Our pantry has been the bane of my existence for YEARS now. Yes.. years. Every time I tried to clean it up, it ended up just the opposite within a week or two. The issue? Wasted space. In the pantry itself and kitchen as a whole.

The purpose of this post is to inspire you with for your own small pantry and to show you how to make some pretty easy DIY pantry shelves!

The before.

Brace yourself. It’s a doozy. But the worse the before, the better the after… right?

Why is it this bad? A few things: Disorganization and wasted space.

So, I set out with a few goals:

1. Add more shelves.
2. Remove the need for the shelving on the door.
3. Make everything easier to see (and pretty).

The During.

The first step was to remove EVERYTHING. Then, I marked where I wanted the outlet to be and my husband installed it! After that I painted the walls and began installing the wall brackets.

Now, a lot of people would prefer to fill the holes from the old shelves before moving on to painting, but I was too impatient for that 😉 Plus, I knew there would be need for wood filler on some of the shelves so I opted to save that step and do it all at the same time.

DIY Pantry Shelves.

Okay, so it took me a bit of trial and error to figure out these shelves, but the truth is they’re super simple! For the brackets, I installed them so that the top of the wood was equal to where I wanted my shelf to start. In other words, the shelves themselves wouldn’t rest on TOP of the brackets. Rather, the brackets would become part of the actual shelf. Here is a look at what the shelf would look like on the bottom (unfinished) and also what it looks like once installed!

See how the brackets create a border around the shelf? My plan was to install the back and side brackets to the wall and then create pocket screws on the shelf that would make it easy to screw the shelves into the brackets. The final step was using my brad nailer and some wood glue to attach the final 1×2 to the front of the shelf to create a finished look.

As for the pocket holes, I just made two on each side of the shelf and then used 2″ drywall screws that went through the shelf, then the bracket and into the wall. The result was a very sturdy shelf and I was happy! Here’s the finished product.

The After.

After that, I filled the holes in the wall and used wood filler to cover the pocket holes on the top three shelves (the ones you could see). I let those dry overnight and then gave everything one final coat of paint before it was time to add our pantry items back in!

Pantry Design.

With this pantry design, I was able to add two more shelves than I previously had, house two appliances which got them off my countertop and created more depth (and storage) in the bottom three shelves. I kept the top four shelves 12″ in depth (the same as the old shelves) and then made the bottom three shelves 14″ deep.

Something to think about if you’re designing your own pantry makeover, is to measure the containers you want to have in your pantry and plan your shelves around that. BUT keep in mind that you don’t have to stand your containers up in the traditional way. I laid several of our containers down on their sides in order to fit the maximum amount of shelves and, therefore, create the max amount of storage possible. Take a look!

When designing the height of the shelves, I began with the shelf that would hold the appliances. I knew I wanted it to be normal countertop height, so I started there. Then, because I knew the very top shelf needed to be a certain height to be able to get things in and out, I made put it in the same place the previous first shelf was. From there – as I said – I measured the containers I wanted to have and figured out how many shelves I could fit in between. While I was mapping everything out, it was also super helpful to write out what categories of food would go on which shelves too! That made putting everything back a lot easier.

Pantry Organization.

Finding the right organization items for a pantry can be tricky at times! So, I thought I would share what I used. One thing I highly recommend is the use of lazy susans/turntables. I used three for our pantry and they make things like oils, condiments, sauces, and specialty items so much more organized and accessible!

Cereal.

I used these containers for cereal and they’re PERFECT because not only do they hold a family size box of cereal, but they look really cute laid on their side too!

Coffee and Snacks.

We have whole beans and ground espresso that we like to keep on hand, so I used these containers – which come in a set of three. I used the other one for snacks (goldfish) and just ordered another set of three for other snacks like crackers and chips!

Broths, Pasta Sauce and Spaghetti.

I used these cute baskets for our spaghetti sauce (also laid two boxes of spaghetti in the same basket) and chicken/beef broths. See bottom shelf.

Mac and Cheese, Oatmeal Packets, Snacks and Kids Protein Milks.

These containers come in a set of four and are the perfect size for keeping the boys’ oatmeal packets, mac and cheese boxes, protein milks (we get from Costco) and our individual bags of trail mix (also from Costco).

Canned goods and Spices.

These risers are great for creating more space for these items and making everything easier to see (and pretty)!

Turntables.

And last, but definitely not least are these turntables that I used to keep collections of things together and easily accessible in the pantry! The one on the pantry floor holds large bottles like soy sauce, vinegars, cooking oils, etc. The one on the middle shelf holds things like, baking powder, cooking spray, odd spices and cornstarch. Finally, the one on the very top shelf holds things I like to keep on hand but don’t use too often.

And I think that’s pretty much it! I have a blog post planned for sharing the other organizational products and things I did to allow for there to be less stored in the pantry. That’s coming soon, so stay tuned!

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