shelves that also provide deeper storage.
Vary The Spaces Between Shelves For Neat Organization
One of the fundamental pantry organization tips that will simplify everything else is this one. Your pantry shelf should take into account the huge range of packaging for cooking items, which comes in various sizes and heights.
Leave additional room between the lowest shelf and the top shelves rather than placing them at an identical distance. Then, you may store bulkier, heavier goods on the bottom level, like your food processor, while storing condiments and other jars on the top, more sparsely spaced shelves.
Take Advantage of Vertical Space
If you believe you have a square footage problem, you might not be looking up high enough. Adding floor-to-ceiling cabinets and shelving will help you organize your space to a whole new level. Keep daily necessities close at hand and place additional stock and seldom used things up top. Install a ladder if necessary for simple access.
Turn Shelves Into Drawers
Pull-out drawers make it possible to stock your pantry full of food without worrying that you’ll lose your spaghetti sauce in a hard-to-reach rear corner. For more coherent storage, group like items together in your drawers. For even more flare in this closet pantry area, Emily Henderson painted the cabinets a rich green color.
Line The Back Of Your Shelves With Wallpaper
The shelving’s overall quality and design are important, but so are other factors. When you open your pantry, consider what is concealed beneath the shelves. A simple and adaptable shelving concept to complement your décor is wallpapering if your pantry is unpainted and you want a more upscale, custom look.
Bring In Another Pantry Option
You don’t have to keep pantry products on your priceless counter if you don’t have built-in cabinets or shelf space. For a stylish addition that will offer you plenty of space for extra pantry storage, dishes, and your favorite cookbooks, just slip a bookcase into an empty corner of your kitchen. The well-known IKEA Billy bookshelf with glass doors is ideal for reproducing this exact appearance.
Stack Plastic Containers
To make the most of every inch in a pantry, flat containers stack effortlessly. You may keep grains, breadcrumbs, rice, and nuts in them. The unique bins in this incredibly tidy area actually pull out from the shelves for simple access.
Line Long Shelves With Vintage Storage Crates
On your pantry shelves, you don’t absolutely need to use expensive storage containers. Be motivated by Alison Kandler Interior Design’s (opens in new tab) amazing walk-in pantry shelf design, which combines old soda storage crates to give the pantry a touch of rustic charm. Additionally, this plan is incredibly sustainable and cost-effective. On Etsy, you may purchase vintage wooden boxes (opens in new tab).
Try Outer Cabinet Shelves
If space is your top priority, consider every empty area as a chance to provide more locations to store your pantry products. We like how this kitchen maximizes storage using shelves on the unused side of a kitchen cabinet.
Hang a Pegboard
Install a pegboard on a vacant wall in place of piling heavy pots and pans on top of one another (and taking up important shelf space). Your bulky goods are suddenly visible and accessible. Here, Marianne Evannou placed a few hooks and shelves for various pantry and kitchen necessities.
Group Similar Items Together In Square Shelves
Want to arrange the items on your pantry shelves so you never again misplace something? Take a cue from this exceptionally organized pantry created by Neat Method (opens in new tab). We adore tiered storage for condiments and spices because it makes it possible to view every spice jar at once. The circular tray with the sauces in the middle makes a beautiful centerpiece.
Make Things Easy to Find
It’s crucial that everything is organized and simple to find when you have a tiny pantry. Pick transparent bins, see-through wire or mesh baskets, and wire or mesh trays to make it easy to locate your favorite foods.
Repurpose Crates
All you need to dress up some bare shelves and conceal some unattractive necessities is a wood crate. Keep anything you don’t use every day in there, such reusable bags, because they are difficult to get and may be stored here.
Incorporate Wine Storage Into Your Pantry Shelving
Who knew that one of the greatest kitchen storage solutions for wine enthusiasts could also be a pantry shelving idea? The pantry may be the perfect option if you don’t have a dedicated area for wine storage; all you have to do is build x-shaped sections for a few of the shelves. Alternatively, if you don’t want to DIY it, you can just slot in a wine storage rack from Amazon(opens in new tab).
Incorporate Sliding Shelves
Let us recommend adding a sliding shelf if you’re creating a tiny pantry. Slide your shelves out to quickly access stuff at the back of the pantry without having to dig through a million other things first. It’s not a make-it-or-break-it situation, but it is the height of organizing bliss.
Put In Drawer Separators
Invest in some drawer organizers to help keep your bottles, cans, and other pantry products upright so they don’t spill out of their appropriate drawers. Flexible dividers, placed here by Heidi Piron Design and Cabinetry to prevent liquor bottles from banging against one another, are actually useful for anything in your pantry drawers.
Build Shelves Into The Pantry Door For Smaller Items
If your pantry is small and you don’t have much space to work with, a pantry door is a chance not to be missed. Shallow shelves on the entrance can accommodate all of those small spice and herb jars. You may also install a door mount spice rack from Amazon(opens in new tab) to make things even simpler.
Consider Container Shapes
For example, these various-sized drinks shouldn’t be stored in the same manner as other containers. Some are stored better lying down or in dispenser-style containers, while others operate best standing up. Determine your needs, then stock up.
Use a Library Ladder
Stretch cabinetry all the way to the top of the wall if you have a lot of vertical space, like Caren Rideau did in this pantry. You may add some flair and access those objects hidden at the ceiling’s height by using a tall library ladder.
Deep Pantry Shelves? Add Portable Shelving Storage
To make your deep pantry shelves work a little bit harder, consider adding movable shelf storage units if they are also widely spaced out. This is also simpler than adding more shelves to the house. In order to store your stuff a little bit better, it is ideal to pick a unit with tray-style shelves.
DIY an Open Pantry
If you have a blank wall, you have the chance to build an open pantry yourself that has tremendous aesthetic potential. By purchasing some wooden 2x4s from the hardware store, you can dramatically change the appearance of your kitchen and add a ton of storage space for kitchenware and pantry essentials.
Pull Out Cabinets
How do you access the items that invariably end up being moved all the way to the back of the pantry? IKEA hackers suggest adding drawers, or you may optimize existing cabinets by taking off the sides and making them into drawers as Emily Henderson did in her well-organized kitchen.
Make The Most Of A Corner Pantry With Bespoke Shelves
Do you believe a pantry and tiny kitchen concepts can coexist harmoniously? No, not always. Unused corners provide great places to build a pantry, and well-constructed, custom corner shelves may easily supply you with as much storage capacity as a typical pantry.
To avoid wasting that priceless storage space, you should stick to higher, thinner container designs. Darker paint colors, like those used in the custom example above, look fantastic on smaller pantries from a design standpoint.
Build a Corner Pantry
If you’ve always wanted a pantry closet but aren’t sure you have the room for one, reconsider. You’d be surprised at how much is stored in this lovely nook that was created out of a neglected kitchen corner. And if you’re not the helpful kind, place the shelves in this location without worrying about the door or the walls.
Stack It in Style
Reduce your carbon footprint and consider alternatives to brand-new, plastic bins. For little goods like spices and herbs, this upcycled dim sum steamer basket creates an incredibly useful storage container. Additionally, the stacking trays make it simple and quick to access the components.
Place Cans and Jars on Risers
Even in little pantries and cabinets, jars and canned items have a habit of tumbling behind one another. You won’t ever have to dig through all of them to find a single can again if you arrange them all on display using pantry risers.
Install Pull-Out Shelves For Easy Retrieval
Consider a pull-out style if your pantry is deep and narrow and you have the money for custom-built pantry shelf. You’ll save a ton of time by not having to dig around inside and attempt to figure out what’s behind the shelves.
Additionally, you may consider installing a sliding cabinet organizer from Amazon(opens in new tab) within your pantry. Of course, this won’t look exactly the same, and you’ll need to be very accurate with your dimensions for it to fit.
Try a Pegboard
If your pantry and utility closet are one and the same, you need storage solutions that make the most of your available space while carefully separating your food and cleaning supplies. More vertical storage may be made using a pegboard, which can be changed to suit your needs without requiring further installation.
To store items such as dustpans, brooms, and more, simply move the pegs around. If you don’t have enough kitchen drawer space, pegboards are also ideal for storing pot holders, oven mitts, and aprons.
Make It Pretty
Foods for snacking, such as cereals and chips, frequently come in large, clumsy boxes or air-filled bags that take up more room than they actually contain. To conserve critical shelf space and give your snacks a lovely appearance, pour them into transparent, stackable containers.
Transform Your Pantry Shelves Into A Coffee Bar
You may convert your pantry into a lovely breakfast bar if you don’t need to store all of your culinary items there and have enough room. To store your coffee maker, you will need strong, durable shelves. This illustration from Life Kitchens, which uses a box shelf to hold the coffee maker and thin shelves on the sides for coffee mugs, is one that we particularly like.
Keep Canned Goods Contained
Cans of food have a tendency to go into the back of a shelf and not be seen again for years. Use a can corral to keep frequently used cans nearby. These racks hold the cans horizontally rather than vertically so that when you pull one out, the next can will move ahead on its own. Additionally, it keeps the cans in plain view so that nothing is forgotten and wasted.
Consider All Organization Avenues
It’s crucial to think about all storage options when it comes to becoming completely organized (particularly in a space like the pantry that holds goods of different shapes and sizes). Some goods could fit on shelves, while others might fit better in cubby-style bins. And in this situation, drawers are a great spot to store even more pantry essentials.
Invest in Pro Shelving
When you consider a professional kitchen, you generally consider making purchases of high-end, gourmet equipment and artisanal ingredients. However, a real chef’s kitchen also features a professional pantry. Install a shelf unit from the shop like the one shown here to transform a closet next to the kitchen into a visually appealing area for storing food.
