I scoured the internet looking for walk-in pantry organization ideas for oddly shaped pantries, but couldn’t find answers. This project was a fun challenge to help the homeowner find answers to her pantry organization problems.
Pantry Organization Ideas for Oddly Shaped Pantries
Last fall a friend of mine, who is a real estate agent, called me up and asked me to help her friend who had recently purchased a house. They had a decent sized walk-in kitchen pantry, but it was an oddly shaped pantry, with narrow shelves, and the owner needed help organizing it. I always love an organizing challenge so I headed over to her house to see how I could help her with pantry organization ideas. My friend was right, it was a great space but the shelves were so narrow, and some were so oddly shaped that the space was limited and challenged to store their pantry items.
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The walk-in pantry was a good size but it lacked any sort of organization. The pantry shelving were all odd sizes and shapes. It’s hard to see in the pictures but the back shelves are actually shaped like a triangle. The left wall had long narrow, tall shelves that also end in a triangle shape, and then on the right were even more narrow shelves. This left the homeowner completely stumped on what to do with the pantry space. It’s such a strange design, and definitely wasn’t thought out well by the builder.
My first step was to take measurements of all the shelves and then go home and find storage containers that would fit her shelf space. I searched the internet for any helpful posts on oddly shaped pantries, but couldn’t find any helpful information, which is why I decided I needed to write this post!
After failing to find anything helpful on the internet, I turned to Amazon to try to find organization items to fit all my odd measurements. I was delightfully surprised to find exactly what I needed. I sent this list to the homeowner, telling her how many of each to order:
Clear containers with lids, for stacking items on tall, narrow shelves
Stackable wire baskets
Corner organizing bins
Large stackable food storage containers
Adjustable height 2-tier lazy susan
After all of the products had arrived I went back over to her house to put the pantry back together.
Here are my top 3 rules for organizing any space:
1. First remove everything from the space.
Removing everything from the space makes it clutter-free, and makes it easier to visualize how to organize the space because it isn’t already cluttered with items.
2. Use organization bins to plan your layout.
Using the organization bins, baskets, glass jars, whatever it is you’re using, start adding pieces back into the space–in this case the pantry–to get a feel for the layout you want to use.
Because this pantry is so oddly shaped, it took a little trail and error before I figured out exactly how I wanted to use all the organization bins we had purchased.
3. Organize items in groupings.
Whether I’m organizing a closet or a pantry, I always put like items together. In this case I asked the homeowner how often, and who used each thing, before I put it back into the space. Snack foods for the kids were all put together, on shelves they could reach. Dinner items, like pasta, rice, and dried beans, were all grouped together, baking items, like flour, sugar, etc, were grouped together, breakfast cereals were placed where the kids could reach them, you get the idea.
Because the homeowner decided to relocate the small appliances that had also been stored in the pantry, we ended up having lots of extra space! It was exciting to see how everything got put back together, and how well all the organization bins from Amazon, fit the narrow awkward shelves.
I always love it when there are extra storage bins left over, after an organization project, because that means there is extra storage space left for additional items when the homeowner gets back from the grocery store.
I hope that these few tips will help you organize your pantry shelves this year! Whether you have a regular shaped pantry, or an oddly shaped pantry, there is always a solution to create organized pantry storage. If you ever have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask, like I said, I love an organization challenge!
