Freestanding Pantry Ideas

Short on storage and space? No worries. These stylish go-anywhere pantry designs house everything from baking pans and cooking staples to party supplies -- exactly where you need them most. As a bonus, many of these units are transportable so they can travel with you when you move.

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Good-Looking Asset

Make like a chef and equip your kitchen with commercial-grade shelving units that stow ingredients, utensils, and small appliances within sight and reach of work spaces. These affordable units provide streamlined silhouettes well-suited to retro, modern, and vintage-cottage kitchens, and they also work nicely as pantries when placed in mudrooms or laundries adjoining a kitchen.

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Shelve It!

It couldn't be simpler: Buy a readymade bookcase and place it where you need a pantry. This ladder-like case features shelves that get wider and deeper toward the unit's base, which amps up its ability to store items of diverse size. Here, even the smallest shelves are deep enough to hold jam jars, spices, and books.

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All-Purpose Pantry

Tucked into an arched nook, these vertical cabinets provide generous pantry storage, while also accommodating meal-planning and shopping-list endeavors. This homeowner maximized shelf space by storing staples in clear labeled bins that can be stacked and positioned to allow for grab-and-go convenience.

Free Printable Storage Labels

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Creative Conversion

Watch and see how this tall, narrow bookcase easily converts to a high-functioning pantry with a few clever enhancements. Check kitchen cabinet retailers and home centers for pullout drawers that you can install within the bookcase to increase its utility and appearance.

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Too Cool for School

This is one winning combination! A set of lockers outfitted with a white-painted pediment and shapely furniture feet smartly addresses both style and storage issues. Roomy lockers offer secure hidey-holes that can be labeled to remind grown-ups and kids what is stowed where.

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On a Roll

Turn a bookcase into a petite movable pantry with the addition of casters and painted lath attachments designed to secure pantry goods when the cart is in motion. Add a curtain rod to support kicky clipped-on dish towels that can be drawn closed to keep supplies under wraps until they're needed.

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Period Cachet

With an icebox profile and vintage latches, this nostalgic pantry underscores the kitchen's farmhouse character. Three different doors add interest on the cupboard's face; the doors open to abundant compartmentalized storage that makes it easy for the homeowners to put their groceries away in a well-organized manner.

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Optimizing Every Inch

This pantry cabinet not only looks like an old-timey icebox, but also supplies its classic storage-savvy components. A shelved door rack holds often-used staples and items that might get lost on crowded cabinet shelves. This pantry's shelves are adjustable, which allows for custom-fitted storage.

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Service Station

A coat of paint and assorted dividers convert a flea-market cupboard into a standout entertaining center. Insets below create catchalls for beverages, candles, and napkins. The cabinet's upper reaches store bar gear and drink-making guides, plus provide space for serving cocktails and canapes. Like this idea? Set a similarly outfitted cabinet near where your guests are most likely to gather.

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Pantry Suite

Use narrow, vertical shelving units to fill storage voids in your kitchen's main work area. These sleek pantries supply ample space for stowing most anything that needs storing. They work especially well when paired with wheeled carts and wall-mounted systems that create more expansive and inclusive systems.

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Timeless Production

Salvaged industrial carts and shelving units that once held tools, machine parts, and in-process projects substitute beautifully for traditional pantry cabinets. Captivating caches for all sorts of objects, the carts roll from corner to corner as required. Here, weathered galvanized containers, toolboxes, and mail baskets perform in synch with the shelf's manufacturing plant beginnings.

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Transformation Complete

Bright blue paint, pegboard backing, and various organizers convert an already-cute bookcase into a purposeful pantry. Mount baskets, bins, and hooks on its sides, and install a metal rod on the front to hold dishtowels. Insert blue-painted mailing tubes or PVC pipes on one shelf to create a spot for wine.

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Elegant Appointments

Finely finished furniture pieces, such as this armoire-like cupboard, add richness to hardworking spaces. Choose ones equipped with adjustable shelves and pullout drawers to enhance culinary operations. Adjustable shelves allow you to reconfigure pantry interiors to accommodate staples of all sizes. Drawers corral and organize small tools, storage containers and bags, spice jars, and rolls of plastic wrap and aluminum foil.

Pantry Design Inspiration

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Imaginative Composition

Think creatively when devising solutions to your no-pantry woes. Pressed into service, a teak bench broadens the efficiency and aesthetics of a wall-mounted steel rack that supports hooked-in-place kitchen gear The bench takes on the role of a door-less pantry cabinet, storing baskets filled with kitchen linens alongside cookbooks and attractive baking and serving pieces.

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Engaging Outlook

Rethink antique! This vintage shopkeeper's display case is put to good use near a dining table. The handsome piece stows (and shows off!) all the things needed to set a pretty table. Stacks of napkins and tablecloths are shelved flat, which keeps them wrinkle-free and ready to go. Handsome bowls and assorted candles are close at hand for quickly pulling together striking centerpieces.

DIY Kitchen Storage Ideas

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