In an ideal world, your kitchen pantry would have almost limitless space, providing all the room you need for storage without it ever feeling full, let alone cramped. While some kitchen remodels can make that a possibility, the reality is that many homeowners have to make the most of a pantry with certain space limitations.
In this post, I’ll cover some of the ways that you can get more storage potential out of the kitchen pantry in your home without adding any extra square footage inside. With these tricks, you can stay organized and avoid having to search around in a mess of overcrowded items.
Storage Solution #1: Slide-Out Cabinet Shelves
Photo Credit: 405 Cabinets & Stone
Built-in, slide-out shelves that fit inside the cabinets of your kitchen pantry are one of my favorite solutions for enhancing your storage space, and many other cabinet designers agree.
“The problem in creating storage without increasing the size of your kitchen’s footprint is as much about access as it is about anything else, and that is why it is important to maximize the use of inner pantry cabinet accessories,” says Dana Le, interior designer at 405 Cabinet and Stone. “So much storage space is lost in a kitchen pantry because the design of the shelves makes reaching items so cumbersome that people don’t utilize the entire available space.”
With this approach, you have much more access to the back part of each shelf, which makes it easier to find what you need and lets you optimize how the items are organized. With fixed shelves that don’t move, you typically wind up with wasted space at the back where it’s harder to see or reach.
You can take this solution a step further by stacking items like small food storage containers or bowls, which lets you fit more items on each shelf. Or you can put in a stand, giving you two tiers to store shorter items.
If you can’t install movable shelves or drawers, you can consider using a lazy susan that fits your pantry and facilitates easier access to everything without having items stuck way in the back.
Storage Solution #2: Door-Mounted Racks
Racks mounted on the inside of your pantry door can turn wasted space into valuable storage. Small items fit best in this area, which is why it’s popular to install door-mounted spice racks, which can be installed quickly and at an affordable price.
This also offers an easy way to keep your spices organized so that little bottles don’t clutter up other shelves. Since the spice bottles are stored in a row with visible labels, you can also spend less time scrambling to find the paprika or oregano.
Storage Solution #3: Bins and Baskets
If you can’t expand your storage space, being organized is your greatest ally. In your kitchen pantry, you can use a mix of bins, bowls, baskets, and other containers to keep everything tidy and in the proper place.
In this example, the homeowner uses a mix of containers for different uses. Sealed containers rest on the floor, while open baskets and stackable bins on the shelves keep things neatly arranged. Various sizes of clear, labeled containers make it easy to quickly find things like flour, sugar, and other dry goods.
Storage Solution #4: Adjustable Shelves and Built-In Lighting
In this kitchen pantry, you can see two different solutions at work.
Adjustable shelves enable you to accommodate a range of different items and to organize them by height. They give you the flexibility to adapt your storage space as necessary.
Built-in lighting at the top makes it easier to search for and find whatever you need. While lighting might not seem like a storage solution, the truth is that the better you can see, the better you can stay organized.
Storage Solution #5: A Hide-Away Pantry
Another way to spice up your pantry is to give it a unique entry. Without adding any square footage, you can give the pantry a more upscale and custom feel. In this project, we added a barn-style sliding door. It gives the pantry a distinct visual appeal that can complement your kitchen and other home decor.
Storage Solution #6: Vertical Cubbies
In this trendy kitchen pantry, a bottom shelf has been converted to a row of vertical cubbies for holding long and narrow items, such as cutting boards, baking sheets, and roasting pans. This optimizes space and reduces clutter on other shelves. As a result, you’re less likely to accidentally knock something over when grabbing one of these longer and more unwieldy items.
Storage Solution #7: Elevated Storage
When you can’t expand out, the best solution is usually to go up. As in other kitchen pantries, this homeowner uses various types of bins to stay organized. But they also have a ladder that allows them to utilize shelves that would otherwise be unreachable.
Depending on the height of your home’s pantry, you can consider getting a dedicated ladder or stepstool. If space is really at a premium, a folding stepstool can be more conveniently tucked away when you’re not using it.
Storage Solution #8: Slide-Out, Full-Length Vertical Cabinets
An attractive and innovative option for some kitchen pantries is a vertically oriented cabinet that slides out fully, exposing all of the shelves at one time.
This hide-away style of cabinet provides multiple storage spaces, especially for bottles and dry goods. It also offers considerable visual appeal since the exterior can be customized to match the rest of your home’s kitchen and pantry. The downsides are that the top shelf can be difficult for some people to reach, and these cabinets tend to come at a higher price than simpler storage solutions.
Storage Solution #9: Built-In Outlets For Small Appliances
For many homeowners, putting more things in the kitchen pantry is a way of opening up space in the kitchen itself. In this example, the pantry has built-in electrical outlets, so it can be used to store small appliances, like a toaster or blender.
This means that you don’t have to leave those appliances on your kitchen counter, and you don’t have to drag them out of the pantry when you need them. Instead, you can use them in their dedicated space within the pantry.
Storage Solution #10: A Compact Butler’s Pantry
If you’re doing a kitchen remodel and working with limited square footage in your pantry, you might consider converting it into a butler’s pantry. This provides cabinet space for things like glasses and plates as well as your typical pantry items.
In this project, we included a sink in the pantry along with some basic small appliances, which make this a functional standalone space and a complement to the kitchen. For many people, having built-in drawers and cabinets instead of open shelves makes it easier to stay organized and optimize pantry space.
Upgrading the Kitchen Pantry in Your House
Although we’re not always aware of it, we tend to use our kitchens more than almost any other room in our house. That makes it important to have a functional and effective kitchen pantry.
Some of these storage solutions are easy to implement in an existing pantry without any need for a larger project. But truly upgrading your pantry is easiest to do during a kitchen remodel. Even if space constraints limit your ability to expand the size of your pantry during a renovation, you can install new features to optimize storage and organization.
At Hazley Builders, we specialize in customized, high-quality home remodels. For more than 25 years, we’ve been helping our neighbors in the West Chester area revitalize their homes through projects of all shapes and sizes.
If you’re considering a remodel for your kitchen or any other part of your house, we’d love to work with you. You can read more about our team and our process, or reach out to us directly to schedule an appointment.
