How to Organize a Wire Shelf Pantry

Do you spend too much time looking for ingredients? Let’s fix that and organize a pantry.

As a professional organizer, I am constantly challenged by my clients with, “How can I get my food pantry more organized?”

I decided that it would be a great help to many mothers and housewives if I took you through an existing pantry redesign and show how it is done.

Let’s take a look at the pantry before we redo it.

Here is a list of items we would like to correct, from top to bottom:

1. Top Shelf

1. • Bags of food are falling through the slots
   • It is hard to know what you have since it is all lumped together.
   • Open packages of food can become stale.

2.  Next Shelf–Baking Goods
   • Baking shelf is very cluttered
   • Hard to date products
   • Items can easily end up falling and spilling out (since wireframe is not solid)
3. Next Shelf–Misc. Condiments
   • Generically confusing ( everything is one big mush!)
4. Next Shelf–Breakfast Shelf
   • There is no clear status of the contents of the box and whether it is full or empty.
   • Items can easily fall and make a mess.
5. Bottom Area–Snack Collection
   • Too much unknown regarding what is in the boxes.
   • Any kid accessing boxes is guaranteed to make a mess.

I removed all items and will restructure from bottom to top.

Now for our makeover:

Now, let’s go from the bottom up.

1. Bottom Area–Snack Collection

Let’s define its function. We want an easy way for busy mothers to let their kids choose snacks for school without it becoming a huge mess. I suggest using stackable bins. This is a great solution for snack bags since the kids can see the snacks all laid out. This makes it easy for them to choose what they want without making a mess. Having this on the bottom makes it ideal for kids of all ages.

2. Next Shelf–Breakfast Shelf

Simply switching cereals to airtight freshness containers helps in 3 ways.

• Keeps cereal fresher.
• The containers are sealed so if they do fall, there will be no spill.
• It makes the cereals look more appealing when kids want to pick their breakfast cereal.

3. Next Shelf–Misc. Condiments

By using clear acrylic pantry bins, the condiments are more organized. Just group them with similar items/products. This approach makes it much easier to maintain and to find items when you need them.

2.  Next Shelf–Baking Goods

I started with Lazy Susans on either side (perfect for sprinkles, baking toppings, etc.). In the center, I transferred loose ingredients, such as flour, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, and others basics into OXO containers. This makes them more manageable as well as more convenient.

Last but not least is the nosh shelf.

1. Top Shelf

OXO containers are helpful here too. These containers, available in multiple sizes, have airtight freshness lids. By transferring the nosh to these containers, we now have a visual of the type and quantity. By using a reusable “chalk” markers with chalkboard stickers we can put dates on containers as well, and erase and update as needed.

Notice in the left and right corners that I stacked more acrylic pantry bins. These are ideal for items (candies) that have their own wrappers

I now ask you to take the time and compare the before and after pictures. How gorgeous is the “after”?

I hope this article helps your endeavors.