10 Pantry Organization Ideas And Tips From The Pros (2024)

First things first: Pantry organization always starts with assessing the items you already have.
“Edits are great for your entire home, but they’re especially great for your kitchen,” professional organizer Teresa Dinneen shares with Forbes.

Dinneen, founder and owner of Lifestyled, a home organization and styling company, recommends going through your pantry regularly. Start by tossing any old or expired food and put the items you’re keeping off to the side. Going through and removing items you’re not using will keep clutter at bay, but it will also help with overspending and buying duplicates. In fact, you should do a mini version of this before heading out to the store.

“Look at your pantry prior to going to the grocery store, and just do a quick edit of what you have and what you need before buying,” Dinneen says. “There is so much food that gets shoved to the back of pantries that never gets touched or is forgotten about. We’re all guilty of it.”

Once you have all the pantry items you know you’re keeping, the next step is organizing them into groups. “Keep things in categories, like breakfast, snacks and baking,” professional organizer Marisa Smith of MACmomorganizing shares.

Organizing your items by category and creating zones in your pantry for where each category will go will make it much easier to assess what you have, and if you’re low on an item and need to purchase more. Zones can make up an entire shelf or drawer, half of one or even a specific section of your pantry—whatever works for you. Smith suggests labeling the zone, to make it even more clear.

“You can label the front of the drawer, or you can label the shelving in a walk-in pantry,” Smith says.

If you have kids, Dinneen says creating a shelf dedicated to kid-only snacks is incredibly helpful. “Kids can grab what they want to grab, and you can keep healthy snacks on the bottom,” Dinneen shares. There will be no question as to what snacks are available to them, and kids will always know exactly where to find them.

“Bulky boxes take up so much space,” Smith shares. “If your items are individually wrapped, place them in containers instead of the boxes they come in. It will free up space and make it easier to grab and go as well.”

This tip is especially handy when it comes to baking items like flour and sugar, especially if you’re going for a more aesthetically pleasing look. Clear storage containers look very sleek on a shelf while maximizing your space and allowing you to see when you may need to borrow a cup of sugar.

Pretty bins and baskets are essentially pantry decor. They will not only help keep your zones contained within your pantry, but will also make the aesthetic of the pantry itself all the more pleasing. Just like in other parts of your home, switching up the style will create visual interest and will allow you to use a variety of container types to find the best ones for that specific item.

“I like mixing different types of materials,” Smith says. “We usually do a combo of acrylic, hyacinth baskets and bamboo. Your pantry doesn’t have to be ugly, it can be functional and pretty at the same time.”

It’s essential to have all of your pantry items visible and easily accessible, and turntables and can risers can do just that. Both are perfect for storing things like condiments and canned goods.

“I love using can risers, I particularly like the bamboo ones, it really elevates the look,” Smith says. “This way you can see what you have and you’re not reaching over to get something. We call it stadium seating.”

Although turntables are great for any shelf, Dinneen says they are particularly excellent for larger pantries with corners. “Especially if you have an L-shaped pantry, turntables in corners really utilize that corner space,” she says.

“Make sure anything you use like a bin or basket is deep enough to fill the entire shelf so you’re getting the most out of the space,” Dinneen suggests. You don’t want any shelf space to go to waste, and having a basket with full depth will also make it easy to pull it out to see what you have, just like a drawer.

“Use drawer dividers for everything. Most people just use them for silverware or cooking utensils, but drawer dividers help with everything,” Dinneen says. Some homes with smaller pantries can utilize drawers for extra storage, and some larger pantries have them built in. Drawers and dividers are great for everything, including plastic food storage containers, cleaning supplies and small snacks. They create a natural separation between items, allowing you to see everything you have and making everything look tidier.

Setting aside space for back-stock items will allow you to refill your pantry as needed without going to the grocery store. “We’ll find at client houses, they didn’t know they had five cases of mac and cheese because they were stored in all different places,” Smith shares. “Having a designated back-stock area where you’re keeping back-stock pantry items will keep you from overbuying since you know where everything is.”

Food items that you go through quickly, water bottles and paper goods are great to keep in your back-stock zone. Dinneen recommends keeping your back-stock items up high or down low.

“If you have back-stock paper products, keep them in a basket up top. I also put a ton of baskets on the floor for things like lunch boxes, backstock water bottles, or to-go bags,” Dinneen says.

If there’s one piece of organizing advice Smith could share, it would be this one. “Don’t shop at Costco if you have a teeny little pantry. Buy for the space that you have,” she says. “If you don’t have a Costco storage closet in your house, don’t do the bulk shopping.”

Even if you do pantry edits often and stay organized, you always want to keep how much space you actually have for food storage in mind when grocery shopping. You’ll know you’re onto something when everything in your pantry is visible.

“You should be able to see what you have,” Smith says. “ When you have an organized pantry and everything is zoned, it takes five minutes to make a grocery list because you just take a look and see what you’re low on.”