Small Pantry Closet Makeover
From drab and dated to chic and streamlined: A small pantry gets a major makeover. The result – a pantry that’s easier to use. Here’s how you can makeover your small pantry closet into a functioning pantry on a budget and basic DIY skills.
After taking time to find small pantry closet makeover inspiration, I came up with a budget friendly plan to makeover the closet.
My pantry closet, right off my kitchen is small compared to the large pantry in my previous house. I had a large double door pantry that fit everything from big bags of pet food, canned goods to paper products. It held everything I needed to buy from the supermarket and more.
I was a little spoiled by that pantry design. When we moved to the lake house, I missed having that large and highly organized pantry. I loved that I could open it up and see everything at a glance.
The problem with the small pantry closet I have now was that it only contained deep shelves that made finding anything that migrated to the back almost impossible. Plus, visually it was dark and dated with yellow plaid shelf paper.
Small Pantry Makeover
As with everything I DIY, this makeover was very budget friendly. The most expensive item I needed to purchase was the solid wood door that replaced the bi-fold louvered door.
Here is how the pantry looked BEFORE. The small closet had a louvered door that I painted white the first year we lived in the house.
It worked, but was underperforming since the door itself could not hold any storage in the way of racks or shelves.
The inside shelves were well spaced, but clutter filled. The shelf paper was old and ripped. The wall paint inside was yellowed with age. I wanted clean, light and bright.
I looked into removing the existing shelves to add roll-out shelves, but would have lost about 6″ of storage space on each side of each shelf as roll-outs could only be as wide as the door opening.
The inside of the closet is 12″ wider. I came up with an easy and affordable option that I will explain further down in the post.
First up for inside the closet was painting the inside using Sherwin Williams Pure White in semi-gloss to lighten it up. I then removed the shelf paper and replaced it with white vinyl contact paper.
Replacing Bi-Fold Door with a Solid Door
The big change was removing the bi-fold door and adding a 24″- wide solid wood white door in its place.
I chose this solid wood 6-panel door. I painted it using the same paint I used to makeover my kitchen cabinets.
I even made a sign for the new door to say “Pantry” to coordinate with the signs on the doors in the “hallway of darkness” that is just around the corner from this small pantry closet.
- Here is the post on how I made the pantry door sign to look like a French enameled one.
Adding a Storage Rack to the Inside of the Door
Here is the ClosetMaid wire door rack we added to the inside of the door. You need a solid door when hanging this rack to hold the weight of the canned and dry goods, a hollow core would not work.
Adding the door rack also doubles the amount of food storage we could add in this small pantry.
I have linked to all the products I used for the makeover at the end of the post.
The wire door rack was very easy to install with screws on the new door. We did have to make one modification so it would fit the width of the door.
We had to cut one vertical rail that is screwed into the door so it would not be blocked by the doorknob. Once it was cut, we made sure the holes below the doorknob that hold the wire shelves were even with the vertical rail on the opposite side of the rack.
New Pantry Storage Space
Once the base of the pantry space had been painted along with the new door and added extra storage rack, it was time to figure out storage solutions that would provide easy access that would work in the closet.
Much better, let me show you the inside organizing details.
The shelves on the door rack can be easily moved and adjusted to your needs. I had to place each shelf on the door rack so that when the door is closed the bottom of each wire shelf is above the wood shelves in the closet.
Small Pantry Organization Ideas
Clear Bins
I mentioned earlier that I looked into adding roll-out shelves. I didn’t do this because the shelves were wider then the door opening, but did find an alternative that I am happy with – clear bins.
I used various sizes of clear organizing bins with handles to store similar items in. When I need something in one, I can simply slide the bin out. Also, since the bins are clear, it makes it easy to see what they hold.
Shelf Labels
To help me keep the bins organized, instead of labeling each bin, I decided to use clear shelf label holders. This way if I change the contents in one of the bins, I don’t have to remove a label on the bin.
Using the shelf label holders, the item labels can be simply moved, swapped out and re-used.
The clear label holders will work on a standard shelf thickness of 7/8″. My shelves were a tad bit thicker, but the holders still fit over the edges of the shelves with a little effort.
The shelf label holders can be moved or slid along the edge of a shelf where ever you want to place them. To remove one, you simply pull it off.
Below in the post I have two free printables of the labels I made to fit into the holders.
Tiered Racks
I also used the label holders on the edge of the canned goods shelf and placed one in front of each 3-tiered rack that holds each canned good item by category.
The tiered racks allow me to see even the items placed in the back of the pantry.
Pantry Lighting
My plan was to add stick-on light strips inside the pantry closet that a reader had mentioned she used. I bought them, but where I wanted to place them to light up the entire closet, they didn’t allow the door to close.
I was not too upset about this though since I was surprised to find after painting the walls inside and lining the shelves in white vinyl, the closet brightened up quite a bit.
I used two puck LED lights I had before. I figured since I had them, I would still use them, although since the makeover, I have not needed to turn them on since the white paint brighten the closet up quite a bit.
Plastic Bins With Handles
I like these handled plastic bins because they are stackable and easy to pull off the shelf.
Cardboard Tubes
On the floor, I have two large cardboard mailing tubes where I stuff and store plastic supermarket bags. You can find these at most office supply stores. They come in handy at times. I have had the tubes for quite some time and even used them in the large pantry in my precious house.
I use them to store plastic bags. They keep the bags neat, tidy and easy to retrieve. Large grocery bags go in the large tubes and small produce size plastic bags I want to reuse go in paper towel tubes.
On top of the HVAC vent I placed foils and wraps.
Baskets
Also on the floor of the closet space, I used rectangular baskets to hold pantry staples like potatoes, dried beans, bulk grains and onions.
Spice Organization
Since this pantry is not near my stove or kitchen island where I use spices as I prepare food everyday, I didn’t include a spice rack in this pantry.
Instead I cleared out a drawer by my stove to create a very organized spice drawer using glass jars.
Canned Good Storage
Only having a tiny pantry, I did need to create an additional pantry cabinet by clearing out a cabinet in my laundry room that is right around the corner from the pantry.
I store mostly cans and boxed goods in this space on white wire racks.
Looking for Large Pantry Ideas?
If you looking for ideas to store a whole lot of food in an organized way then you may find inspiration from this large pantry I created in my previous house.
Free Printable Pantry Labels
These free printable labels will fit the clear shelf label holders that I used.
Link to print: Clear Shelf Label Holder LABELS – Filled In
Link to print: Clear Shelf Label Holder LABELS – BLANK
- Print out either sheet of labels. One is blank that you can fill in yourself with a marker. The second sheet of labels has basic pantry items all ready filled in.
- Cut labels out with scissors or paper cutter.
- Place in label holder and place over the edge of shelf.
How to Make Your Own Labels for Wire Back of Door Shelves
For the wire shelves on the door rack, I needed to use a different type of label to keep rices, pasta, snacks and other food ingredients organized. What I found worked was a simple strip of paper with the name of the item written on.
supplies needed:
- Computer/Printer/Paper or a label maker
- Self-Seal Laminating Pouches or sheets
- Scissors or paper cutter
- Small Brass/Silver Fasteners – found in the scrapbooking aisle in the craft store.
- To make the wire door rack shelf labels, I simply typed out the list of item names I needed on my computer using Microsoft Word.
I left a space above and below each item name in my list as I was typing them in to the document so that when I cut them out there was some extra white space on the top and bottom.
I printed the sheet out and then used only the sticky side of a Self-Seal Laminating sheet to protect the paper.
2. To attach the label to the door rack: I marked the center of the rack with tape. I then found the center of a label strip and centered the label on the front of the wire shelf. I wrapped the ends of the label strip around the 4th wire from the center on each side.
3. On the label strip, I marked a dot where to place the silver fasteners. I removed the label strip from the shelf keeping the ends that wrapped around the wire, folded as I punched a hole in the ends of the label. When I unfolded the ends, you will see two holes.
4. I placed the label strip back onto the shelf and attached with the fasteners by lining up the holes and placed a fastener in.
Products I Used For This Pantry Makeover:
- French Utility Clips
- Door Rack
- White Shelf Liner
- Wire 3-Tiered Shelf Racks
- Wall foil holders
- Clear Acrylic Refrigerator Bins
- Clear Shelf Label Holder
- Schlage Bowery Doorknob
- Self-Seal Laminating Pouches
The pantry makeover and organization did not take long to complete. I did need my husband’s help to hang the door, but the rest of the makeover was simple DIY.
Total cost was approximately $300.00. The solid wood door alone used up half of my budget.
More Kitchen Ideas You May Like:
- Removing Kitchen Cabinet Doors to Create Open Shelving
- How I Made a Large Round Wood Top for My Kitchen Table
- Adding a Kitchen Island to My Small Kitchen
