How to Organize Your Home With Functional Pantry Cabinets
Keeping your kitchen organized is doubly important in homes where limited storage and small spaces are concerned. In this blog, we will explain how to organize your home with functional pantry cabinets designed to optimize storage and function.
Pantry Cabinets vs. Kitchen Cabinets
Pantry cabinets are very different from kitchen cabinets. Kitchen cabinets make up the majority of your kitchen storage, consisting of upper cabinets and lower cabinets and topped with your counters.
Pantry cabinets, on the other hand, are tall cabinets, often spanning from floor to ceiling, offering uninterrupted closed storage shelving systems. You can also install a walk-in pantry when space allows for the ultimate kitchen storage!
Make the Most of Key Pantry Cabinet Features
Kitchen pantry cabinets have become a highly desirable feature in today’s kitchens. They offer additional storage designed to accommodate your dry goods, unrefrigerated cooking staples, and other kitchen supplies and equipment.
However, as desirable as this storage is, it can be hard to optimize space when the pantry isn’t properly organized. Therefore, key features of pantry cabinets should include the following:
- Adjustable shelving: Adjustable shelves provide space optimization and flexibility, so you can reinvent your storage space to suit your needs.
- Smart accessories to improve capacity: Pantry design is taken to new heights when you include accessories that help keep things organized and make the most of awkward spaces such as corners.
- Drawers: Drawers make it easy to store items such as kitchen towels, small appliances, and organize your smaller ingredients such as herbs and spices. They also allow you to pull out the storage to easily find what you need.
- “Slots”: Slots help keep flat items separate and organized, such as baking sheets, serving platters, trays, etc.
- Hooks: Hooks come in handy for things such as aprons and towels.
- Wine rack: A wine rack allows you to keep wine handy, whether it’s for cooking or entertaining. However, you can also get creative with other bottled items, such as specialty olive oils and vinegars.
Use Pantry Cabinet Drawers for Snacks
Deep drawers are the perfect spot to store assorted snacks that tend to come in bags. From chips to cookies and granola bars to crackers, a pantry drawer makes it easy to find what you need when you’re feeling peckish. They can also help reduce spillage if you have kids.
Keep Frequently Used Ingredients Visible With Open Pantry Shelving
Open shelves are ideal for staples such as flour, sugar, pasta, rice, cereal, etc. You can organize staples in categories and consider using baskets for smaller packages such as grains, or nuts and chocolate chips for baking.
Organize Pantry Cabinets Based on Cooking Categories
If you consider yourself a bit of a chef, you can use pantry shelving for different categories like baking, side dishes, or cuisine types such as Asian or Italian. This makes the most of your pantry cabinets, and it’s easier to collect the ingredients you need for typical recipes in each category.
Shed Some Light
Adding light to a pantry can make it easier to find things, such as midnight snacks, without having to turn on overhead lighting. It also makes it easier to spot things in tight corners where natural or overhead lights might not reach.
Organize Your Pantry Cabinet Doors
Installing shelves on the inside of your doors is a great way to optimize space for small items such as condiments, spices, unopened jam jars, etc. Another handy tip is to install magnetic strips to store small metal utensils such as scissors, whisks, knives, and more.
“Style” Your Pantry Shelving
Having open pantry shelving can make it easier to find things, while also allowing you to make a grocery list at a glance. However, open shelving can look unattractive or cluttered.
You can style your open pantry shelving by using storage items such as glass jars for pasta, rice, sugar, and flour or identical baskets with labels so you can find things quickly.
Use Pantry Cabinets to Free Up Counter Space
Pantry cabinets are the perfect solution for items that typically take up space on your counters. Items such as blenders, stand-up mixers, kitchen scales, slow cookers, etc. can all be stored in pantry cabinets.
While items like toasters and coffee machines are used every day, less frequently used items can be kept out of sight until you need them.
Think “Vertically” for Pantry Cabinet Space Optimization
Creating slots using panels and safety bars makes it easy to store items on their side, such as cookie sheets, cutting boards, and assorted frying pans. Vertical storage not only frees up space, but also avoids having things come tumbling down on you when you pull them out of your kitchen cabinets.
Get Rid of Unnecessary Bulk Heads
You can also install floor-to-ceiling pantry cabinets to make the most of your ceiling height. Awkward bulkheads are often installed as a “filler” between kitchen cabinets and the ceiling, making them space-wasters.
Checking for things such as ducts, electrical outlets, and pipes prior to pantry cabinet installation will allow you to take full advantage of your kitchen height.
Consider Glass Pantry Cabinet Doors
Glass pantry cabinet doors make it easier to see the items you need, or take a quick inventory when making your grocery list. If you’re worried about exposing pantry clutter, take advantage of our styling tips to create a pleasing focal point in your kitchen.
Create Specialty Pantry Shelving in Corners
Cabinet corners are another notorious space-waster. This is often because the pantry design doesn’t adjust the shelving configuration, making it difficult to take full advantage of corner space.
Corner pantry shelving designed in an L shape opens up the space so you can easily slide in more items and have easy access to them when needed.
Use Adjustable Pantry Shelving for Cereal Boxes
Cereal boxes tend to come in varied heights, which can make it difficult to store them all on one shelf. By using adjustable pantry shelving for your cereal storage, you can adjust the shelves so you can fit the tallest box with ease. Of course, you can modify the shelves for anything in your pantry!
Contact the Experts at Space Age Shelving & Design
You can use these pantry design tips for space optimization when organizing your pantry cabinets. Space Age Shelving & Design are your experts. We can help you find the best pantry designs with space-saving accessories and features to make the most of your kitchen pantry.
Contact Space Age Shelving & Design here, or visit our showroom to explore the pantry cabinet installations on display.
