Kitchen Pantry Before And After
Last Updated on December 2, 2024
It’s finally time to share the final installment of the New Year, New Room Challenge hosted by my friend Stephanie of Casa Watkins Home. Rather than a full room makeover, I took on a smaller project and decided to organize the kitchen pantry because it was a hot mess. Is it Pinterest perfect where everything is in a matching canister? Nope. This is real-life living, and it was completed on a budget. Oh, before we jump in, I want to mention the other gals who joined in this challenge. I linked them all at the bottom of this post.
Table of Contents
A Looksy At The Before
As you can see, organization is not always easy to maintain at HOH—especially when you have kids. It just takes one thing to be misplaced for it all to unravel.
I already had a few food containers on hand, but to control the chaos, I needed to order a couple of lazy susans, plastic bins, and a can organizing rack (which turned out to be the most valuable piece storage-wise). I did not want to invest a lot of money into this project, so I decided to work with what I had. I mean, everything sits behind a door, so there was no need to buy all new just to be matchy-matchy.
After Look At The Pantry
Before I get into the steps I took to reorganize the pantry, I want to give you the final reveal. No need to drag that out, am I right? Ta-da!!!!!
Sliding Wire Basket (similar)
NGL, I did struggle with all the colors and different boxes. I wanted to achieve that clean look of grains and dried pasta stacked in the beautiful glass containers that you see on Pinterest. However, I still read the instructions on a box of Mac N Cheese. I also never know how long it takes to cook pasta or rice. I needed to keep the boxes. Practicality would trump design here.
Side note: I tried the glass containers with the wooden top once for flour and sugar but ran into these issues. It’s impossible to fit your hand and a measuring cup in the top hole. The sugar turned rock hard because it was not an airtight seal. They were clumsy to pour. They’re glass containers, so you have a flour and glass mess if your kid drops the jar. Hard pass on all of the above.
Now, did this pantry project take a full month? No. But breaking up the tasks week by week made this makeover easy peasy. A few times, I felt overwhelmed, but I wasn’t working on it 24 hours straight for days at a time just to quit.
The Steps I Took To Organize The Pantry
1. Add Interior Lighting
While working on the kitchen makeover, we asked Mitch to add lighting to the pantry interior. It would have been the first step in this makeover if we had not installed this already. Once you have interior lighting, you can’t live without it.
2. Map Out An Organizational Plan
I mapped out my pantry as a guide before starting. This gave me a plan of attack and a budget.
3. Start From Scratch
Pull everything out. This was the most overwhelming task for my ADHD brain. Seeing everything on the counter, tossing expired salad dressing and canned pumpkin, and wiping everything down was a tedious job. I was over this part before it started.
4. Clean, Vacuum, and Repaint (if needed)
Before putting everything back, my original plan was to paint the interior, but that overwhelming feeling took hold, and I decided that painting was for another day. Instead, I wiped down the shelves and called it a day.
5. Organize By Catagory
I put everything back and organized it by category to access what bins I already had and what I needed to purchase.
6. Add Storage Bins, Lazy Susans, and Organizers
Once my new storage bins and lazy susans arrived, I got to work. The loaves of bread and rolls that were usually tossed on a shelf were placed in a large storage bin. Canned food was wrangled into a storage rack, and coffee received its own dedicated lazy susan, as did bottles and spices. My morning smoothie ingredients were placed in a dedicated wire basket.
7. Add Risers For Height
Risers were placed in the back for items we needed but did not use daily to double storage and make things like flour and sugar easy to find.
See More NYNR Challenge Makeovers
Be sure to hop over to see what the other final project reveals!
Casa Watkins Home // Our Fifth House // Iris Nacole // My Eclectic Nest // This is Our Bliss // House of Hipsters // Once Upon a 1912 //
Find More On House Of Hipsters Interior Design Blog
Check out these five easy organization tips and tidy up your home the simple way.
Is it possible to decorate your home on a tight budget? You betcha! Just follow these simple tips.
It’s finally finished. See the before and after bedroom closet reveal!
Download the declutter your home checklist with my top tips and secrets for an organized home.
Roberta
1. I would not take anything with much direction out of a box either.
2. I do cut the directions off the box on things like oatmeal and just keep the piece of cardboard on top the oatmeal inside the clear container.
3. Your pantry looks great. But my recommendation would be to add 2 or 3 more shelves. They seem far apart so require items to be stacked. For example a shelf that is about the height of a spaghetti sauce jar is great for canned goods like pickles and mayo and all those things. Boxes can be placed on the side for things like mac & cheese or rice or stuffing and cereal can too if you use chip clips to seal the liner. More shelves would allow for sorting and be less dependent on users putting things in neatly.
Kyla Herbes
RobertaI’m totally going to use your tip of cutting the directions out and taping them to the container. That’s crazy brilliant!
Stephanie
Kyla this looks super organized! I need to do my pantry desperately! Small pantry people unite…..HEYOOOOO! LOL! I love what you did with your pantry and the added light is the perfect touch.
Kyla Herbes
StephanieThe lighting is a game changer for sure! In a kitchen cabinet showroom I saw lighting inside drawers. I’m on a quest to DIY it.
Rita
Love your pantry, because as you stated it’s real life. I don’t decant my food into containers, I see it as an extra job if I had to do that also. I put like with like and it works for me.
Kyla Herbes
RitaThank you =) It’s still visually a bit chaotic but it survived this week’s tip to the grocery store so I’m taking this as a win!
Shirley in Georgia
Looks great! If I put something in a container to make it pretty, I cut out the directions and tape them on the underside of the lid. I have grains in jars on an open shelf in my kitchen, and this technique works great
Kyla Herbes
Shirley in GeorgiaTHAT IS A BRILLIANT IDEA!!!! Definitely going to think about this for rice. Thanks for sharing your tip!
Juniper
My grandparents had a huge walk in pantry that was filled with food storage, and not very organized. When we had to move them into a smaller house closer to our family last year, cleaning out that pantry alone took a small dumpster rental to get rid of all of the food that they didn’t know they had so it went to waste. My favorite was a can of chicken noodles from when my dad was in elementary haha. I love the idea of being able to have the can organizer, and the other clear bins, because then you can see exactly what you have and nothing goes to waste because you can plan accordingly. Thank you so much for sharing what you did with your pantry, it reminded me I need to get mine in order as well!!
Hazel Avery
I loved this blog post and your photos! What a stunning reveal. There’s nothing like freshening up my kitchen to kick off the new year. I love my new cabinet painting. Thanks for the inspiration I found from your website.