Our kitchen pantry renovation was supposed to be a three-day project.
It turned into a five-WEEK project.
We remediated the mold in the pantry and repaired and replaced drywall.
And now it’s FINALLY finished!!
Here’s how I renovated and organized the kitchen pantry…after all the repairs were finished.
First, I painted the walls with Decorator’s White (Benjamin Moore) Paint + Primer, left over from the kitchen renovation. I wanted the kitchen and pantry to be the same color. I also painted the trim with Ultra White semi-gloss, also to match the kitchen trim, and I painted the ceiling with flat white ceiling paint used throughout the house.
I installed a trash and recycling cabinet from IKEA.
The countertop is the same counter that was there when there was a desk in the pantry, when we moved in:
After we moved in, I took out the desk we didn’t use and replaced it with shelving, and just put the countertop in the basement in case we needed it later.
The shelving worked fine, but I didn’t love it and I didn’t like the trash cans being in the middle of the pantry.
I love, love, love the trash and recycling being in a closed cabinet now!
I added an IKEA Raskog cart next to it for our cloth napkins, water bottles, and lunch boxes. Easy access for kids and for grown-ups!
Above it, I installed shelves for serving pieces, small appliances, and soup pots.
The food is on the other side. I installed a track at the top of the pantry and hung the shelves from that.
With lesser-used items at the top of the pantry…
There’s a place for everything.

How I decorated the mixer is HERE.
I love having an organized kitchen pantry!
I am so happy this is finished and that it’s all organized!
What do you think??
Rock on Karen! Your pantry is absolutely stellar! 🙂 You took on so much and came out shining like a srar!
Thank you, friend!! I really appreciate that!!
It looks great! If you really wanted to be fancy, you could hang a cute curtain across the food area to dress things up. I have four dogs, so I have to do things to keep the dog hair off of everything. 🙂
Thank you, Geri! I’ve pretty much given up on keeping the dog hair out of every place in our home! 😉 I was thinking about a curtain over the window, though. It’s odd that there’s a window in there anyway.
I love it! Wish mine was big enough for a winfow. (It’s actually a converted broom closet). Anyway, great job. Congratulations : )
Thanks, Mickey! The window is kind of in an odd spot in the pantry, but it does provide some natural light. When I looked at the old plans for the house, I noticed that it was going to be a door – now THAT would have been odd!
Hurray! Finally done and looking great! Love the recycling set up and the moveable cart, too.
Thank you, Karen!!
Sweet, love it!
A place for everything & everything in its place, …needless to say my fave is the ikea garbage cabinet, its what I’m looking for in new Florida home …when i reno kitchen in the fall, thinking a drawer based microwave …
Thanks, Mary! I would love a drawer microwave! A friend just put one in her kitchen and it’s awesome! Thanks again!!
I really really really love the way you hung your cups up. I know its not part of the pantry but currently my boyfriend and I are struggling because I got laid of and I had the bigger income. Unfortunately my family ( him, my four year old, 12 year old and myself) are stuck in a SMALL one bedroom apartment. Of course I gave our sons the room because I didn’t feel right letting children not have a bedroom. I was always the one that had better grades so when I got pregnant at sixteen ( we were being safe, but its not 100% as we learned) he was the one who dropped out and allowed me to chase my dream as being a college graduate ( my parents helped after they fell in love with our oldest) . Anyways, I became a accountant for a big law firm that just went under. We have no cabinet space at all so I was wondering if you could email me or post how you put those cups up and what you used. I am looking for anything to save space. We are going from a four bedroom house to a one bedroom apartment and the living room is mine and my husbands bedroom but that is all we can afford if we want to stay in a safe area that we can walk outside. (If your wondering why our parents don’t help mine have passed and his wont help because he “choose” to have children so young) Also, if you have any other ideas for some other ways to save room or to store things let me know or post your ideas on the website please.
Thank you so much – Dorisa My email is dallis3911@yahoo.com
Hi Dorisa – Thank you for sharing your story! I found the cup rack at Decor Steals (a website) and it was about $75, I think. The next time I see it for sale there, I’ll email you. But also, World Market has a cup/mug rack that’s circular that could go on a shelf, counter, or table. Also, you can get a rail storage system at IKEA – you hang the rail on the wall and there are hooks you can hang from it, and you can store mugs (and utensils) on there. You could also make something – there are lots of pallet mug racks out there on blogs, and you can search Pinterest to find those projects.
In this post, I talk about organizing a closet: https://www.dogsdonteatpizza.com/an-organized-closet-in-one-afternoon-ok/
You can find all my storage and organization posts here:
Blessings to you and your family.