5 Tips for Creating a Beautifully Organized Pantry

Hi, friends!! Thank you all SO much for your sweet words and encouragement about our first official organizing YouTube video last week! I admit, it was pretty nerve wracking to push “publish,” but you totally made my month with all of your kind comments! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I am so excited to share a new video with you this week about creating a beautifully organized pantry! 🙂

One of the first things I did when we moved into our new house was organize our kitchen pantry. I have found that if my pantry is neat and organized, it is easier to keep the rest of the kitchen organized as well. Because of this, I knew I needed to make sure I had a system that allowed me to keep our pantry looking beautiful and organized for the long term, not just for a day or a week.

I’m happy to say that we’ve been in our house for about 9 months now, and my pantry organization systems are still going strong! When I really thought about it, there were five major elements that have helped us to create and maintain a beautifully organized pantry– I can’t wait to share them with you! (I will include a full source list at the end of this post so you can easily find any of the items I mentioned! 😉 )

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5 Tips for Creating a Beautifully Organized Pantry

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

Tip 1: Choose Shelves that Really Maximize Your Storage Space

Whether it’s the type of shelves or configuration of them, having a functional shelving system can be a huge help in creating and maintaining an organized pantry. When we first moved in, our pantry had wire shelves, which can totally work in some situations, but presented some challenges for us.

our pantry on the day we moved in

As I was attempting to organize our pantry space, my containers were falling over, the shelf brackets were taking up a lot of space and getting in the way, and it was hard to implement some of the systems I wanted to use. We made the decision to swap out the wire shelves for solid shelves from the IKEA ALGOT system, and it made a huge difference! (Between our two houses, we have used the ALGOT system in 6 spaces now– 2 pantries and 4 closets– and I can’t say enough good things about it! It’s strong and durable and has a ton of possible configurations to suit your space.)

While we had the shelves out, we also decided to install some beautiful removable wallpaper in the back of the pantry for a nice pop of pattern whenever we open the doors– little details always make me smile!

Tip 2: Corral Like Items in Bins or Baskets

Pantries typically need to hold a whole bunch of stuff. The challenge is being able to store everything you need in a way that makes it easy to find exactly what you’re looking for. To solve this issue, I decided to use inexpensive plastic baskets to separate my pantry “stuff” into categories. Not only can I now find my items easily, but everyone in the house can clearly see where each type of item goes so things end up back in their spot, which allows us to maintain our organizational systems long term!

We have bins for the boys’ school snacks (one for sweet and one for salty!), a bin for seasonings, one for baking items, one for boxes and canned goods, and even a “miscellaneous” bin that acts as a catch all for seasonal items or things we don’t keep around all the time.

The baskets are from Target, and they come in a bunch of different sizes. They have different colors for each season, so you could probably find some to match the colors of your house without too much trouble at all!

Tip 3: Don’t Forget the Label

I admit, I am a smidge obsessed with labeling! In our pantry I took simple gift tags and used my Silhouette machine to cut out little labels from adhesive vinyl. You could also use a label maker (I have this one!), create labels in Microsoft Word or Canva, or simply hand write your labels!

I also used adhesive vinyl letters to label the containers that hold our baking supplies and pasta and our spice jars as well.

And speaking of those containers…

Tip 4: Eliminate Clutter by Using Uniform Containers

This is totally a personal preference thing, but I really like the look of matching containers to hold things like flour, sugar, pasta, and rice rather than trying to juggle a bunch of oddly shaped boxes and bags. It really gives the pantry a cohesive look, and the labels make it easy to find exactly what I’m looking for. (I use these clear containers from IKEA, which come in multiple sizes.)

When I decided to go with the container system, there were a few issues I had to account for. First, how would I keep track of things like cooking times for the pasta and rice or recipe details for the pancake mix, etc.? To solve this problem, I simply snip the instructions from the box before I throw it away and tuck it in the side of the container where I can easily see it. (You can probably spot the instructions in the left-most pasta container in the photo above.)

The other thing I had to make sure I kept track of was expiration dates. To do this, I created a simple printable, which I keep on a clipboard in the back of the pantry…

I laminated the printable (My laminator is similar to this one.) and used a dry erase marker to write the item and expiration date on the lines. This makes it really easy to change out items and dates as we go through the ingredients in our pantry.

I couldn’t just keep this pretty printable to myself though! You can snag it for your own pantry below!

Click here to download the Pantry Notes printable!

Tip 5: Use Risers to Save Space and Provide Easy Access

I love risers because they are super inexpensive and can help make a space so much more functional! They work like a charm for our spice jars. I can easily see what’s in each one and they don’t take up much space in the pantry.

In my last pantry, I also used the risers for canned goods and it worked well for those too!

Organization Hack: Use a Wine Rack to Store Water Bottles

Before I wrap up, I also wanted to mention this fun storage hack that I discovered recently! Our water bottles were always messy and falling over; they were also on a high shelf that was hard for Donnie and I to reach and impossible for the Cs to get to. I had seen the idea of using a wine rack to hold water bottles in a few different places, so I decided to try it in our pantry, and I love it!

Each bottle sits neatly in its own spot, the lids always stay with their designated bottle, and the Cs can easily grab one and fill it up any time they’re thirsty! Now if you’re in a kitchen that’s really crunched for storage space, this may not be the best option because it’s not the most compact configuration, but if you have a little bit of room to spare, I have really loved this system.

Pantries can feel overwhelming to try to organize, but they don’t have to be! These 5 simple tips have been huge for helping me to create and maintain a beautifully organized pantry, and I hope they will be helpful for you too!

If you have any questions about where I found any of the items I mentioned in the post, I am including a full source list below.

Sources

IKEA ALGOT System

Removable Wallpaper

Storage Bins

Silhouette Cameo

My Favorite Label Maker

Food Storage Containers

Laminator

Pantry Risers

Spice Jars

Wine Rack Water Bottle Holder

KitchenAid

CrockPot

 

Happy Organizing!

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.