Many kitchen pantries in modern homes share a single quality: They're somewhat crowded, between various food packages, beverages and other items we all keep in these valuable areas. This is the case even for many large, spacious pantries, which become filled up over time -- meaning that in any kitchen where your pantry space is smaller than average, you have an even more significant task ahead of you for proper storage.
At Precision Closets & Garage, we're happy to offer closet and other storage systems for numerous parts of your home, including for custom kitchen pantries and many other distinct areas. When it comes to storage and other basic themes for a pantry space that's on the smaller side, what are some general tips and themes we tend to offer clients? Here are several to consider if you're going this route.
If you know that your kitchen pantry space is limited and you're making a promise to yourself that you'll keep it organized and tidy, we recommend advanced planning. Think about what food items and other necessities you use most often, and consider these when putting the pantry together -- in terms of how high or low to stock them and so on.
These themes may trace back as far as your initial design of the pantry, in fact. When you're putting together the overall footprint and design of this area, consider high traffic items that you use most often as well as what products will be stored at eye level (or easily reachable via a top or bottom shelf).
One of the top ways to maximize the space you have present in your smaller kitchen pantry is to use custom shelving, which can be made to fit into practically any sized space you have. As the name indicates, you can customize your pantry shelving in any number of ways, including by how high or low you want your shelves to go and more.
This gives you the chance to create storage that's specific for various food items that may be stored together (such as canned goods) or separate (such as snacks; beverages; baking ingredients; etc.). With custom shelving in place, you can feel free to use this type of design in any way you see fit; if you find yourself running out of room, you can add more shelves.
There are a few types to consider here, including both roll-out and pull-out shelves. The former gives you the option to open up a section of shelving and see all items at once; this can be beneficial for select areas (such as baking ingredients) where you need easy access. With pull-out shelves, you can simply grab and go and slide it back into place when finished.
In addition to the shelving, many kitchen pantries benefit from using racks or hangers to store certain items that are used less frequently. If you have an abundance of beverages in your home, for instance -- meaning that your primary shelving area is filled up but there are still some bottles and cans left over -- you'll want to account for these items too.
This may be as simple as installing a rack or hanger on the back of your pantry door, which can fit about four standard sized bottles. Similarly, you may want to install some racks on the inside of your pantry that are specifically for more bulky items. Be sure to stay within reason, however; if your layout is already tight with shelving, it may make sense to forgo racks like these when possible.
For many who are looking to improve the space utilization and aesthetics of their pantry, splitting it up into different zones can be useful. You've likely seen this before in larger pantries, where there's a zone for beverages; another for canned goods; one for baking ingredients; and so on.
This is common practice even with smaller kitchen pantries, and it makes sense why: If you know that your pantry is better off with certain product categories separated, zone themes can help you achieve this without too much effort.
In addition to being able to easily zone your pantry by food item, you may also want to consider zone layout by shelf height as well -- such as putting all baking items on the top row and canned goods, beverages and other items below. This method could be useful for those with many taller items, for instance.
While the areas we've gone over above are some of the most common themes for smaller kitchen pantries, there are a number of other accessories or items you might consider also. These include:
For more on how to improve storage and design an ideal smaller kitchen pantry area, or to learn about any of our closets and other items, speak to the staff at Precision Closets & Garage today.
