This will sound counterintuitive, but last year I moved from a small apartment in the city to a house in the suburbs—and ended up with a lot less pantry space than I had before. My new kitchen is bigger than thenarrow galley kitchenin my old apartment, but it hasmuchless cabinet space. And the only dedicated pantry area I had when I moved in were a few built-in wire shelves on the back of the door that leads to the basement.
To deal with this, I went through a multi-step process. The first step: tears of frustration, coupled with feelings of regret, panic, and paralysis.
The second step was to spend a few blissful hours with aprofessional pantry organization expert, who helped me figure out what to keep in the few cabinets and shelves I do have (plates, bowls, glasses, and my basic, everyday cooking equipment) and, more importantly, held my hand as I aggressively pared down my extensive collection of mismatchedTupperware.
But the most exciting step was to transform an unused closet in my living room into a pantry. The closet was presumably intended for coats, but was too shallow to hold anything larger than a child-sized hanger, so I hired a handyman to install a few simple wood shelves. My husband added a motion-sensitive light that goes on every time you open the swinging doors, and I went on an epic basket-buying spree. The end result: the suburban pantry I had been fantasizing about, albeit one that's about 20 feet from my kitchen.
1. Pinterest-Worthy Baskets
It is no exaggeration to say that as soon as those simple wood shelves were installed in my inconveniently located pantry, I immediately left the house to buy all the baskets. Despite my haste, before purchasing said baskets I took the time totake accurate measurements of my shelvesplace a frantic call to my husband while at the store asking him to measure the shelves. You will be shocked to hear that I still ended up with the wrong sized baskets.
Because here's the thing about a well-used pantry: you're going to be putting things in and taking things out with some frequency, so any pretty baskets you use to corral random boxes ofmac and cheeseandtubes of tomato pasteneed to be the rightheight. The first baskets I bought fit nicely on the shelves, but were too tall for easy access to ingredients—instead of being able to reach in and grab acan of black beans, I was forced to remove the entire basket from the shelf. Not practical. So I returned them and bought other, equally aesthetically pleasing baskets that were not as tall and infinitely more user-friendly. (I found 5 inches to be the right height for accessibility, but it really depends on the distance between your shelves—the more room you have the higher your baskets can be without impeding access.)
BUY IT:Gold Wire Baskets, 2 for $30 at Amazon
2. Large Woven Baskets
I bought two of these for the floor of my pantry—don't want to waste an inch of space!—and I use one of them to hold paper towel rolls and the other as a giant snack bin. Since we now buy a lot of snacks for our kids inbulk at Costco, when we come home we open up the enormous box of Goldfish pouches (orapplesauce squeezers) (or mini pretzels) and just dump them into that basket. Every night, we throw a fewdifferent snack itemsinto each girl's backpack for them to eat at afterschool the next day.
BUY IT:Large Woven Rectangular Storage Basket, $13 at Target
3. Airtight Containers for Grains and Beans
These OXO containers are expensive, but man are they great. Plus—priorities, people—they look amazing filled up with your heirloom grains or Trader Joe's penne or all thatshredded coconutyou bought that time you decided you were going to makehomemade granolaon a weekly basis (hahaha). If you ever see them on sale, snatch them up. Or find a cheaper option—really any airtight container will do (see below).
BUY IT:OXO Good Grips 5-Piece Airtight Food Storage POP Container Value Set, $50 at Amazon
4. Wide-Mouth Mason Jars
The utility of Mason jars has been very well established, but it bears mentioning again. What other versatile (liquids! grains! granola bars!) and attractive food container can you buy in a pack of 12 for under $15?? I love the look of a row of Mason jars filled with dry goods, a hackno one has ever thought of before, and I love that they come in a range of sizes. Go for the wide-mouth ones for pantry storage—that way it's easier to scoop a half-cup of rice or sugar right out of the jar.
BUY IT:球®宽口夸脱(32盎司)玻璃罐子里With Lids And Bands, 12-count, $11 at Target
5. A Motion-Sensitive Light
A pantry light is one of those luxuries that I would have suffered without for years if my genius husband hadn't just stuck one in there. But what a difference it makes, especially in a dark corner closet. These stick-on, motion-sensitive lights make it so much easier to find what you're looking for, and they're extremely affordable.
BUY IT:9-LED Anywhere Stick On Light, $8 at the Container Store
6. Cutesy Labels That Make You Look Like You Really Have Your Act Together
A truly well-organized pantry doesn't just provide storage for your non-perishable food stash; it is a place of respite, a mental balm for your harried, over-scheduled life. And what takes it over the edge into life-affirming territory are labels. Neatly lined-up baskets and bins are an amazing starting point, but if you really want the pantry to be like a warm, lavender-scented Epsom-salt bath for your brain, you must start labeling.
Any label will do: a crisp white printed label, cool vintage-looking typewriter labels, black Sharpie lettering on colorful tape, or these extra-adorablechalkboard-inspired ones. Use one (or a mix!) of these, and when you open those pantry doors you'll see a row of labeled Mason jars ofsplit peasandrolled oats. And for a moment it won't matter that your kid was the only one dressed in regular clothes on pajama day and that you're out of cat food and are three days late on a huge work project. Your pantry is a thing of beauty, and sometimes that's enough.
BUY IT:Avery Decorative Removable Chalkboard Labels, Package of 12, $6 at the Container Store
