A pantry is your kitchen's warehouse. Simple in design and principle, a pantry is a self-contained area for open storage. The space lets you stock up on staples and provides a dedicated location for backups of common household items, from extra boxes of coffee filters to a supply of paper towels. If you're fortunate enough to have a built-in pantry as part of your home, the challenge is to make sure it's well organized. But even if a pantry isn't part of your home's layout, you can usually create a pantry space in your kitchen. To prevent clutter and waste, there should be a logic to what you put in the pantry and where you locate it.
- Dry goods: Airtight bags of flour, sugar, rice, tea, and other dry foods in bulk are well suited for storage in the pantry. As a space-saving alternative, use containers that fit your shelves perfectly.
- Paper goods: Take advantage of pantry space to buy paper goods in bulk. Even though backup items generally go on bottom shelves, position paper goods close to the top of the pantry so they can't be damaged by errant spills.
- Beverages: Most beverages can be stored in a cool, dry pantry space for a significant period of time. This frees up refrigerator space and lets you buy beer and soda at case prices. Keep the beverages in their cases for most efficient storage.
- Cookbooks: Because the pantry is usually set apart from the messy part of the kitchen, it can be a perfect place to store cookbooks. If you don't have a pantry, keep the most frequently used cookbooks handy in the kitchen and move the rest to bookshelves elsewhere in the house.
There are many ways to fabricate a pantry, from putting adjustable shelves or a freestanding shelving unit within the closet, to buying one of the many prefab pantry systems. Whether you make your own or buy a premade pantry system, look for flexibility, such as adjustable shelves. You should be able to change the configuration of the pantry based on changing storage needs.
A pullout, wire-grid storage system lets you convert a ceiling-height cabinet or a small broom closet into a new kitchen pantry. Individual shelves in these systems can be arranged to accommodate different-height items. You can also buy accessory grids designed to hold pot lids and other utensils. You can opt for pullout, solid trays that will hold many different containers firmly in place.
For more on organizing clutter, order a copy of Good Housekeeping's The Complete Clutter Solution
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