allison - great article! I have had a couple of those pantry photos saved in my files but this particular pantry set-up left me uninspired until I saw the one similar to mine. Love so many of these ideas and will consider how I can translate some to this challenging space.

The tile is durable but the lines, especially of subway layout, behind the verticals of the packages and any standards if you do adjustable shelves, well, that’s a lot of lines.

Paint, and painted or stained wood shelves with shelf paper to protect (paper in the same color as the shelves?) would be clean and tidy-looking. I don’t like ventilated shelves for a pantry, it’s too easy for things to not sit flat, and when they wrap down in the front like yours, it can be challenging to have something tall on the shelf below.

I do like the shallow baskets on the side wall. When you have only the depth of the door trim to work with, shallow baskets work great! I had those in my last pantry that was 2’ deep and 2’ wide. I had deeper shelves on the bottom, 18”, then 12”, and 8” the rest of the way up, and a rack on one side. The 8” shelves were great for cans so things didn’t get too lost behind each other.

Your pantry is about 3’ deep? Nice, you have more room on the sides. How far under the stairs does it go on the right? How do you use that space now?

LOVE that light fixture. If it’s on a low part of the ceiling I know I would bump something on it and break the bulb, but that’s just me lol.

I would love to have a pantry. My first thought was to wallpaper it. Since it has black door perhaps a black and white paper to tie in with the kitchen and the wire shelving. I think it has tons of potential. I wallpapered a small closet in my living room in a previous house to use as a bar we use a metallic paper to reflex the light in the small space, but you have good lighting.

Personal preference - if you can afford to upgrade from wire to solid shelving it would be a huge improvement In functionality. I hate wire shelving and previous owners had it everywhere in this house.

Thanks all - with your help I think I have decided to:

1. Upgrade to solid shelving.

2. Consider wallpaper

3. Invest in decent pantry organization containers.

Everything else is open for your great ideas!

ETA: The ceiling slopes along the 5.5' length from 7.5' to 3'.

I absolutely love the painted shelves. I did not think about scratching as @Allison0704 mentioned, but I think it depends on how you use the shelves, what you put on them, etc. I honestly don't think it would be a problem in my pantry (now you've got me thinking LOL). Maybe there is some type of paint that would be better for the shelves. I don't know, but you might check that out.

I just noticed the paper towels hanging in the pantry you shared and had to smile. That is exactly where we have our paper towels.

I like, and use, baskets in the pantry. Glass containers are nice too.

What color(s) are you thinking?

My home is pretty neutral with color coming from art, rugs, etc. Majority of "accent" colors I see fall into the blue/green or orange/red family. I love the green in the inspiration picture. I am probably leaning in the green or blue direction.

I'm glad to see you will be upgrading the wire shelves. One of my favorite changes to my previous house was changing wire shelving to wood in our pantry. It was worth every penny!

If I go in the wallpaper direction, what kind of scale do you think will work:

I'm curious about the paper towel roll mounted in the pantry, and when it is used?

They sell stick-on plastic "tile" sheets if you really want the tile without the installation cost/mess. They don't fool me when used on a backsplash, but I think they would be perfect in a pantry with the pantry items in front of them, etc.

I'd like to suggest an entirely different direction.

I have a pantry, and I like the way it looks so much that I usually have the (swinging) door open. But, it is primarily for large appliances, platters, pitchers, vases, candles. That makes it easier to pretty it up than if it held the things your pantry does.

So I have a different question. Can you change what you store there? My boxes of crackers, cereals, pasta, nuts, canned tomatoes etc etc are in cabinets with doors. I think in an open shelving situation, real-life grocery store items will always look cacophonous unless you take items out of their containers and put them in pretty glass, or baskets, as in your inspiration picture. I only do that for flour and sugar.

Take what you have in your closet and superimpose it over the inspiration picture; it won't look good at all.

Or, take what they have on their shelves and imagine it in your pantry as is; looks much better, no?

What I am saying is that real-life grocery store staples are not pretty. If you want pretty, can you find a way to reorganize your whole kitchen so that real-life grocery store staples go somewhere else?

If you are going to have a carpenter do shelving, consider having a hinged door that opens out. Your carpenter can also add shelves on the door that can hold spices, pouches and small cans. That would open up more space on your shelves.

I'm a blue person, but don't go the direction of the blue wallpaper. I would stay light and bright -- but the more textural background aspect of it is good. If you could reverse the colors, that might work. My concern with the two green botanicals is that they might be hidden enough that they will add to looking messy more than adding fun or interest. I would think textural and background, not feature.

When you change your lighting, go to LED so you don't add heat where you store food, and pay attention to the lighting color so it isn't dingy yellow or ghostly blue.

Look at your dry goods and see what you can store in clear containers -- OXO, mason jars and the like. OXO or similar containers allow you to stack smaller things, see everything, but everything is clear in between rather than a bunch of different colored cardboard. It really does reduce the visual clutter.

If you do look at OXO, note that the ones at Target and Costco are a different shape than the ones at Container Store and other kitchen stores. Target and Costco are straight sided while the others have a flair at the top and more rounded edges. The ush button in the center is different (round vs square). The difference matters if you stack and want to maximize your space.

mtn: you are absolutely right - what I need to store in the pantry will always look a bit messier than desirable. However, I can make some adjustments that will help. Cabinet storage in this kitchen is less than ideal but I can re-work some of it. Excellent points.

lascatx: yes, the blue wallpaper comes in a blue on white background which I agree would be better. Less is probably more here.

From the article allison shared, this image is probabaly the most attainable look I can achieve. I like the small cabinets in this one, too. Also, I wonder if I could do narrow french doors instead of an outward swing door? Something to consider. Project creep...:)

Now see, the above pantry has grocery items, which is mainly what is in our pantry, although my cookbooks, foil/parchment/wax papers are also in there. Top shelf has little used items (holiday items, thermos, smallest cooler, etc.) I personally like having my food items all together. Floor of pantry has large baskets for potatoes, etc. and jugs of distilled water, things like that. I don't have food in any of my kitchen cabinets. I'm not a big "appliance" person so not a ton of those to store. We also have an old hoosier cabinet in our kitchen and the bottom is a fairly large cabinet. Most of my small appliances go there. I think you just need to think how you want your pantry to WORK and not just how it LOOKS. My pantry is utilitarian but it works well for us. But now, I am thinking I might need to pretty it up and have some painted shelves!!! Thanks alot @rubyclaire LOL!!

PS - I do like those narrow doors shown above.

Rubyclaire don't dismiss the idea of French doors - it could still work. I have 17" French doors into my pocket office. Having clear glass is either an incentive to keep things tidy or the bane of your existence ;-) but you can always have some kind of obscure glass.

DLM - thanks. I deleted my dismissal because I did find 30" french door options so they are back on the table. Your doors are gorgeous - especially those doorknobs!!

I agree that your latest pic on your post above is more realistic. If you cannot rework where you keep pretties vs practical, then I think tile and wallpaper would, alas, be visually cacophonous and probably disappoint.

Or, you could shop for color-coordinated groceries. ; )

You've gotten great advice and ideas here already, so I really can't add anything. Except, PLEASE keep us posted on this fun reno of yours! I can't wait to see how it turns out!

A thought on shelving: When we built our house, I spec’d solid wood shelves. My sister has had both wood and wire. She convinced me to change to wire because it is easier to keep clean. Anything that needs to be cleaned off a shelf falls to the floor to be easily vacuumed. I guess I’m more utilitarian than aesthetic. I also don’t decant anything.

This has been so incredibly helpful! As I move through the Five Stages of Decorating Angst, I have done a complete 180 and am now considering painting the pantry BM White Dove, have solid shelving made in a greige color like Edgecomb Grey, maybe add a butcher block top, maybe add some shallow lower cabinets, leave space for a little art, maybe change to french doors painted black like exterior doors in home (or not). New direction. Maybe :)

My pantry is a mess (but it works for me.) I agree with bbstx about the wire shelves being so much easier to clean. The grunge on wood shelves would drive me nuts---and be so hard to keep clean clean.

I don't agree on wire being easier to clean. I like having a true, flat surface to organize things. I don't like something things can slip through or fall through. I am also not sure what pantry items would create grunge on shelves?

I've started on my pantry this year too. Been living with it for almost a decade, lol. It's a small walk in with french doors. I've gotten turmeric yellow for the shelves (they are solid), garam masala spice brown for the under supports of the shelves, and a coconut milk white for the walls. I considered peel and stick tiles, but I think just refreshing with paint will work for me.

I think once you got solid shelves and new lighting, that will make a HUGE difference to the feel of your pantry.

We don't have grunge in our pantry - but sometimes "sprinkles"! (sugar, flour, etc.) But putting those items in containers, not only (IMHO) keeps them fresh longer, but cuts down on sprinkles.

Rubyclaire you have great taste, so I'm sure whatever you do will look great. I kinda had my heart set on some pretty green or blue shelves in your pantry though. LOL

@DLM2000-GW your room is gorgeous!! Love those doors (and doorknobs)!

What at great use of space!

Melamine shelves are ideal to me. Makes them easy to clean and can be adjustable. Here is a pic before I moved in. The shelving on the back doesn't extend all the way to the left corner because it's already pretty wide. No cans are stored on it but cereal, chips, crackers and other bulky light things.

I tend to agree that a flat surface would be easier to clean than these wire shelves. They don't really age well either...

Have you considered, can you fit, a drawer base cabinet in there, and just build shelving around it?

mdln - that is one of the things I will check into.

RubyClaire, the pantry with birdhouses had a pair of smaller French doors. It never bothered me to have two doors to open. They opened out. The pantry was in an area just off the main kitchen area and across from powder room. If doors were open, there was still plenty of room to walk by.

DF just put an old chest in a closet, great for helping to organizing her storage.

In re sugar and flour "sprinkles:" do you measure those things out in situ? I would remove it from the pantry and measure it in the kitchen proper. Errant flour and sugar drive me crazy, so when baking i take everything out on a tray and measure over the tray.

But if one had a wire shelf and spilled sugar or flour, that'd be a terrible mess since it would not just fall on the shelf, but the shelf below that, etc.

I remain staunchly anti-wire.

Do you have shelves on the wall that's perpendicular to the door? Maybe you could put your nitty-gritty pantry stuff on those shelves leaving the ones you see as you open the door to be more "curated".

Oooh Sue - I like that!

@mtnrdredux_gw, I don't measure things in the pantry LOL. But if I didn't have things in containers (vs bags) I can see how flour, sugar, etc. might sprinkle. I'm fine with measuring over a mixing bowl, on the counter, etc. Countertops are easy to wipe up. But I think that's what BB was getting at, with the wire (and I am not a wire fan myself) more stuff would end up on the floor than the shelf and could be cleaned up easier.

Love your closet Sue!

reff - there is one shelf on that wall and it is the most inaccessible part of the pantry. I actually store my less used items there currently.

I really need to slow down when reading titles- I saw panty project and thought we really do talk about everything here.....

@rubyclaire - Darn. I thought I was on to something. I wanted you to have your cake and eat it too.

@Sister Sunnie, lol, prefer Jockey brand.

The Panty Project.....tomorrow’s topic “Cleaning Your Drawers”

I've had solid painted-white shelves in my pantry for the last 10+ years. There is not a scratch on them. I have baskets, cans, small appliances, and special containers for storing items. I switch most things because of ants that like to invade my food. I remove everything occasionally wipe it down and it's new again. But now seeing how pretty you can make your pantry that inspires me to jazz it up.

I like your new ideas. I will also tell you from our experience that even small drawers can be very helpful -- if they are frameless so you don't lose a lot of space. My breakfast room has a hutch where we put 15"W x 15"D shallow drawers between the upper cabinets and the counter level and similar size 3 drawer base cabinets. People questioned how we would use the drawers, but we've had no problem using them and they hold more than I thought they might. I encourage you to explore the idea for your pantry.

Thanks mdln - great ideas! I wish I had the room for the bottom one.

Ruby, I have some unused vertical space in my pantry and use these to stack tall storage canisters on. There is also a longer size. They come in a set of 2 from ’A’.

Thanks Outside - I will keep those in mind as I am space planning the pantry but I'm thinking my laundry cabinets could use something like that, too.

Just a thought on wire shelving, my DD‘s apartment came with a kitchen pantry. It’s nicely designed except she absolutely hates her wire shelves. Things kept tipping she tells me. So much so that she had plexiglass cut to lay over each one. Expensive and still not ideal, but it works for there as it’s a rental apartment.

Be still my heart! As I am pretty much obsessed with organizing, this thread of yours, Ruby, is so much fun to read (LOL)!

I love the pull-out drawers, @mdln. Next house! I purchased one from The Container Store to go under the kitchen sink. So sturdy and handy.

DD2 had wire shelves and used inexpensive hard, but flexible, vinyl placemats from the Dollar Tree.