No matter how large your pantry is, there never seems to be enough space. Does that sound like you? Having a functional pantry is more important than ever with more at-home meals due to COVID and modified school schedules in much of the country. I’m frequently asked for tips and tricks to make more space in a pantry. Organizing and maximizing pantry space is important if you want to stay organized, minimize purchases of duplicates, and avoid expired food.
So how do you get to this pantry perfection?
- Start by emptying it – completely. This will give you the opportunity to throw out stale or expired items. Or, those empty boxes of snack bars that get left behind after the last bar has been taken. Don’t you just love that?
- When empty, take time to clean out the crumbs and wipe up any dried spills.
- While you are emptying and editing, start to group like items on your counters, table, or island. Keep all the snacks together, all the meal prep items, all the baking, and so on. This exercise will help you decide where to place items in your space when we get to the part of putting it all back.
- Now that the space is empty take a good look at it. Think about your available space in terms of high/low and front-to-back. Less used items can be placed on higher shelves while heavier items should live on lower shelves. Place open items in front and store extra backstock toward the back if your cabinets are deep.
Pro Tip: You may want to place snacks within reach for the kids.
- How you put things away really depends on what kind of cook you are, how often you cook, and what you use regularly. It also depends on how many people are accessing the pantry. Can grab and go items be placed elsewhere so your meal prep area isn’t accessed by everyone?
Going Above & Beyond
Do what works for you and consider these additional ideas and products to support your efforts.
- To maximize the space usage between the shelves or pull-out drawers, consider decanting items into stackable containers (we like the OXO brand). Decanting is a fancy industry term for emptying the food items from their original box or bag. Decanting is not just for flour and sugar – also decant items like nuts, crackers, chips and cookies. We recommend clear, air-tight containers so you can see exactly what you have making it easier to assess shopping needs. We also recommend using one brand of the container. And, stick to square-shaped containers to fit more in your space. The uniformity of the containers will create a more finished appearance.
- Place your granola bars and other single serving items into an open bin for easy grab ‘n go. Packaging takes up space and makes it hard to see how much remains. Now you can shop for only what you need, which will prevent food overflow on the counters.
Pro Tip: These snack-type items could also live in a nearby drawer with dividers if pantry space is limited.
Maximizing Space
- Another way to maximize the vertical space in your pantry is with shelf risers which act like an additional shelf. Adding a bin or basket on a shelf creates a drawer, so adding a shelf riser with a bin on top is like creating another drawer.
- Similar to the shelf riser is the tiered shelf that allows the items in the back to be elevated for easy viewing and grabbing.
- Turntables are another classic tool used to maximize space. If your pantry space includes a corner cabinet with a built-in lazy susan unit you can use smaller turntables to organize similar items.
- Turntables are also my go-to product for hard to reach areas such as high cabinets or shelves, corners, or blind cabinets. They work great in both deep or shallow spaces because they come in various diameters. In general, there is a tendency for folks to use what is up-front and visible in our cabinets and all the items toward the back get lost/forgotten (meaning food expires or we buy items we think we need because we can’t see them). Lazy susans help avoid these issues because they rotate making it possible to see what you have and grab items more easily without having to move items out of the way.
An organized pantry is a sight to behold. And the reactions from our clients after seeing their organized pantries: priceless.