Always fairly sized rooms in period houses, pantries are usually forgotten in modern homes to make more room for a utility or a bigger kitchen; however a small separate pantry is essential to any kitchen design. A pantry is an ideal place to keep brushes, hoovers, wine cellars, tinned food, or even fruit and vegetable rather than trying to fit everything in a kitchen
A well organised kitchen pantry depends on the same principles as all the other areas in your home. The pantry must be organised to create many smaller sections of space. This will keep all the items in a pantry — canned goods, spices, chips, dishes, pasta, flour, and the like — more visible, accessible, and controlled.
Items should be kept separate: soups from boxed cereals, spices from pastas, and so on. Each category should be treated as a separate entity. You might try placing the items on the shelves in alphabetical order, with all appetisers at one end and finishing with vegetables at the opposite end.
As for storing the items once they have been organised, there are many different options on the market.
Basket drawers: As you contemplate various methods for reorganising the space in the pantry you'll probably consider the ‘slide-out’ type of basket drawer. These baskets are definite space savers and can hold plenty of items. The bottom of the baskets may need to have a piece of plexiglass, cardboard, or plywood to provide a level surface. The slide-out drawer is useful for bagged or bulky items such as pasta or chips. Smaller, shallower, baskets may provide better access for smaller containers of condiments or spices.
Stackable bins: You might want to consider adding some stackable bins to the pantry, but they are useful only for storing such bulk items as potatoes or dry beans. These bins are a good way to use the pantry's floor space. Stackable shelving units may also work well in unused floor space. If you have enough space of the correct shape, the floor area of the pantry may also be the perfect spot for a recycling centre or a miniature wine cellar.
Shelves and racks: An innovative variation is the use of the corner for shelves. Shelving turns the corner into a productive storage space for many items. Divide existing shelf space in the pantry. This will double the amount of usable shelf space and make that shelf space a more manageable and functional storage area.
Pantries, like utility rooms, often serve double duty in the never ending search for storage space. There are various ways and means to perform this extra duty properly and efficiently.
Some racks fit snugly to the side walls of a pantry, the inside of a cabinet door, or underneath a shelf. Examine the wide variety of racks that are available and decide if any meet your needs.
The pantry is also often the final resting place for extra sets of silverware, china, or stemware. The space inside the pantry can hold these items if you use various types of racks available at many stores. It's also possible the pantry could supply the only storage area for cleaning supplies.
Though many items may compete for pantry space, you can fit them all through wise planning and judicious compromises. Keeping a neat pantry is simple, as long as you know which containers to employ and the range of storage options available to you.
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