Small Portable Kitchen Pantry

[Sourn Sanneh]

AbsolutelyWith a little creativity, you can create pantry storage in even the smallest kitchen. Repurpose a closet, use bookshelves, or open a wall and set some recessed shelving between the studs. Look for unused corners and spaces near the kitchen (like hallways, mudrooms, or the space under the stairs) where you can add shelving to store canned food, dried goods, and lesser-used kitchen appliances.

To maximize the efficiency of your pantry, reserve the top shelf for special occasion items or things you do not use daily (like party supplies, paper plates, and holiday cookie cutters). Keep similar items together in baskets or bins so you can easily access them when the time is right.

My pantry closet, right off my kitchen is small compared to the large pantry in my previous house. I had a large double door pantry that fit everything from big bags of pet food, canned goods to paper products. It held everything I needed to buy from the supermarket and more.

The problem with the small pantry closet I have now was that it only contained deep shelves that made finding anything that migrated to the back almost impossible. Plus, visually it was dark and dated with yellow plaid shelf paper.

We had to cut one vertical rail that is screwed into the door so it would not be blocked by the doorknob. Once it was cut, we made sure the holes below the doorknob that hold the wire shelves were even with the vertical rail on the opposite side of the rack.

Once the base of the pantry space had been painted along with the new door and added extra storage rack, it was time to figure out storage solutions that would provide easy access that would work in the closet.

The shelves on the door rack can be easily moved and adjusted to your needs. I had to place each shelf on the door rack so that when the door is closed the bottom of each wire shelf is above the wood shelves in the closet.

I used various sizes of clear organizing bins with handles to store similar items in. When I need something in one, I can simply slide the bin out. Also, since the bins are clear, it makes it easy to see what they hold.

I used two puck LED lights I had before. I figured since I had them, I would still use them, although since the makeover, I have not needed to turn them on since the white paint brighten the closet up quite a bit.

On the floor, I have two large cardboard mailing tubes where I stuff and store plastic supermarket bags. You can find these at most office supply stores. They come in handy at times. I have had the tubes for quite some time and even used them in the large pantry in my precious house.

I use them to store plastic bags. They keep the bags neat, tidy and easy to retrieve. Large grocery bags go in the large tubes and small produce size plastic bags I want to reuse go in paper towel tubes.

For the wire shelves on the door rack, I needed to use a different type of label to keep rices, pasta, snacks and other food ingredients organized. What I found worked was a simple strip of paper with the name of the item written on.

2. To attach the label to the door rack: I marked the center of the rack with tape. I then found the center of a label strip and centered the label on the front of the wire shelf. I wrapped the ends of the label strip around the 4th wire from the center on each side.

3. On the label strip, I marked a dot where to place the silver fasteners. I removed the label strip from the shelf keeping the ends that wrapped around the wire, folded as I punched a hole in the ends of the label. When I unfolded the ends, you will see two holes.

We had, instead of bifold door, two hollow cabinet doors, one over the other. There was one shelf that came all the way out to the face frame of this two door monstrosity. When I scour Zillow for ideas I see every single house in my floor plan had replaced the cabinets but not this pantry. I decided to be a pioneer and rip it off totally. A new solid door $$$ but better storage that can hold weight.

Your pantry looks wonderful! So bright and perfectly organized to utilize every inch of space! I like the font you chose for the labels. This has motivated me to revamp mine! Thanks so much for sharing how you did it and taking the time to provide all of the helpful photos. Great job!!

Your pantry looks amazing! You truly have a talent for making the best use of what you have. I also have the closet maid shelves on my closet-turned-pantry door, and they hold a fantastic amount of stuff!

Although our pantry is a walk-in, it is under the staircase so it is quite small and obviously has an awkward slanted ceiling that makes shelving and storage a little challenging. But because it is so tiny, we decided to play up the more eclectic charming feel with a mix of open shelves, a real wood table and bins, baskets and glass jars.

The main reason we wanted to remove the microwave from over the stove was so we could install a more powerful exhaust hood. Properly sized exhaust hoods should be at least the size of your stove top, but our microwave and exhaust system was smaller and therefore not as effective.

The other reason we moved the microwave was because the previous layout of our kitchen only provided enough space for one cook. By moving the microwave were were able to spread out the work zones a little bit more. We decided the most convenient place for us to set up our microwave was here in our pantry. Now anyone can heat up a quick snack or hot drink without getting in the way of the main work zone!

We had a sofa table that was not being used elsewhere, so instead of adding in another shelf for the microwave we decided to use what we had and put the table against the far wall. It is nice and sturdy for the microwave and still allows for storage above, underneath and along side. A little washi tape boarder and new knobs gave the table a more spunky personality without paint. Easy DIY!

I love finding fun new ways to group and organize items in the pantry! The cute round basket with the coral stripe is from Target, as are the green metal bins in the photo below. It is the little details like this that make working in this pantry and keeping it organized so much fun for me! Cute and functional details really inspire me.

Our pantry and kitchen has a place for everything we need! And, we can see everything quite easily because we have narrow shelves. They not only maximize our floor space but also help so that nothing gets lost or hidden behind other things.

This small wall just as you enter in the pantry is the perfect place for keeping my keys! No more lost keys! The skeleton key holder is from Anthropologie. The chalkboard sign was a DIY project from ages ago.

It looks GREAT!!! Funny, I just did our pantries too!!! But all I did was clean them up and arrange them nicely:) YOURS is fabuloiys. In my last house I had our microwave in the pantry too. Now it is over the regular oven in this new house. Love all your jars and baskets. XO, Pinky

I love, love, love your pantry. The metal basket that is holding the dried mango is my favorite. Perhaps best of all is seeing that you have some Quinn Popcorn, such a great company and product. I love everything the stand for.

Pasta and noodles: I keep a mix of pasta shapes around, some long, some short plus some tiny ones, like orzo, ditalini, and fregola/large couscous. When I find it, Setaro is one of my favorite brands of dried pasta. I like to stock dried rice noodles and ramen-style noodles, too. // Quick, Essential Stovetop Mac-and-Cheese, Crispy Tofu Pad Thai

More dry goods: Rolled oats and Irish oats, panko-style breadcrumbs, cornstarch and tapioca starch/flour (which is my favorite pie thickener these days), dried unsweetened coconut, cornmeal, nuts (we like whole and sliced almonds, peanuts, and I like walnuts; keep nuts in the freezer for longer storage as they will get rancid at room temperature) a mix of dried fruit, and always, non-negotiably, ground espresso for our Moka pot. (Lavazza Crema e Gusto is our current favorite). // Thick, Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, Chicken Milanese, Even More Perfect Apple Pie, Green Beans with Almond Pesto, Stovetop Americanos

Beans: Black beans, kidney beans, small red beans, cannellini beans, small white beans, and chickpeas are my standards but you probably know that I really love beans. I often buy a canned black bean soup, pouring off some of the extra liquid at the top instead of mixing it in, for shortcut saucy black beans. For everyday beans, I mostly buy Goya. For special cooking, or simpler bean dishes that really glow up with better ingredients, I use Rancho Gordo. // Crisp Black Bean Tacos, Red Kidney Bean Curry, Cannellini Aglio e Olio, Crisped Chickpeas with Herbs and Garlic Yogurt

Tomatoes: 28-ounce cans (one whole and one crushed) prove the most versatile to me, as well as tomato paste (although I also like to keep a tube in the fridge for when I need less than a can). Should you only have tomato paste cans, you can freeze the extra paste in tablespoon-sized dollops for future recipes and be glad you did. // Quick Pasta and Chickpeas, Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter

Cheese: We also love cheese and keep sharp white cheddar, aged parmesan and pecorino, halloumi, cotija, cream cheese, and sometimes feta around. Halloumi and cotija keep a very long time. Always save your parmesan rinds for flavoring soups. Nobody asked, but this is my favorite grocery store cheddar and my favorite feta is Bulgarian. // Parmesan Broth with Kale and White Beans, Foolproof Cacio e Pepe

Extras that make us happy: Fish sauce (Megachef and Red Boat are my go-tos), mayo, preserved lemon paste, (a great alternative to chopping all or part of a preserved lemon for recipes), a favorite harissa (or a homemade one), capers, olives, I get these anchovies when I can, salami, chile-garlic sauce, this hot fudge sauce, maple syrup, and we always have this chili crisp.

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