Kitchen Portable Pantry

[Suanne Forte]

Withtheir range of heights, widths, depths and colors, our tall kitchen cabinets can fit in pretty much any kitchen. You can decide what fittings you want inside, like adjustable shelves and drawers. So you get lots of storage for everything from saucepans and cereal packets to mixing bowls.

Obstacle #2: Getting the crown to squeeze in above and be level with both cabinets. The crown height and gap between the cabinets was the same, so we had to sand down part of the crown where the fitment was a bit too tight. Then, we discovered the left wall stuck just a tad more than the cabinets so we were left with this gap:

Here we have more rarely used entertaining items, pasta/oats/starches, then cereal/condiments. We keep larger dry food storage and chips/snacks in the baskets, then our glass jars with miscellaneous goods/spices and paper towel storage on the bottom.

Hi, Jenna Sue. So thrilled to find this post! I am planning to install two pantries on either side of a big window in my dining room. How wide and deep are the PAX frames you used? I'm finding the Ikea options a little confusing: some models come in certain depths and widths, but no doors, or only sliding doors, sliding baskets only work with certain dimensions. Thanks for any help you can offer!

Loved what you did for your Pantry project and appreciated the sources provided. (ie: Pax frames with Bergsbo doors.) Your kitchen also appears to be coming together beautifully! -Brenda-

P.S: Re using the 'shellac' Zinsser primer on the doors; personally I think 'the all purpose type' (blue and white can) would have sufficed as I have used it on every type of surface imaginable and have always had excellent results whereas the 'shellac' type have applied it only to new wood to prevent the bleeding of knots.

Hello:

Your Pax Panty is awesome! I have been contemplating a similar undertaking but have been worried about the weight tolerances of the Pax shelves/drawers/baskets. Now that your panty has been in use for a few months, have you had any issues with the load bearing capacities of the Pax interior pieces? I have been trying to think of ways to fortify them. Any suggestions would be extremely appreciated.

Just came across you blog and ell instantly in love. I admire all your DIY projects and intend to tackle the headboard project soon. I also have the perfectionist bug but like you mentioned in a post I'm also learning to letting thing ride instead of letting all hell lose because it's not. SO yeah I really commend all your work, and I hope to be able to boast of quite a number of DIYs and a lot more hands-on projects. Anyway my question for ya lol, how and what did you use to label your glass jars/mason jars on the bottom shelf of the pax-pantry? I saw the blue circle thingies and figured they were labeld. I would like to create sth like this so if you can send a link my way that would be great. Thanks so much and more power to ya lol. Can't wait to see what more is in store for your house 3 ?

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.

Fruit: Mango, berries, strawberries, sometimes old bananas, and other fruits we might use to make smoothies. Frozen fresh pineapple and/or watermelon chunks make for some fine cocktails. // Frozen Watermelon Mojitos, Pia Colada

Pasta and dumplings: Potstickers, wontons, pelmeni and vareniki (we have a ton of these right now because my MIL got us Russian groceries last weekend), and tortellini are very helpful to keep around for kids lunches and easy dinners. // Spring Vegetable Potstickers, Chicken Wonton Soup, Potato Vareniki

Hey Lynn,

I deal with rancid stuff all the time here in my hot Florida kitchen. I was so happy Deb provided the heads-up on all that goes rancid! You can tell with quinoa because it smells much stronger, more metallic to me. Same smell that old olive oil gets. Coconut products all go rancid easily, too, but they smell and taste like dish soap.

Hope this helps!

Luckily we love slow-roasted tomatoes, which is where so many of ours end up and we find that grape tomatoes improve in flavour as they slowly dessicate and become wrinkly on our counter. Also any tomato that we slice but have some left over automatically ends up refrigerated.

I agree with you about the buttermilk. But, I actually have a perpetual jar of buttermilk. I keep it in a mason jar, when it is almost empty (maybe an inch left in the bottom) I fill it with milk, shake, and leave it out overnight. In the morning I have a full jar of buttermilk again.

Wait WHAT?!?!?! someone please explain the magic of buttermilk to me. I have a canister from about a month ago I was assuming I should throw out. Do I not need to?!?! How do I know when it is actually bad?

I also use mason jars for dry goods storage. The thing I like best about them (besides all being the same size!) is how easy they are to toss in the dishwasher and relabel when I want to fill them with something else

I was going to suggest powdered coconut milk as well! It seems to keep forever, takes up less space than cans, and can be made in very small or very large amounts without also having to store unused portions.

I have a question regarding salt. How do you determine which one to use? Is sea salt more a finishing salt? Kosher seems less salty than table salt but I am always concerned I am using the wrong one when cooking.

Thank you for all the time and effort to put this together! Definitely in market for flour and sugar canisters with wide enough mouth, flat top for stacking and space saving, and glass (not plastic). Would love to see if you come across anything you recommend.

I noticed that spinach was sold pre-wilted in balls wrapped in plastic wrap at the markets in Italy, on prior trips to that lovely country. It makes perfect sense, but have never thought of doing it here at home. Thanks for the suggestion and technique.

Laughing over here, your pantry stock is almost exactly the same as mine. Living on the extreme east coast of Canada, it just cracks me up. I may have a few more cans and jars I like to keep around for the oh hmmmm what to make for dinner but the basics are the same. Including triscuits. The main difference is I make my own jams so tend to black currant, jalapeo jelly, raspberry rhubarb, dandelion, gooseberry cherry. The blueberry lavender was pretty special last year.

I love that you love Amora mustard. It really is the best. I had to study abroad in a francophone country to discover it (18 years ago now). For years I had to stock up at Senegalese markets when I made trips to New York, so I never had it regularly. It only recently occurred to me I could order it online.

This is super helpful. We will be moving into a new home in four weeks (that process started well before COVID-19 appeared!), and I plan to take this post and use it as my guide for stocking the kitchen in a more thoughtful way than I have previously. Thank you so much!

Great post. Could someone please recommend a pantry or grocery list app or other handy organization helper?

Although my pantry appears stocked more or less the same as yours.. thanks for the awesome recipes!! :)

Do you know that you can create tags for each grocery store, or section of the store? Such as TRADER JOEs, or PRODUCE. So that you can select Trader Joes (for eg), and see all the items that you want to get at that specific location?

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