An organized pantry keeps foods in reach.
The pantry rivals the refrigerator as the place where family members stop to look for a snack or the makings of a meal. The job of the pantry is to store foods and give you easy access, too. If you have a built-in pantry, a few ideas may help you organize. If your home lacks one, you may be able to create dry food storage without huge expense or major remodeling. Does this Spark an idea?
Pull-Out Pantry
If space is tight, adopt a design idea from the recreational vehicle (RV) industry. Install a pull-out pantry. The pantry slides into a narrow cabinet space. It rolls out to expose shelves where you can store canned and boxed goods, reach them easily and slide them back out of sight.
Utility Cabinet
If your home does not have a pantry but does have an available wall or section of wall in a laundry room or other area close to the kitchen, consider adding a utility cabinet. These cabinets are available in a variety of sizes from home improvement centers and discount stores. Many are equipped with adjustable shelves and brackets, and additional shelves and mounting clips can be purchased. Install the cabinet above ground level with a foot or two of empty space beneath it and you create an additional floor-level storage area for appliances or a laundry basket. Install a set of hooks or brackets on the cabinet side and mount a broom and mop there. Or you can use an exposed side to mount additional shelves where cookbooks can be kept.
Dividers
Pantry shelves have a way of becoming crowded and disorganized. One way to improve organization is to add dividers. As one example, you can use basket drawers on the shelves. Place skinny bottles of olives, capers, specialty vinegars and other oddly shaped containers in one basket. Stack onions in another and teas and crackers in a third. You will easily remember that one is the gourmet treats basket and the other baskets contain different category foods.
Dividers commonly used in the office or other rooms can find use in the pantry. Bookends can secure cookbooks on one end and cereal boxes on the other. Magazine racks made from metal or cardboard can hold tubes of chips and keep them from falling over with your every reach into the pantry.
Door Space
If you are fortunate enough to have a pantry with a door, hang a large spice storage rack -- the kind available in home improvement stores -- on the back of the door, inside the pantry. These plastic-coated metal racks can hold spice containers large and small, as well as bottled water, salad dressing bottles and any number of other usually hard-to-store items.
If you don't have a door and the pantry could accommodate it, consider searching for one at a builder's salvage supply store.
Bracket Shelves
In kitchens where cabinet space is at a premium and adding a pantry is not an option, see if you have space to add bracket shelves on a wall. If there is space below the shelves, add a rolling cart. Inexpensive ones are available that have a built-in drawer or two. Together, the shelves and cart serve as a pantry for food storage.
Tags: additional shelves, cabinet space, does have, food storage, have built-in, have pantry, home improvement
