Before we purchased our house, the apartment we were living in had no designated pantry area. So we created one out of an Ikea PAX cabinet. We were extremely limited with where the cabinet would fit in our tiny apartment, so we bought something fairly small. It was shallow at 14” deep, and not very wide at 29″. However, it was fully functional as a small pantry, and with some good organization ideas, it served us well.
If you don’t have a designated pantry space, I highly recommend creating one out of a cabinet. You don’t have to buy the same cabinet as we did either. Any size of cabinet or bookcase, complete with a set of doors, will work!
Now that we’ve moved into our house, there is still no designated pantry area, so we have continued to use our cabinet for now. (Although there is a weird corner that will be perfect to build one in, which will happen eventually – stay tuned!)
Keeping a small pantry organized can be a task, but I’ve listed my favorite products, tips, and ideas below. I’ll walk through how we manage everything shelf by shelf.
Picking out products like the ones listed below is step 5 in my overall organization guide, so check that out if you want a detailed walkthrough for how to organize your pantry, or any space, from start to finish!
PANTRY SHELF 1
My small pantry organization tour begins with the top shelf. This shelf contains all the tall bottles, such as vinegar, hot sauces, oils, etc.
Product-wise it features 2 turntable organizers, also known as lazy Susans. Turntable organizers are some of my absolute FAVORITE organization tools, I have them in my fridge as well!
PRODUCT LINKS
TURNTABLE ORGANIZERS – The ones I use are 11” in diameter, allowing about 10-12 bottles to fit (depending on their size, of course).
TIP: To fully maximize the space, some bottles may end up in the middle of the turntable organizer and you won’t be able to read their labels. To combat this, the first option is to try to ensure that the bottles in the middle are duplicates of the ones on the outside. Duplicates like this happen to me when I’ve bought a replacement for something because it’s super low, but I haven’t fully used up the old one yet.
Another option for the middle space is to keep the taller bottles in the middle and shorter bottles in the front. This allows you to see everything contained on the turntable.
PANTRY SHELF 2
This second shelf of our small pantry contains all the canned goods, sauce packets, and some smaller boxed goods.
Product-wise it features an expandable shelf and a clear plastic container.
PRODUCT LINKS
EXPANDABLE SHELF – This expandable, multi-tiered shelf is fantastic for canned goods. A key to small pantry organization (and not buying something you already own) is the ability to see everything you have!
PLASTIC CONTAINER – I’ve been using the 6” cube plastic container. This size works well for sauce packets and other items of a similar shape, such as instant potatoes. It’s wide enough for the packets to fit and deep enough that they will stand up without falling out. It’s also long enough to store a decent number of items, but short enough that things won’t fall over if you can’t fill the space.
Plastic containers of various sizes are one of the best ideas for organizing your small pantry.
PANTRY SHELF 3
I store all our cat food and other supplies on this little shelf. Since the cat food cans are so short, and we don’t need to see what’s behind them, I was able to maximize pantry space by making this shelf very short.
TIP: The ability to adjust the height of your shelves is extremely helpful when space is limited. So if you can find a cabinet with adjustable shelves, that is your best option. If not, an idea to add more space to your small pantry is to add additional shelves to help (to see what I mean by this, look at shelf 4 below).
Product-wise it features a small plastic container that holds all of our cat’s things like his hairbrush, nail clippers, and flea medication.
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SMALL PLASTIC CONTAINER – The one I’ve been using is 10″ x 6″ x 3″.
As previously mentioned, plastic containers of various sizes are one of the best ideas for organizing your small pantry.
PANTRY SHELF 4
This shelf, and half the shelf below, are the shelves where things change the most often. I’ve found that a big key to small pantry organization is having a designated section of it be your “as needed” space. This means that what is being stored in this space will change frequently.
As a result, this shelf has been arranged to have room for shorter items, and some taller items. As you can see I maximized the space by adding a shelf divider for half of the area. Currently, some space is not being utilized since we have more short items than normal, but often that height is needed to store taller things, so I’ve left it as is.
PRODUCT LINKS
DIVIDING SHELF – The shelf I bought is out of stock, but the one linked here actually seems better than the one I have, because it’s expandable and adjustable. This flexibility is extremely beneficial when organizing a small pantry.
PANTRY SHELF 5
As I mentioned above, half of this shelf is “as needed” space. This shelf is taller than the one above, so I organize everything by height first to make sure all the tall items have a space they fit and then go from there.
The other half of this shelf contains our spices overflow. We have a LOT of spices, but since we cook with them often, they’re kept in jars on small shelves on the counter. Check out the DIY Spice Jars post if you’d like to see more.
When we’re running low on a certain spice we’ll buy a refill, but won’t put it in the jar until all the old one has been used up. Other times, we buy a spice container bigger than the jar on the counter, so we keep the overflow in the pantry.
The white wire basket contains large containers, such as peppercorns and boxes of salt. The metal rack to the far right of the image holds all the smaller refill jars.
The overflow rack would make a great regular spice rack if you don’t own a lot of spices or simply don’t want them out on your counter. The whole shelf pulls out easily, allowing you to see everything on it.
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WIRE BASKET – Unfortunately, the basket I own is no longer available, but this one is similar in size and has good reviews. It is 13.3″ x 8.5″ x 6.5″. Other size options are also available, so measure your space and see what fits best for you!
SPICE RACK ORGANIZER – This one is similar to the one I’m using and is 6″ x 10″ x 12″.
PANTRY SHELF (DRAWER) 6
Since we created our pantry with the PAX system, we made the last two bottom shelves drawers instead. It was a great decision! Having some drawers in your small pantry organization plan allows you to see what’s in the back without pulling everything out.
I store items such as grains, rice, and flour in the top drawer. I’ve arranged the items in rows, implementing tools to help keep them in rows. This allows you to see the items more easily. I’ve also implemented a few different ideas and products to help the small pantry drawer stay more organized.
The first row on the left uses flat, locking food storage containers that I store upright, rather than flat. I place any flimsy bags that won’t stand up on their own inside these containers. Rather than decanting them into the container, I keep them in the bag so it’s easier to change what the container stores based on my needs. Plus, keeping them in the bag allows me to put multiple items into the container (such as brown lentils and red lentils), which helps maximize the space.
In order to help keep everything in orderly rows, I have strategically placed some plastic containers to act as dividers. By not using a container in every row, I have created some ability to adjust the row width. I’ve also saved on product costs because I don’t need to buy as many containers.
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FLAT STORAGE CONTAINERS – These containers are similar to the ones I’m using and are 9.5″ x 5.5″ x 2.5″.
STACKABLE PLASTIC CONTAINERS – These containers are similar to the ones I’m using and are 11″ x 5.5″ x 5″.
PANTRY SHELF (DRAWER) 7
The bottom drawer holds my baking supplies. I’ve created a row system similar to the drawer above, with the same stackable plastic containers. I’ve also used small containers to hold the small items baking involves, such as extracts and sprinkles.
For this section, I used standing food storage containers to hold the flimsy bags. I again, chose not to decant them so that it’s easier to change what each container holds based on my needs.
I will say that between the two ideas I’ve used, I prefer the flat food storage containers above to these standing ones for our small pantry. Eventually, I will most likely swap them out for more flat containers. That said, small pantry organization is all about personal preference and what works best for you. If you’re unsure, I would try both options and see what you like best.
PRODUCT LINKS
STACKABLE PLASTIC CONTAINERS – These containers are similar to the ones I’m using and are 11″ x 5.5″ x 5″. These are the same containers as used in the drawer above.
SMALL PLASTIC CONTAINERS – These containers are 4″ x 8″ x 3″. They are seen above holding sprinkles and extracts.
STANDING FOOD STORAGE CONTAINERS – These containers come in a set of seven containers of various sizes. I only have a couple in the pantry (you can peep one in drawer 6 as well), but I have used the other sizes throughout my kitchen.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Overall my biggest piece of advice with small pantry organization, or any organization project, is just to get started! Organize it as best as you can, even if you aren’t sure it’s going to work. Then, if it’s not staying organized, take the time to really think about what isn’t working for you and change it. The best way to figure out how to stay organized is through experimentation because everyone is different. So take any ideas/tips/products from above that leaped out at you and tackle that small pantry! You’ve got this!
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