These Pantries Will Make a Type A's Day

In a perfect world, every home would come with a large walk-in kitchen pantry with tons of storage space. If you're fortunate to have a large walk-in pantry, maximizing your available shelving and creating separate dedicated storage areas for dry goods, grab-and-go snacks, cookbooks, and serving pieces is the best way to make the most of your pantry.

Clear, air-tight storage containers extend the shelf life of dried goods while helping to keep items uniform, organized, and easy to find at a glance.

Image via NEAT Method Photography by Michelle Drewes

Even if you don't have a large walk-in pantry, you can get the same look by using any open shelving you have in your kitchen. Whether you have existing built-in shelving or can incorporate a large bookshelf along an available wall, you can dress up the space you have with large, pretty wicker baskets to store pantry items.

Wire bins on shelves are a great way to store canned goods, and wood chalkboard tags make a fun and efficient way to label baskets for quick identification.

Image via Eleven Gables

If you don't have an area in the kitchen to create pantry storage, consider the possibility of carving out pantry space by creating a dual-purpose pantry with another storage area near your kitchen. For instance, do you have a closet, mudroom, or laundry room near your kitchen? Add more shelving to convert it into a dual-purpose pantry.

Another small-space solution is to transform existing cabinet storage into a well-organized pantry by adding pullout drawers. Most big-box home improvement stores like Lowe's and The Home Depot now offer pullout shelving for cabinets and custom pantry storage accessories that makes it easy to convert a cabinet into a built-in pantry.

To make up for a lack of pantry space, consider adding a freestanding cabinet such as an armoire or even a media cabinet to your kitchen for more storage. Such cabinets can easily be painted to match your existing kitchen colors, and if you move, your free-standing pantry can move with you!

Making a space to store specialized pantry items in your cabinets is a great way to free up space in your existing pantry. For instance, if you do a lot of baking, why not create a dedicated baking cabinet? By pulling the baking supplies out of your pantry storage, you not only make more room in your pantry for other items, but you also create a convenient, one-stop spot for all your baking supplies.

Image via The Creativity Exchange