7 Ways to Organize Your Kitchen Pantry

If you're not careful, a kitchen pantry can quickly become a disaster area. Between the hodgepodge of food containers and the forgotten items, such as half-empty bags of chips, your organizational tactics can fall to the wayside when things get busy, despite your best intentions. 

You might love the brands you choose at the grocery store, but do you want to see its packaging every day? One of the quickest and simplest ways to make your pantry look neat and tidy your pantry is to transfer food items into matching jars.

Items such as flour, seeds, nuts, small snacks, and dried fruits, look fantastic when displayed in clear glass jars. This is a relatively easy home organization project made even prettier by using paint pens to label the glass jars. Of course, you can always use your trusty label maker or a small index card to label the jars as well. 

The inside of the cabinet door is the perfect storage space for the items that you often use the most. Think about storing anything that's not too bulky on the inside of the door, so as not to weigh it down and make it hard to open. Examples include spices, boxes of aluminum foil and freezer bags, school snacks, and cooking tools. This is a very easy DIY project to tackle on the weekend. All you need is an over-the-door storage solution—a shoe rack works nicely—and a few tools.

Kids love chalkboard paint, and you will love the ease of jotting down your grocery list on your pantry door. The beauty of this system is that other people in your household to jot down their list here, too. This is also a great place to write out reminders for people or special messages like "Happy Birthday!"

Using clear plastic storage bins means you can see everything without having to root around at the back of your pantry. They also make grouping items together easier. You can choose to group similar items or group items that you use together. Try storing after-school snacks, tea bags, soup cans, canned veggies, nut butter, and crackers, or grains together. Remember: Even though you can see everything, it's still helpful to label your containers. 

If you're working with a small space, a simple cart can make your pantry more functional. If you do not have a pantry in your kitchen, a cart can hold all your pantry essentials in a very organized (and mobile) way. If you have a small pantry, move the items you reach for most often into a cart. This allows you easy access and frees up more storage space in your pantry. 

Pegboards are a favorite tool of professional home organizers for a reason—they make everything easier to reach while maintaining a neat and tidy look in your kitchen. You can hang cooking tools together and have them look organized without having to rummage around in a kitchen drawer. They also free up counter space. 

Pegboards are affordable, go with any decor and are easy to install. Think about installing one directly into your kitchen pantry, next to your coffee pot or on the inside of your pantry door.

If you're working with a small, narrow space, open shelving makes sense. You may not have room for doors and hinges! If you decide to go the open shelving route, consider these two tips:

1. Keep your walls and shelving in neutral colors. Gray, white, and light blue work particularly well in a small space. A coat of paint in the right color is like turning a light on in a room.
2. Use matching or similar jars, baskets, and bins to hold your pantry items. This is pleasing to the eye and makes everything appear neat and tidy.