Kitchen Pantry Makeover

Ever since we moved into this house the pantry has bugged me. I'm not sure what the former owners put in there, but it was full of marks and scratches. There was hideously ugly shelf paper that had been taped to the shelves and then fallen off that just made it look old and sad. It was dark and it was a depressing place to put food. We kind of had things organized but it wasn't uncommon for things to fall down or to spend time shifting items around to get to what we needed. I was fed up and decided to clean it out and start fresh.

It wasn't until I removed all the food items and the shelving that I could really get a good look at the walls and how beat up they were.

Here's a closer look. Again, I'm not sure what would make marks like that on the wall.

I discovered this inside the door and got all excited that I might be able to install a light. Upon further inspection, it turned out to just be an access point that had been left uncovered.

After a couple coats of pain, a lovely cover made it look more whole and less raw. I know it's in a corner that no one would ever see it, but it gives me peace of mind nonetheless to see it buttoned up.

We make good use of our pantry and with only two brackets holding up the shelves, they were starting to bow in the middle. I added a 3rd bracket to ensure they are nice and firm.

I flipped for some nice baskets for chips and crackers and tossed the big, bulky Costco boxes Brent had in there. I also found some really pretty labels for the staples so they are easy to identify. This is my favorite part of the pantry now!

 As we put the food items back, we rearranged things in a way that makes more sense for our family. Liquids are now in crates on wheels at the very bottom. I had dreams of upcycling some wooden wine crates but after several visits to the local liquor store it was clear those go quickly so I just bought some regular crates at Home Depot and added the wheels. One crate also contains paper plates and plastic utensils and cups, which, we use more when guests are in town. Instead of digging into the corners to find say, paper plates and forks when we order Lou Malnati's, now we can just pull out the crate that has everything nestled in one place. I can also pull out all the crates and easily sweep the floor as crumbs collect.

The girls use cereal far and away more than Brent and I do, so those go on the lowest shelf along with the Capri Suns the girls need for their lunches. On the next shelf are more lunch supplies with the chips, crackers, applesauce and pudding. The next shelf is where you can find all the staples and now when we cook it's as if the pantry says, "Hi there! How can I help you? Need some flour? It's right here? How about brown sugar? Here ya go!" It's really dreamy. Finally, the top shelf is where any extra food items go- mostly things Brent buys in bulk or on sale that we rotate through.

I replaced the old shelf paper with a combination of some puffy liner and then a plastic one on top of that. Containers easily slide in and out but the shelf paper stays put thanks to the stickiness of the puffy liner underneath. I also installed a motion detector light so when you open the door it's nice and bright in there. We used our pantry a lot before but it is so much more efficient now! Not to mention much, much prettier.