6 Easy Yet Dramatic Ways To Organize Your Kitchen Food Storage

Your pantry may not be a glamorous space, but it is a very useful one. It’s where all your food lives, and maybe some pots and pans too, and it’s a space where organization is key. We’ve written, before, about dreamy, Pinterest-worthy pantries, but that is not what this post is about. This post is about small upgrades you can make to your existing pantry that will make it perhaps not dazzlingly beautiful, but definitely a place where you can store everything that you need, and find it too.

This storage system seen on DIY Network has a wide variety of options that serve different needs, from wine bottles to wire baskets to baking trays to cookbooks.

This pantry uses pull-out baskets, made by Closetmaid and spotted on DIY Network, to hold snacks and produce but keep them within view. Basic shelving wouldn’t hold loose items nearly as well.

Even if your pantry is just a narrow closet, you can get the most out of your space with pull-out drawers, like these from Shelf Genie. This is a particularly good solution if your pantry is narrow but deep, and stuff tends to get lost in the back of shelves.

Storing things in corners can get a bit awkward, but this giant pantry lazy Susan, from Closet Works (via Houzz), keeps everything within easy reach. (Also note that the 2-liters are in a pull-out drawer, so you can reach one in the back without yanking out everything in front.)

Tracy from Home Staging Bloomington made this DIY pantry-door organizer, which holds spices and plastic bags in a beautifully organized fashion.

From Chris Loves Julia, here’s a great reminder that different heights, and depths, of shelves can be very useful for storing pantry items. Check out their planning post, and adapt the measurements for your own needs.

This vertical baking sheet storage is from a kitchen, not a pantry, but it’s a great demonstration of a simple, DIY way to store long, thin kitchenwares, which take up less space and are much easier to find when stored on their sides.

You can see vertical storage like this in action in this pantry from HGTV. Other notable elements of this pantry include the built-in bottle racks, and the shallow drawers that pull out to hold pasta and linens.

Don’t have a dedicated pantry? Then try storing your cooking and baking supplies in plain sight, like these roommates did in their Oakland home. All you need are some simple shelves: spices, bulk foods, and dry goods look like art in pretty containers.