Do you ever walk through new homes and they have those really cute glass doors on the pantry? Every time I see one I think, “you couldn’t pay me to put a glass door on my pantry!” Probably because the majority of the life I have lacked pantry organization and the pantry has looked like this:
Yep. Now the world has seen my crazy sloppy food pantry. Hopefully ya’all can keep that on the DL. Although I would have run with the bulls to have this pantry when we were in our apartment, now it seems small and cramped. And super cluttered. I’m not a fan. It was time to overhaul. Here are some pantry musts:
- Edit your stuff! Make space for everything you use daily. This seems like a no brainer, but I have stuff in there we have like once a year.
- Find containers that work for your size and space- match them if you can, choose one color and go with it. I’m a white-utilitarian kind of pantry person.
- Place stuff the kids grab down low, or add a step stool that will aid the climbers for treats attempted to be hidden up high.
- Maximize space by using shelves for unstackable, but small items or add hanging baskets to use the under shelf space too.
- Finally find a system that works for you. Map out where what food or appliance is going to go where. Label sections if needed. Like cereal, baking stuff, paper goods, drinks… you get the idea.
Here is the after:
I kinda want to have a camp out in there. I got the white wire shelves and under shelves-hanging baskets in this pic at Walmart for a few dollars:
I’m not the kind of mom that empties cereal boxes, hot chocolate, or our Costco foods into labeled, organized containers. Nope, not happening here. Honestly, that’s so far out of my reality. Plus, graphic designers put a lot of time into those boxes and I for one reward their achievements everyday in my pantry. However, the bags that baking stuff comes in gets all over and works better for me in a different holder. These containers were sent straight from heaven, aka Ikea, stack easily and also hold more than they look. Plus they were on sale, it’s like the storage gods wanted me to clean my pantry. The corner buckets are also Ikea and worth every dime. I’m lucky enough to live about 25 minutes away from Ikea, but you can order everything online:
One thing that crazy irritates me is there is no light in my pantry! I bought a motion censored light from Amazon that helps, but I could still use more light in there. I also installed a baggie holder from my old house- I use grocery bags for everything from trash cans around my house to my kids’ school lunches because they always misplace their lunch boxes. I like having a place they don’t get all over.
Finally, my secret weapon to keep it clean and tidy is a bucket for recycling (seen at the bottom left) and an awesome step stool that is saving foot prints on the shelves and falling children, both Ikea (shocker). I can actually open the door without feeling like someone just dumped an edible jigsaw puzzle in there.
Here’s the thing, I feel like I open the pantry door like a bazillion times a day so it’s worth the time to organize. Is the pantry beautiful? Nope. It is utilitarian, yep. And clean? totally. In all it took a couple hours and cost less than 60 smackers, that’s worth it for me!
Happy Creating!
Want some more inspiration? Check these out:
Oh Happy Day
Just a Girl and Her Blog
Young House Love
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