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Needing ideas for how to organize a small pantry? I’m sharing how we tackled some small pantry organization in our own small kitchen pantry.
If you’ve been following along, we just finished ripping out our wire shelving and built some DIY pantry shelves. But, let’s face it, the real elephant in the room was not the shelving dilemma (even though I hated that wire shelving) it was actually my organization probs.
Call it a disorganized disaster. We shoved our paper towels at the top which took up the whole shelf. Then filled each shelf with bins so smaller things would not fall through the wire shelving. You had to really navigate to find what you were looking for. A terrible system for a family of five.
Would I love to show you? Absolutely not, but here she is.
I think at first, we really tried with this method but over time it just did not work out. Food got out of hand and tossed around to find in who knows what bin.
So, once we realized this was not working, our kitchen pantry quickly became a long weekend DIY project that turned into a couple weeks. This includes painting the pantry door a gray color called Sherwin Williams on the rocks, building the DIY pantry shelving, waiting on small pantry organizers to arrive so that I could finish organizing, oh and taking a lot of breaks in between. Did I mention we have three kids?
All in all, this pantry makeover turned out being a fun DIY project and our kitchen pantry is much more usably functional (and pretty!). Guys, I can actually find what I’m looking for-like right when I need it. I’m not asking for a lot just the dang peanut butter!
How To Organize A Pantry
Whew! That’s much better. Here’s a small pantry tour to give you some ideas for how to organize a pantry with deep shelves and what we used that maximized this small pantry space.
Small Pantry Organizers
Before hauling all of our food back into the kitchen pantry after installing our newly built DIY pantry shelves, we purchased some pantry organizers such as baskets, clear canisters, a can holder for pantry, bread box, some clear snack containers, and a large bucket.
I also had a coffee pod carousal that I always stored on the counter, and it made my countertop feel cluttered, so I was glad to put this up on the top shelf of the pantry to get it out of the way.
My biggest advice when purchasing small pantry organizers is to plan around your limited space. To give you a better idea, we measured between our shelves and the can holder would only fit on the top shelf due to its height.
The can holder is also stackable so there was the option to stack them from the floor as well, but we really only needed one for how many cans we buy since it seems to hold quite a bit of cans. I was okay with this being up out of the way on the top shelf, but just a reminder to make sure of measurements and plan ahead for what you’re buying.
The baskets with wood tops I bought on the bottom shelf are stackable as well but that is not ideal for how I was using them and the height of my shelves. It’s best to have an idea of what food you plan on putting on what shelf and base it off of what you use the most.
Right now, I’m using them for grab and go snacks like applesauce, single packs of doughnuts (yes, I’m aware donut vs doughnut (it’s all the same), dunkaroos, oatmeal creme pies, ect. These baskets could really work for absolutely anything…fruit, chips, bagels, you name it. If you choose to place fruit or veggies inside then I would definitely consider putting a liner inside in case anything leaks.
We chose to put a large bucket on the bottom for an overflow of snacks and allows it to be in reach of the kiddos since they like to grab things out. We also stack extra drink cases down there. These buckets are so useful, you could fill these with any food, drink or pantry supplies like bottled waters or paper towels. If something leaks it’s also very easy to wipe down.
The other thing pictured I purchased is the clear airtight plastic leak-proof canisters which came with 24 containers as well as labels and a chalk marker, so it makes it easy to change them out. I’m using them for sugar, spaghetti, brown sugar, cookies, baby snacks, pretzels, candies, chips, tea bags, strawberry milk drink mix, and cereal.
My favorite thing we came up with is to have a container that says leftovers. The kids (sometimes us parents are guilty too) will often open something and not finish it like a half-eaten pack of donuts or bag of goldfish and this allows us to drop it in here and eat these snacks up first before opening other things so there’s not too much waste or forgotten food.
I’m also in love with this bread box. It easily fits two loaves of bread side by side.
The last thing that solved my problematic organizing is these clear compartment bins with dividers in them. These allow everything to stand up in a nice visual way to see everything. I’m using them for packs of peanut butter crackers, taco seasoning, single mini Slim Jims, applesauce, Little Bites muffins, Knorrs noodles, Poptarts, goldfish, Ramen noodles, Cowtails, Fruit Roll Ups ect.
That’s the end of our organized small pantry tour! I will also link where I bought all the small pantry organizers below. I hope these small pantry organization ideas can help you with your own pantry!
// can holder
// here is also the tutorial of our beaded farmhouse DIY pantry shelves
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