How to Create a Functional Kitchen Pantry
If you live in a home with children, there's a good chance that your kitchen pantry is among the most important and most used features of your home. There's also a good chance that it's one of the most disorganized and cramped spaces, too. If you're redesigning your kitchen, or just trying to streamline your life and home before the New Year, consider these ideas for creating an organized, functional kitchen pantry. 1. Use space wisely. Whether you have a pantry the size of a walk in closet or one the size of your refrigerator, it's important to maximize space efficiently. Stand-alone pantry shelving can help you maximize any empty walls, for example. Or, if you're storing 5" tall soup cans on a shelf thats a foot high, install shelf organizers to get double the room. Flex-height shelves, which allow you to change shelf height based on space needs, are also a helpful option.
2. Think outside the box. If you're currently planning a kitchen remodel or are open to completely rethinking your current kitchen storage solutions, there are a number of ways to creatively approach pantry design that will allow you to maximize efficiency in your kitchen and keep your pantry space organized. This rolling kitchen pantry (top image) designed by our partner showroom Leicht Boston turns a small vertical space into a conveniently located kitchen pantry next to the refrigerator. Or, try a pantry with swing-out drawers instead of a traditional walk-in design, which allows you to easily see everything on your shelves (bottom image).
3. Get organized. Once you have all of the tools you need to create a functional pantry in place (ample shelving, pull out drawers, storage baskets, etc.), it's time to organize your pantry properly. Organization experts suggest setting up your pantry by usage. So, for example, designating shelves for different types of items, breakfast cereals, after-school snacks, dinner essentials, and cleaning supplies. Within those categories, group like items (like those 20 boxes of rice pilaf you bought at Costco) together. Labeling each area with a hang tag or stick-on label can also help you (and the littler members of your household) remember where everything goes.
For more design ideas, visit us on Houzz.