Pantry organization is something that I have always struggled with in my current home. When we first moved in we thought that the pantry would be perfect. That’s because it is a nice big deep pantry that looks like it will be great for storing lots of stuff. The problem is that the shelves are too deep. After a while quite a bit of stuff gets lost at the back of the pantry and you tend to forget it is even there!
The shelves in my pantry are about 50 cm (20 inches) deep and it is an L shaped space. In the corners the shelves go back around 70 cm (28 inches)! It really is one very deep pantry!
It seemed great at first but after a while you realise that you can’t access much of what is at the back. And it’s even worse for anything that is stored in the corners! Over the years we have had a few food items go out of date. Usually it was because we couldn’t see them and therefore we forgot them!
Storing the taller items at the back is not necessarily the solution either. The pantry needs to be user friendly and therefore it’s not always practical to put the taller items to the back of the pantry.
I have tried putting extra racks at the back of the shelves to lift up the items at the back. But on higher shelves that just makes some items harder to reach. I have also seen where some people have used turntables or Lazy Susans to make use of the deep spaces. I don’t think that would have worked well in my pantry. Plus I don’t want to have to buy a massive Lazy Susan just for the pantry!
It occurred to me recently that I would probably be better off with a smaller pantry. At least then I wouldn’t lose track of things! I wondered how I could make my current pantry smaller without having to do any remodelling.
How To Ditch The Deep Pantry And Get More Organized In The Process!
I came up with an idea to fill in the back of the pantry and the corners with something bulky. If the big areas at the back and corners are unavailable then my pantry items have to stay at the front – and more organised!
I then realised that I have just the thing sitting taking up space in my spare room and garage! You see that is where I normally store some of the items that I don’t use very often. Anything that I seldom use, but don’t want to get rid of, normally ends up back in its box and stored away.
These boxes are perfect for putting into deep pantry corners and along the back of shelves! It was a win win for me really. I got an organized pantry and at the same time I freed up some room in the spare room and garage!
Now for the most part I no longer have a deep pantry. In the areas where the deep shelves and awkward corners where an issue I just put in some boxes to fill the space!
Sure I can’t fit as much into my pantry as I could before but it is so much more user friendly now! It also might not be the prettiest pantry you have ever seen. I don’t know about you but I don’t entertain my guests in the pantry so I don’t care!
Now at least I can keep track of everything in the pantry. Plus I don’t have to worry about what is hiding at the back! If I do want to use one of the boxed up items it is not that hard to move a few things aside to get it out. When I’m finished I can just box it up again and put it back into the pantry!
What about you – do you have a pantry with deep shelves? What do you do to make sure you keep your deep pantry organized?
Hi, I'm Kaylene, and I'm a keen gardener,budding baker and wannabe DIYer!
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