Small Pantry Remodel Ideas

A small kitchen pantry can lack cabinet or shelving space and offer limited organizing options. I have gathered a few small pantry remodeling ideas that may help you to declutter the small space where you store food while maximizing the storage and accessibility.

Meet my pantry closet. She is small, but I am determined to make her shine just like I did when I found a way to add a kitchen island to my small kitchen.

You may remember when I painted the stained brown trim and louvered doors, white.

The space I call my pantry is not a walk-in style pantry, but a small closet right off my kitchen in the hallway that runs between my studioffice, hallway of darkness, and the foyer.

It is tiny compared to the pantry in my previous house that I wrote about here: How I Transformed a Coat Closet Into a Pantry

We made this pantry by adding onto and doubling the size of a single door coat closet that was in the mudroom of the house. It made for one easy accessible and organized space that stored quite a bit.

I even covered the walls in gift wrap one year to give it a stylish look.

Small Pantry Organizing Ideas

I was dreaming of a walk-in pantry, but had fun browsing online and in magazines for pantry organization ideas and inspiration that would work for my pantry space.

I was dreaming big, but found many ideas that could be incorporated into a my small pantry closet. Below are the pantry ideas I found.

Add a Back of the Door Rack

Photo credits: Custom rack – Unknown | Mass made rack: Nina Hendrick

Adding a rack to the back of a pantry door to hold canned goods and other pantry items. Having storage on the door will practically feel like I have doubled my pantry shelving.

Add a Rolling Door

The Lily Pad Cottage Butler's Pantry door

Even though I can’t add a rolling door to my pantry closet, I love the rolling door on this one that Kelly designed for her new house over at the Lily Pad Cottage.

If there is wall space on one side of your door, you can easily replace an existing door with a rolling door. They are not hard to install.

Interior Crowd

This small pantry is pretty sweet, too. I love chalkboards in a kitchen. They make the space instantly feel warm and homey.

Add a Counter Inside

The Kitchn

I like this pantry idea. It is a bigger than my closet, but I like the fact that it has a counter in it. Add electricity to the storage space and you can even house and use small appliances right it place.

I also like that the space has easy access and is a mix between a butler’s pantry and an open pantry in one. The bi-fold doors with glass inserts are pretty nice too.

Put Everything in Clear Containers

Pencil & Paper Co.

I love the clean lines of this pantry with pull-out shelves lined with glass jars, but I always wonder what happens to the actual box of cereal, crackers, or whatever when all of the contents doesn’t fit into one of these pretty and labeled glass canisters.

Do they have a kitchen storage area for boxes that still have contents in them somewhere else?

What inspires me about this pantry though is the high level of organization. What’s not to like, right?

Label Everything

Pantry Labels

Keeping everything organized on pantry shelves is made easy when you label all the food items and dry goods. These labels designed are from Zuer Designs and The Creativity Exchange. They definitely add the pretty factor to a pantry of any size.

Free printable labels to use around your home to help you stay organized

I may use some of them in a different way for my pantry using laminated labels like these.

Place Lazy Susan’s on the Shelves

BHG

Here is a great idea for a small closet pantry right in the kitchen cabinetry. Placing a Lazy Susan at the front of a shelf will help corral a few smaller and frequently used items. I like the wire mesh stacking drawers in this photo, too.

Use Clear or Wire Baskets

pantry organizing ideas that use clear bins and containers

Photo: The Container Store

Currently I use woven baskets to store like items, but after looking at many pantry photos I am thinking that clear see-through containers or wire baskets that you can see through. These may be better than using the baskets. They will allow me to see everything inside at a glance.

I like these colorful handled and stacking bins to hold bulk food items. It looks like they would make it easy to pull out items like flour and sugar from the closet, plus visually… I love the colors.

Ideas I Actually Used to Makeover My Pantry

There is quite a lot of pantry inspiration to be found and after viewing quite a lot of it, I have come up with a plan using some of the ideas I gathered.