14 Genius Pantry Organisation Ideas - Pantry Storage Solutions & Small Pantry Tips

These simple kitchen pantry organisation ideas will transform your pantry in no time at all. From clever storage solutions to genius ways to organise a small pantry. Get your kitchen organised once and for all with these tidy pantry organisation tips and inspiration.

Discover easy solutions to turn your pantry from cluttered to organised in no time, including some of the best pantry containers and storage systems to help you out!

From a small pantry makeover to walk-in butler’s pantry havens, you’re sure to get inspired!

This post was originally published in January 2015 and has been updated in March 2021.

Hands up if you need help with how to organise your pantry? Oh yes, all too often that space in the kitchen can turn to chaos pretty quickly with such frequent use.

The kitchen is one of the highest traffic areas of the home. This means having an organised pantry area is a high priority!

With food and cooking supplies going in and out on a daily basis, if you don’t have a great pantry organisation system in place, you will find yourself back to square one in no time!

Trust me, I have been there! And it wasn’t pretty.

Not only that but if you haven’t gotten your pantry organisation sorted, you will end up wasting time in the kitchen, trying to find the things you need, instead of just getting in and getting the job done.

Ain’t nobody got time for that!

Preparing To Organise Your Pantry

When you are ready to organise your pantry, there are a few things you should do first.

Start with a complete deep clean. Take everything out of your pantry so you can start with a clean slate.

This is a tedious job, but one you will be glad you did because you may be amazed at how much stuff you can throw out.

It also gives you a chance to restock any essential pantry items you need.

Follow these steps to clean out your pantry:

Remove everything from your pantry
Wipe down shelves with a food-safe surface cleaner
Vacuum or sweep and mop pantry floor
Go through each individual packaged item and throw out anything past used by date
For food in containers, check no bugs have gotten into them (Gross but it happens)
Now you are ready to start setting up your new, improved organised pantry!

Kitchen Pantry Organisation Inspiration

To help you organise your pantry, I have found some of the best-organised pantries from around the web to inspire you to get your own up to scratch too.

Sometimes all it takes is a simple small organisation project to give your home a refresh!

These organised pantry ideas include small spaces, larger spaces, corner pantries, drawers and all the labelled container ideas to warm your soon-to-be organised heart.

In case you’re also in need of some fridge organisation tips, check out this complete guide on how to organise your refrigerator.

PULL OUT PANTRY ORGANISATION

These pull out pantry drawers make it easier to see what is on each shelf, rather than having food end up lost at the back.

You are less likely to purchase duplicates because you can see everything you have on the pull-out shelves.

Instead, you can store everything easily knowing you can slide out the drawer and reach what you need.

The space-saving hanging spice storage is a great idea too.

The pantry door is a great bonus storage area if you have a small pantry and there are many different hanging or door-mounted storage options to keep small items in easy reach.

Small Pantry Organisation With Basket Storage

Genius pantry organisation ideas for your kitchen

The simple addition of some stylish baskets can make a big difference to a small pantry organisation.

This is a great option for a small pantry space or a low set pantry because it means that you do not need to bend down to find what you have.

Instead, grab the basket, place it on a nearby bench and sort through instead!

It is a great idea to label your baskets so you know what each is, especially if you are using a matching set of baskets or tubs and cannot see their contents.

If you do plan to use baskets, make sure they are sturdy enough to hold the items you are placing in them. There would be nothing worse than having the bottom fall out!

These lined baskets may be a better option while still giving that farmhouse chic look. They have used chalkboard labels to personalise the baskets. Or make your own using wooden tags and chalkboard paint.

Although she has since changed up her pantry again since this post originally went live and her brand new pantry makeover is even better than before!

It is a great example of corner pantry organisation ideas since it can be a challenge to make use of those corners without wasting space or losing items in the gap.

The corners are best for items you don’t use often, such as specialty baking supplies if you only bake occasionally or bulk items you aren’t currently using.

These fabric and wooden baskets paired with clear containers are more durable than cane baskets.

These fabric baskets are similar to those used below. And grab these script font pantry labels to label your storage containers too.

Clear Storage Containers

My favourite thing about this pantry is the clear storage containers that make it much easier to see what you have in your pantry without rummaging through every time.

This looks neat and tidy, with the added visibility to reduce search time.

They have labelled each of the pantry storage containers too for added ease.

I love those tall clear storage tubs, which suit small panty organisation where you need to make the most of little room by having deep storage options!

You will find similar tubs at your local Container Store, discount store, Kmart or from the big range of Ikea products.

This pantry has also had a new makeover since the original images were shared. They have added some super cool clear slide-out pantry baskets from Ikea.

A great way to make use of that extra space at the bottom. The clear containers are still in use too:

Glass Jar Storage

This pantry is really stylish with all the labelled glass jars. I am loving the look. And Ikea is fabulous for cheap glass jars or mason jars.

You can get jars with chalkboard label sets on Amazon, like these ones.

This pantry is probably best in a child-free household, or when children are older.

I love that this pantry organisation method is quite aesthetic though and those wire baskets are fab!

Or they have similar here in Australia in Kmart. Corner pantries are definitely more challenging to organise!

Jar storage is best for storing dry ingredients such as flour, rice, seasoning and pasta.

Small Pantry Organisation

I really love the tidy simplicity of this pantry. Everything has its place and they have made good use of these stackable storage containers to store the different dry ingredients on each shelf.

This is a relatively narrow pantry space so the biggest challenge will be having to double layer the containers and move things around to get the items at the back.

They have since moved into a new home and their new pantry is a mammoth butler’s pantry.

An organised pantry dream! This is total #pantrygoals and it looks dreamy. OMG!

Love those pantry drawers especially! You can use drawer inserts to keep pull-out drawers organised.

Check out the post to see all the cool features in detail in this organised butler’s pantry:

Stackable Pantry Containers

It can be difficult knowing how to organise a small pantry. This is a lot like our current pantry organisation and size. It’s great how she has made the most of a small space.

They appear to be Tupperware modular mates which are stackable and very easy to keep organised.

This is what I use also and aim to have my stacks on view, without too much in front of the containers.

The hanging spice rack gives more room by freeing up some of the space and displaying them on the door.

Lined Baskets

This is another really stylish and pretty pantry. The lined baskets look great, along with the clear canisters. It is very country chic overall.

I love the easy to access fruit and vegetable in the pantry too.

This would make it so easy for kids to grab a snack on the go, although where we live it is very humid most of the year so we keep most of our fruit in the fridge to avoid it going ripe too quick.

Pantry Drawers

This is one of my favourite pantries from the ideas so far. This drawer unit down the centre is seriously awesome!

I love that this space is big enough to store small appliances and baking equipment as well.

Anything with bulky packaging can sit on the shelves, while the smaller collections of ingredients and similar items can be stored in each drawer.

Rustic pantry

This is a stunning setup and I especially love that they have room for the big produce tubs at the bottom. How nice it would be to have a big wide pantry like this!

Not all homes are lucky enough to have a dedicated kitchen pantry.

For some, it is a matter of making the most of smaller cupboard and drawer space instead.

These ideas are great ways to utilise other kitchen storage areas:

Baking Cupboard

I love the slide-out shelf installation in this baking cupboard. The stackable containers make it possible to keep this small cupboard organised and accessible without having to go digging in the back to find an ingredient.

The wire shelves would be sturdy for heavy tubs of ingredients, especially if you don’t have a dedicated pantry.

Spice rack organisation

If you enjoy cooking with lots of spices and flavours, you will know how frustrating it can be to keep your spices organised. This spice rack with labelled lids is a perfect idea. Plus you can get the lid labels to print too.

Or get this one with labels included.

One thing most of them have in common are those gorgeous black chalkboard labels for pantry organisation so you know exactly what is in each container. It looks on-trend and functional of course too!

You also need the right containers or baskets. I like stackable containers the best for my dry pantry items such as flour, sugar, baking essentials, etc and tall containers for cereal.

The idea of baskets or containers to keep small items in one place is perfect too!

You can use a label maker to create your own DIY pantry labels. Use a dry erase marker. Or get some that are ready to stick.

If you have joined the Simplify My Life challenge, you may have embarked on the big kitchen declutter and found some great kitchen organisation ideas to help you out.

If not, that’s okay too. Plenty of time to catch up.

How I Organise My Pantry

For my own pantry, I have shelves dedicated to different types of goods. Eye-level is cereals, grains & things like coffee, tea and sugar. These are the things we use almost every day.

The middle shelf is all the meal-related items, like spices, sauces, packet and tinned goods and condiments that don’t go in the fridge.

We use one of these pantry lazy susan trays to easily access our condiments and cooking oils.

The bottom shelf is where I store baking supplies and snacks for home and school. We have a container with school-related snack items for easy access too.

The floor level beneath our shelves has hanging shelf baskets for potatoes and onions, and another for cat food tins.

On the floor, we store bulk items, such as paper towelling, drinks and large containers such as vinegar.

I also use the top shelf of my pantry for storing party supplies – paper plates, cups and plastic cutlery, as well as some tall appliances that don’t fit in my normal kitchen cupboard spaces.

It’s pretty high so I need a chair to get up there and retrieve stuff so it is irregular use and special occasion items only.

We keep items with earlier expiration dates towards the front so we can make sure they are used within the time frame. This also helps with meal planning and grocery shopping too.

I haven’t shared a photo of my kitchen pantry, as it has poor natural lighting.

You will just have to take my word that it is looking pretty snazzy at the moment… although still room for improvement.

Food Storage & Pantry Organisation Products

If you love the ideas above but still aren’t quite sure what products would suit your home pantry, there are plenty of great options that will work for most pantry spaces and sizes.

Depending on how large your pantry is, will depend on how compact you need your storage solutions to be.

Here are some great food storage and pantry organisation products to help get your pantry organised once and for all:

Clickclack pantry container set of 12 – These containers are stackable, air-tight, BPA free and easy to open with one hand.
OXO Good Grips Set – This set of 10 dishwasher-safe containers in a variety of sizes is perfect for compact spaces if you have a small pantry.
Glass Pantry Canisters – This set of 5 is perfect if you prefer to use glass storage in your pantry, with bamboo lids that stay airtight with a silicone seal.

Pantry Organiser Turntable – Using rotating storage in the pantry and refrigerator is a total game-changer, allowing you to turn it to see the items at the back, without having to reach over other items at the front.
Storage Tub – We use a container similar to this in our pantry for school lunch box snacks, and a narrow version in the fridge for yogurt pouches, to keep everything organised and together.
3-Tier Shelf Organiser – Having a tiered shelf in your pantry allows you to see small items at the back, such as spices or cans, without having to move everything out of the way first. We use one for our larger spice mixes.

Need help stocking your pantry for the first time?