It goes without saying that the kitchen is a busy place in any home. And when you throw in family members and cooking, it can quickly turn into a jumbled mess. That clutter can extend into your pantry, as well.
When your kitchen pantry becomes unorganized, it makes it difficult to find ingredients and items you need for meal prep. Instead of wasting time on a daily basis searching for what you need, sort out your pantry cabinet for good.
If you’re ready to simplify your kitchen by tidying up your pantry cabinet this weekend, keep reading.
1. Zone your pantry cabinet
Organizing your pantry cabinet by zones allows you to see what food you have, what food you need to buy, and where new groceries should go. To get in the zone and divide your pantry into different precise zones, start by identifying what kind of food and cooking categories you should use. Which categories suit your lifestyle? For instance, you can separate your pantry by weekend dinners, portable lunches, baking, and more.
Once you’ve determined the categories, you’ll need to designate an area in the pantry for each one. Make sure to dedicate the areas in your pantry cabinet that are easiest to access to the categories/zones that you use most frequently. After you’ve decided where you want things to go and you’re happy with your pantry zoning, label every zone.
2. Use clear containers
Using clear storage containers in your pantry cabinet will help you better organize your kitchen. When your pantry is organized and you can find what you need, you can get out the door much quicker.
Clear containers also make the space in your pantry look neater. When your boxes and jars live in containers, you don't have to worry about knocking one over or digging through a mess of products to find what you're looking for.
To create an organized kitchen pantry that looks neat and tidy, transfer food items into matching jars. Flour, seeds, nuts, dried fruit, and other small or colourful snacks all look great in a pantry cabinet when displayed in clear glass jars.
Transferring goods into clear jars or storage containers is a relatively quick and easy home organization project for the weekend. And, to make it even more fun and a little prettier, use paint pens to label the glass jars. You can also use a label maker or small index card to label the foods in the jars.
3. Don’t forget the door
Installing door storage inside your pantry cabinet is a great way to make the most of your space while getting organized. The space on the back of your pantry cabinet door is the perfect spot to store items that you use frequently and need to grab quickly and easily.
Don’t store things that are too bulky on the inside of the cabinet door, as this can make the door hard to open. Instead, store smaller items such as spices, boxes of aluminum foil and plastic wrap, and other relatively light items.
Another way to make use of your pantry cabinet door is to paint it with chalkboard paint. This will make it easy to jot down your grocery list in a place you can never forget or lose. This also makes a great spot to write out reminders for events or messages for family members.
4. Put up a pegboard
Professional home organizers love making use of pegboards in homes for a reason. Pegboards make it easy to reach everything while maintaining an organized and appealing look. Pegboards can be used in a kitchen pantry to hang your cooking tools. This way, your cooking tools will look tidy while also being on a display that you don’t have to rummage through, as you would by keeping them in a kitchen drawer.
Pegboards don’t cost much, and they match all types of décor. Additionally, pegboards are easy to install in cabinets in the kitchen, a kitchen hutch, or a pantry closet.
5. Opt for open shelving
Installing open shelving makes sense especially when you’re working with a small, narrow space or in a small kitchen. In smaller places where you might not have room for cabinets with doors and hinges, consider going with open shelving.
If you choose to use open shelving in your kitchen pantry, The Spruce suggests keeping your walls and shelving neutral colours such as grey, white, and light blue, all of which work especially in a smaller space. Also, purchase some matching jars or find similar jars, baskets, and/or bins around your house. Use these to store your pantry items. By using similar or matching storage containers, it will make your open shelving look much more appealing, as everything appears more neat and tidy.
6. Tuck away your microwave
If you have storage cabinets with doors in your kitchen, consider using this space to hide your microwave. While a microwave is a much used and necessary part to any kitchen, the machine is an eyesore. To fix this problem and make your kitchen more pleasing to the eye, use pantry cabinets to hide it. This way, your microwave will still be convenient and easy to access, but you won’t have to have it out in the open as a constant feature in your kitchen.
Want to hide your microwave in a pantry cabinet or a stand-alone pantry with doors? Simply drill a hole in the back of the cabinet and pull the plug through to an outlet.
Once you’ve finished organizing your kitchen pantry cabinet this weekend, head to a Vague & Vogue showroom. Here, you’ll find everything you need for your kitchen or bathrooms.
