Before and After: A Tiny Pantry Makeover

I have an 18 inch wide pantry and this is how it has looked lately. We moved into our house with big dreams of a future kitchen renovation but until then, we must function out of very little storage. This pantry will some day be gone so I have no desire to spend tons of time and money modifying it to awesomeness. I honestly don’t think it could get there anyway. My goal was to go to the store, grab some storage solutions and bring myself home the things that will make my pantry more usable.      

So much better…right? Let me back up and let me show you the space I have to work with in my kitchen.  

This little sliver of storage is all I have. Besides this cabinet, my kitchen only has three lower cabinets and three upper cabinets…well, four if you count the cabinet over the stove. As you can see my pantry was overflowing onto the top of my fridge. The large baskets held snacks, paper towels and shopping bags. It was so annoying to pull the baskets down, so I would throw things in the baskets and hope they made it in. Obviously some did not.

As I organized my pantry, I started to reclaim the space on the top of my fridge. My storage plan is pretty easy to replicate in any pantry. Here is what you need:

As I was searching for pantry inspiration I was drawn to the pictures of pantries with beautiful containers and labels. They make me feel fuzzy inside… until the reality of them set in for me. First of all, my pantry is not big enough to hold the food itself much less a ton of containers. I also know myself. I am not the girl who has the patience to pour things in them every week and clean them out when needed. On top of that..I don’t have a place to put the extra food that doesn’t fit in the container. Containers simply don’t fit me or my space…bummer. The good news is the above items helped me store more food by utilizing all the real estate of my pantry…including the walls.

The drawers are easily used by everyone in my family and I don’t have to move anything around to see stuff. The bathroom floor stand was hiding in the bathroom section.  It is meant to hold toilet paper and bathroom stuff. This find was a game changer. It gave me small and sturdy shelves without having to modify my pantry. The elastic, a Command Strip hook, and push pins got the shopping bags off the top of the fridge. Binder clips not only keep my chips fresh, but they help me use the walls of the cabinet as storage. I tried chip clips but they were not strong enough to hold the chips while hanging. The chips are hung on nails. You renters out there could use Command Strip hooks.

The can storage is awesome and everybody should have it. The added storage on the door helped create some empty space. I don’t know if you noticed, but In both pictures I have used a few containers. I had to get a few in, plus the oatmeal tube was too big for my pantry. Yeah, its that small.

The top of my fridge has been an eyesore for over a year. Making room in the pantry helped me clear the top of the fridge and make it a little more fun. 

During the upcoming holidays I am hosting some parties and have family coming, therefore, there will be lots of food. My pantry can handle it now. Want more pantry ideas? Check out this round up post.