My Favorite Pantry Organizer

April 5, 2023Admin0 Comments

My Favorite Pantry Organizer

In my work as a professional organizer I spend many hours sourcing and evaluating the best products for the space in which I am hired to work. I am committed to creating tailored organizing solutions for my clients so that I know the outcome will be functional for their family as well as will appear stylish when they show off the results to their friends and family!

Recently I had the opportunity to work on several kitchen pantries. There are many things to consider when buying the best products to organize a pantry. I am usually looking for products that optimize the space and are an efficient use of the space. Additionally I am looking for products that are streamlined and chic looking. While sourcing products for pantries, I try to utilize the full depth of the shelf and the height between

the shelves. Space optimization is key for a few reasons. The main one being that if the space is being optimized, it will feel more aesthetically pleasing and will appear more clutter-free. If there are more than 8 to 12 inches of space between shelves, I must pay extra attention to wasted space between shelves. I never want to be piling objects on top of one another. Afterall, this is the exact frustrating situation that often leads to people wanting to revamp their space!

I will share with you a product that I have recently found to be immensely helpful in a pantry I redid. As you can see, this family uses their pantry for more than just food. It is also a storage space for cleaning supplies, lightbulbs and other housewares, and childrens’ art supplies.

The challenge in this space was that there was a lot of vertical space between the shelves (15 inches) and the wire-shelf system that was installed by the builder didn’t allow the shelves to be adjusted.

I am not a huge fan of putting certain types of pantry products into baskets or bins; particularly cans, bottles, and jars. This is because once they are in the basket or bin, even if it is clear, one cannot see what the contents are. In this pantry, I wanted to use risers. These are like stair steps for holding many different items. Although risers are often designed to hold spices, some also have stair steps that are deep enough to hold regular size cans or small jars of peanut butter.

This particular family uses their pantry for a lot of jars, cans, condiments and boxes of milks and broths. So I opted to use a fair amount of risers. My challenge was to find risers that maximized the depth of the shelves and were also steep enough to maximize the height between shelves. Additionally, I really wanted to find a riser that could hold a wide variety of products; including large cans and jars and boxes of soup broth and milks. It was surprisingly hard to find this product as I was looking for stair steps that were at least 3 inches deep.

I ended up finding exactly what I was looking for at the Container Store. And it was extremely affordable at only $17.99 each! It was called the Large Expand-A-Shelf and I cannot say enough positive things about it. First of all, it is nearly impossible to find a riser that maximizes the depth on a standard 12” shelf. This one has a depth of 11-⅝ inches and fits perfectly on a 12” deep shelf (which is usually closer to 11 -½” deep). Also, this pantry not only had 12” deep shelves, but it also had 16” deep shelves. This product was perfect for both depths because on the 16” deep shelves there was a remaining 4” of shelf space in front of the riser which provided for another entire row of cans that can sit directly on the shelf! My original design plans had me covering an entire shelf length (55 inches) with these risers (they expand to 25” each) so I could

cover almost an entire shelf with two of these. I did find that when I tried out my design plan, the wire shelves bowed due to the weight (something to keep in mind), so I switched the plan and put these on the 12” deep shelves.

Note: this product was not able to sit on wire shelves correctly without the assistance of the plastic sheets you can put down on wire shelves so that items don’t fall through. Overall this product has a lot of great qualities.

The fact that the back step is 6-⅛”” inches high, meant that when I put a box of milk or carton of soup broth on it, it maximized the 15-inches of space I had to fill between shelves. Brilliant!

It would be nice if this product came in other materials and colors (wood, acrylic, black, etc.) to make sure that space is as aesthetically pleasing as possible.