Closet Organizing Systems Blog

From food to fluff to tools you use to “buff and puff” (or clean, as more practical people like to call it), the pantry space in your home houses a plethora of items.

In fact, it's often a bit of a “catch all” for everything that doesn't seem to fit in the kitchen cabinets.

Face it, it's a crucial space that, when designed and organized well, really can make cooking, cleaning and even eating a whole lot easier.

So when you think “pantry storage” - think “accessibility”.  This concept is key. You want to be able to not only see, but reach, all the items that are in your pantry.

That often translates to “mixing it up”. And just what do we mean by “mixing it up”? We mean a variety of shelving depths (small items on shallow shelves, bigger items on deeper shelves, loose items in baskets of varying heights).

Don't just settle for putting one depth shelving in the entire space when you can have it be so much more.

Here are some strategy tips to think through as you're working with your custom storage designer to maximize this space:

-Put shallow shelves for food items near the entrance and put them close together vertically. Think about it. Soup cans and pasta boxes aren't that big so you can get a lot out of the vertical space by spacing your shelves close together. Plus, our systems are fully adjustable every 32 millimeters (or approximately every 1 1/4”) so you can stock up on that macaroni and cheese that the kids can't get enough of.

-Locate deeper shelves towards the back of the space. Deeper shelves often store items that we don't use on a daily basis. It could be specialty appliances, bowls and serving items that you use for entertaining, that kind of thing. These shelves will be spaced a bit further apart to accommodate the larger items.

-Divide and conquer. What we mean by that is that shelf span should not be so wide that it will bow or warp over time. We all have a tendency to put as much as will fit into whatever space we're using for storage. Dividing the space into sections that are less than 24” (in width) gives additional structural support to allow the system to remain stable over the long haul.

-Adding baskets is a terrific option for items that “need to be gathered”. Think bags of chips or snacks for the kids or potatoes and onions. Their packaging is often loose and soft. They don't have the built in structure of a box or can, so “boxing” them in with a basket is a terrific solution.

-Hooks behind the door. If your pantry has a door and that door swings “in” to the space, utilize the small space behind the door for hooks. You can hang aprons there as well as your grocery/shopping bags and even mops, brooms and other tall cleaning tools.

So when you really think about the storage capacity of your pantry space, you can see it is a lot like a puzzle that, when pieced together, really works well. And our design team is always up for a good puzzle challenge, so let us know how we can help.