Turn a Kitchen Closet into a Pantry You’ll Love

Unless you have a relatively large kitchen, you may not have a pantry that’s big enough for your family’s needs. Most kitchens have some type of pantry for storing canned goods, baking supplies, and other bulk items. But it may be that you need a pantry that can handle a lot more than a bag of flour and a few cans of tomatoes. So you may have to get creative with the storage in your home to make way for the pantry of your dreams.

Turning small kitchens with minimal storage and organization space into a dream kitchen is what Art of Drawers excels at. To see how we can help you upgrade your pantry and kitchen, contact us online. Or call us at 770-800-8410.

Evaluate Your Closet Space

Closet space is a precious commodity in every home. But you can make space for a pantry if you organize your existing closets. You probably have a coat closet or a linen closet in your home, or maybe you have an office closet filled with old files, books, paperwork, and other items you probably don’t need. Any of those would be an excellent place for a pantry.

• Store coats in bedroom closets with the rest of your clothes
• Store linens in containers designed to fit under your bed
• Towels can be rolled tightly and stored in bathroom cabinets
• Old files and papers, such as children’s schoolwork or memorabilia, can be stored in your garage or basement in waterproof bins.

Clean out and declutter your closets by removing things you don’t use anymore to store items you need and use every day. Of course, the closer your pantry is to your kitchen, the better—but for kitchen storage needs, you can make any space work in your home.

Measure and Plan Your New Space

Once you’ve cleaned out the closet that will serve as your pantry, it’s time to plan for storage. To get the maximum use out of your new pantry, Decide what you want to keep in it and how you want to store it. For example, if you plan to keep bottled drinks in your pantry, it’s best to store them on the bottom shelf to make them easy to access.

Other storage suggestions include:

• Clear pop-top containers for flour, sugar, dried beans, rice, and pasta.
• Stackable bins for storing canned goods.
• Lazy Susan for small items like jars of olives, tapenades, and jams.
• Baskets for backup supplies of cereal, crackers, snacks, and dried fruits.
• Over-the-door hanging storage for paper goods.

Once you’ve determined your storage needs, measure how many of each type of storage product you can fit in your space. It’s always helpful to have a professional closet designer like Art of Drawers come in to help you make the most of the space you have for maximum efficiency and function.

Make sure to label every container with what is in it and put the expiration date on the bottom with a label that you can change each time you restock.

Add Pull-Out Shelves and Hooks

Pull-out shelves are a great addition to any storage space, but especially for pantries, where lots of heavy items are stored that can be a challenge to get out when you need them. If you need pantry space for large appliances, pull-out shelves are a great tool.

Hooks are good to have anywhere. You can hang grocery bags, aprons, and any other items that need a place to be stored out of the way.

Take Everything You Can Out of Its Packaging

Many snack-sized food products are double or triple packaged when you buy them at the grocery store. Minimize bulk and maximize storage by taking packaged foods out of the large boxes or bags they come in. Lunchbox-sized bags of chips will take up a lot less space if you put them in a basket in your pantry instead of leaving them in the large bag they come in. The same goes for cookies, raisins, or any other pre-packaged foods.

Contact Art of Drawers for Customized Storage and Organization Solutions

Art of Drawers has many choices for storage for your designing your new kitchen pantry. Art of Drawers will make your pantry easy to manage with options like pull-out drawers, over-door storage, and more. Once Art of Drawers gets your pantry organized, it will be easy to keep it that way.

For more information or to schedule a free design consultation with Art of Drawers, please contact us online or at 770-800-8410.