25+ Pantry Shelving Ideas To Try In Your Kitchen - Making Manzanita (2024)

Amanda has a pretty small pantry closet in her kitchen. She mentioned that for a while she was using the closet for storing small appliances and putting the food in other cabinets. But then she made the switch and put the food on the pantry shelves. She corralled everything together with clear bins with labels.

With the unique layout of the pantry, there's a hard-to-reach area in the corner of the pantry. In that space, she is using a couple of acrylic turntables (aka lazy susans) to hold bottles and glass jars for things like vinegar, sauce, and more. That is such a good idea!

The pantry has an awkward shape, which means that the old shelves that were in the pantry weren't very functional.

So they decided to make their own pantry shelving! They ripped everything and built custom shelves that wrapped around the entire pantry using laminated wood. The laminated shelves are very easy to wipe down to clean.

Since the shelves aren't adjustable, they made sure to measure the standard sizes of food items before deciding on the heights. The top and bottom shelves are a little more spaced out to accommodate larger things, like cereal boxes. She uses all of the available space in the small pantry - even makes use of the floor space. I love the wire basket in the corner for bagged snacks.

One of the most common things you'll see in most homes is wire shelves in the pantry. Laura mentioned in her article that she loved to replace the wire shelving at some point, but it wasn't a priority right now.

She definitely found a way to make the most of the wire shelving in her walk-in pantry. She started by decluttering the pantry.

A great way to kick off the pantry makeover is to remove everything from the pantry, which will definitely look like a bomb went off in your kitchen.

She continues by sharing tons of tips for how to organize your pantry shelving, like buying the containers you need & want plus extras. You can always return the extras, but it is a pain to have to stop mid-way through and buy more.

Sarah has a floor-to-ceiling custom pantry cabinet in their kitchen for food storage.

She keeps bagged items, like chips and seasoning packets in the white lidded containers and the gray bin on the bottom shelf, which keeps everything corralled.

The clear bins with air-tight lids provide easy access to dry goods, like rice, almond flour, sugar, snacks, and chocolate chips.

It’s not hard to let the pantry get a little out of hand. For Amber, it was time for some pantry Spring cleaning!

She started the pantry organization project by purging everything that was expired. Next, she added fun peel-and-stick wallpaper to the back wall of her pantry space.

She finished things off by making sure everything in her pantry had a "home". Baskets with open tops are perfect for loose food items and small items. The baskets are organized by different zones (ie: a breakfast basket holding the items they use daily for breakfast).

Even though it is a really small space, she made it look so much better after giving it a little love.

Having a good, functional pantry organization can make or break how your kitchen functions. Mique shares so many pantry organization ideas with you in her article.

She also walks you through the process of getting rid of pantry moths, which are pretty common in Southern California.

After getting rid of the bugs, the most important thing going forward was to invest in air-tight containers to prevent it from happening again (and they will keep your food fresh longer, so it is a win-win). They are expensive but worth it.

She also made her own pantry labels for the containers on the top shelf, which turned out great. The big white bins are from IKEA and provide easy reach for the sauces and jars she keeps in them.

The pantry/laundry room combo space is perfect. She uses open shelves installed on the wall that is designated for the pantry area.

Their open shelving is 12" deep, which is perfect for fitting pantry storage baskets. The shelves on the pantry wall are 60" long, which is the perfect amount of storage for them.

She keeps a wooden step stool nearby so she can very easily reach up to the upper shelves.

How gorgeous is this walk-in butler's pantry space?! This has got to be one of the pretties walk-in pantries that I've ever seen.

I love the sage green base cabinets with a full countertop for additional space to work and store items. The open shelving, peg rail hooks, and cabinets with drawers provide so many different types of storage options!

With all of this extra space, you have plenty of space to mix in some decorative items alongside other storage solutions.

You've got to see the before and after pictures of this pantry makeover!

The existing storage space had really deep shelves (21"), which she adjusted to 15" instead, which were more manageable. Deeper shelves are not always better! The best type of shelving for the pantry is one that isn't so deep that you have two or more "layers" of food that you can't easily access.

She also decided to take advantage of the back of her built-in pantry door by installing a pantry door organizer with baskets to hold cans, jars, and bottles. It is such a good use of that often-overlooked space. On the pantry shelving, she uses baskets with labels.

Morgan and Sean tore open their existing pantry and filled in a doorway to create a massive pantry expansion.

Once they expanded it to double their existing pantry storage, they added new shelves made from plywood in an L-shape along the back and side of their pantry. They also added a counter-level shelf made from butcherblock.

On the pantry shelving, they incorporated clear bins, which grouped similar items together. They also added a coffee station and spinning lazy susans for jars.

Here's a quick look at Morgan and Sean's pantry again before they expanded it. I also wanted to include this one because I think it has some great pantry shelving ideas.

Specifically, the shallow shelves for spices and jars on the far wall. Nice and shallow shelves, like this, are great for smaller items to take advantage of vertical space.

Even if you've created storage bins for your pantry in the past, they may be spilling over. Your floor of the pantry may have also become a "catch-all" for anything that doesn't have a home on the pantry shelves. That's what happened in Lindi's pantry.

Even if you're working with a little space, after decluttering and re-organizing, you can take better advantage of your shelf space.

Bins that aren’t used as much, such as serving supplies (paper plates, napkins, etc.), can be placed on higher shelves.

If you're thinking about building your wooden pantry shelving, you've got to check out this tutorial. They ripped out the old wire shelves, painted everything, and added new wooden shelves built with 1x12 common-grade pine. The wall supports were made with 1x2 and the floor supports were made from 2x2 furring strips.

With more than enough space on the new built-in shelving, they can definitely get more creative with better pantry organization! And I just love the pretty wood tones.

If you have a poorly-designed pantry, have no fear! This pantry makeover incorporated new pantry shelves covered in marble contact paper.

Once finished, there is so much space for storing all the food plus other kitchen essentials (like the top shelf filled with extra rolls of paper towels).

A walk-in pantry is an excellent addition to any home, particularly for those with small kitchens. This article shows you how to build a walk-in pantry to provide additional storage space for kitchen essentials.

I just love the shelving that they added to their pantry for the clear glass jars for bulk dry storage.

Craving a little more color in your pantry? Emilee shows us that kitchen pantries don't have to be boring. They used a wall stencil and paint on the back wall, which was cheaper than wallpaper.

The wall shelving is built with 1/2" plywood with a 1x2 attached to the front to make the shelf look thicker and nicer than plywood alone.

The countertop on top of the drawers is actually made with plywood covered with granite contact paper.

The drawers are hand-built and painted a bright green/blue color to brighten things up!

Ashley took advantage of the space underneath their stairs for a pantry in their kitchen. They packed in SO many genius pantry ideas in this small space.

My favorite is the basket drawers made with wooden crates!

They also added a pullout hidden can storage rack, shelving for storing small kitchen appliances, and a chalkboard to keep track of the grocery list.

Ashley has a small pantry cabinet in their beautiful kitchen that holds dry food storage in glass canisters, a microwave, canned goods on a shelf, and baskets for snacks and other food items.

If you're wondering, she stores her baking supplies in a different cabinet.

The narrow space on the left of the pantry is used for storing the brook, extra bags, and table extenders for their dining room table.

Here's a creative idea for your pantry shelves - a rainbow-organized bookshelf full of cookbooks. If you love using cookbooks, find a fun way to incorporate them into your pantry, like this!

The rest of the pantry is beautiful and ready for organizing! They incorporated Closetmaid shelves complete with wire basket drawers, adjustable shelves for customizing, and tall vertical shelves with separators for organizing muffin tins and baking sheets.

Rachel started by giving her pantry shelves a fresh coat of enamel paint. Enamel paint is more durable than latex and will stand up better to wear and scraping. She also laid shelf liners across each shelf to further protect against stains and scratching.

The shelves are organized so well with different labeled bins and baskets. I also love the addition of the organizer added to the back of the pantry door.

You don't have to spend a ton of money to get your pantry shelving organized! Julia did this kitchen pantry makeover for less than $300 (including the construction supplies and organization supplies!).

Over the course of 4 days, she ditched the wire shelves for wooden shelves and added good lighting inside the pantry and lots of genius storage.