Small Space Pantry Organization (Tidy Tuesday)

When we moved into our current home there was very little extra storage space.  The kitchen is eat-in galley style.  We sacrificed some table room at the eating end of the kitchen and installed a wall of book-cases to hold our dishes (day-to-day and good), cookbooks and small appliances.  This allowed more cupboard space in the kitchen for pots and pans and ingredients.  Still, for someone who loves to cook, there just wasn’t enough room to hold more than a few cans and boxes of food.

What we did have, just outside the kitchen in the front entryway, was a large coat closet and a small broom closet.  Pretty sure I could manage to carry the vacuum upstairs on a weekly basis, we decided to turn the broom closet into a pantry.  Hubby went to work installing some MDF for shelving, and I set about stuffing them full of delectable goods.

I found that it would get cluttered, and sometimes I would actually run across 5 tins of coconut milk I had bought thinking I had none.  Sigh!  Time to crack out the curry recipes!  The solution was to organize the pantry by type.  Top shelf:  baking, then pasta and grains, then tinned goods,  then serving dishes.  I reserve the floor for any items that are too large to fit on the higher shelves.  I place the items I rarely use to the back of each shelf so I can easily find and reach the daily ingredients.

With such a small space, things can get easily overlooked.  I keep a clipboard printout of every ingredient that lives in the pantry with a pencil attached to it.  As I purchase new ingredients, or use them up, I mark the quantity on the  list.  As I run out I add it to my grocery list so I’m never without.

What tips and tricks do you use to organize your small kitchen space?  How about your pantry?  Comments are open!

Warmest regards,

{j}

Receive our Newsletter!

If you enjoy our posts, please consider taking a moment to follow us! Pardon My Poppet is on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest. Or you can grab our RSS Feed or Subscribe via E-mail!