May 30, 2024

Small Pantry Makeover DIY on a budget for easy storage

Are you tired of staring into a cluttered and disorganized kitchen pantry every time you open the door? If so, it may be time for a pantry makeover DIY. With just a little bit of effort and creativity, you can remodel a pantry into an organized storage space that not only looks great but also makes meal prep and grocery shopping a breeze. In this article, I want to share how we DIYed a pantry makeover with kitchen cabinets and I hope it will help you create the pantry of your dreams without breaking the bank and give you some pantry organization ideas as well.

Materials:

Things used for pantry organization :

Tools Used:

Step-By-Step for Pantry makeover DIY

Let’s dive into the step-by-step tutorial for small pantry makeovers. We all have different homes and different layouts. I am sharing the dimensions and the exact measurements I used for this makeover. You might have to customize the design and measurements for your home.

Step 1: Removing pantry door and wire shelves before pantry makeover :

Remove the doors:

The first step is to remove the pantry door so that we can significantly open up and transform the storage space. Removing the door makes the pantry more accessible and makes it easy to work in our small 6×4 pantry. However, you can add doors after you finish the makeover. We chose to leave it open, especially because it looks stunning!

Remove old wire shelves:

Those builder-grade wire shelving got to go. After pulling out the wire racks, remove the shelf anchors, including the nuts, and anchor screws with the help of a screwdriver and a wrench. There were over a hundred holes to fill in our pantry, but it was worth it.

Fill all the nail holes and repair any wall damage:

First, use a Dry-Dap spackle and a putty knife to fill in all the holes. Let it dry and sand the excess spackle using sandpaper. Add a second coat of spackle to fill any minor imperfections and sand it again to give the wall a professional finish.

Step 2: Add/Move an electric outlet:

Next step to add an electric outlet in the pantry closet to use any electrical appliances. This would free up so much space on my kitchen countertops.

Luckily, I found an outlet on the side of one of the walls. So, I am going to use that electric outlet on the other side of the wall to add one to the pantry. I have detailed videos on how to do this but here’s what we did:

How to move an electric outlet:

1.First things first, turn off the power.

2.Mark the exact spot for the new outlet:

The existing outlet is close to the floor. But, I want to install the new outlet at countertop height, so I’ll need to move the outlet upwards as well. I located the precise spot where the outlet is on the other side of the wall. It was approximately 26 inches from the edge, so I marked the new outlet spot. Then I drew a vertical line and marked it at the countertop height which should measure the same 26 inches from the edge.

3.Make a hole in the drywall:

Then, I had to make a hole to run the wire from the outlet, ensuring there were no studs in the way. For that, I used a multi-tool (you can use a drywall saw too) to cut out the marked piece of the drywall. Now you have a hole to fit in the new outlet box.

4.Pull the wire from the existing outlet:

Now let’s go to the existing outlet on the other side of the wall and remove the outlet cover. Make a new hole in the outlet box(as shown in the image below) to feed the second wire to the new outlet. Typically, outlet boxes come with flaps that can be pushed to create the hole.

I used fish tape to pull the wire from one outlet to the other.Insert the fish tape through one outlet and pull it from the other end(new outlet). Then, tape the end of the fish tape to an electric wire and pull it back from the old outlet, bringing the wire along with the fish tape. With the wire now running through both outlets, we can remove the wire insulation and separate the live, neutral, and ground wires. Watch the video for a better idea.

5.Connect the wires:

Cut small pieces of wire, known as Pigtails. These will be connecting the connectors and outlet box. Then, connect respective wires from the main wire(old wire) and the extension wire (new one we just pulled from the new outlet) to the connectors as shown, ensuring they’re securely pushed into the connectors. Once everything is connected, push the wires inside the outlet box, secure the outlet, and replace the cover.

Finally, connect the outlet on the pantry side by wrapping the wire ends around the respective screws and closing the outlet cover.

Step 3: Paint the room:

I wanted the shelves to pop on the dark wall so we chose a Bitter Chocolate(sheen – Eggshell) from Sherwin Williams. It definitely caused some stir on Instagram as it wasn’t well received initially. But it turned out stunning(thankfully)!

Before painting, we wiped the walls with a cloth so that it removed the excess spackle. Then, we put down a drop cloth to cover the pantry floor and taped some spray paint protectors as we planned to use a paint sprayer. I was so skeptical at the beginning of the color but once I finished the room, I fell in love with the color of the room.

Step 4: Add DIY Wooden Shelves for pantry remodel

Previously we had wire shelves but we wanted to add wooden floating shelves. We grabbed the wooden planks of size 1×10, cut them to the size needed, and nailed a 1*2 on the edge to give them that extra thickness. Then we stained them using a solid stain to mask the knots and to have a finished look.

Fix the L-shaped brackets on either side of the new shelves. One side of the bracket is fixed to the wooden shelf and the other end is fixed to the wall using screws. These open shelving give a good look and they give easy access to spices or snacks.

Step 5: Add floor cabinets for pantry makeover DIY:

Now it’s time to fix the cabinets in the pantry closet. We bought readymade cabinets from Home Depot, however, we could not find floor cabinets in our desired sizes. so we got the wall cabinets instead and added a frame on the floor to add height.

Here are the exact cabinets we used:

3 of these single door cabinets
1 corner cabinet

We took out the readymade cabinet door to paint it the same color as the back wall. We added a frame on the floor for a toe kick and arranged the cabinets.

To join the cabinets, we added 2×4 pieces in between and secured them with screws on either side. These supports were added a little behind, leaving space for the face frame to fit on the front. Then added trim to stay flush with cabinets and act as a face frame.

For the trim to add in between, we had to strip 1x4s on a table saw to fit perfectly.

Then we attached the doors to the cabinets and installed pulls. These transformed the space immediately.

Step 6: Add countertop

For the countertop, we cut the 3/4th inch plywood to the size and shape of the bottom cabinets. We used liquid nails and wood glue to stick them on top of the cabinets. We added a trim to cover the ugly side of the plywood on the front. Fix any gaps using wood filler.

Step 7: Lighting:

We got this gorgeous light for this pantry. We also added under-cabinet lighting with the sensor. They light up as we enter the pantry and we love them!

Step 8: Organize:

The final step is to organize the pantry. Here we divided the floating shelves into three sections

1. Flour

2. Nuts and Pulses

3. Spices

I got these Large airtight jars for flours containers to keep all my flour they even come with a cute spatula and an easy-to-hold a 5lb pack.

Next, I upgraded to these airtight Canisters for pulses and nuts

I already had a ton of Mason jars on hand so I used them for all the extra spices that don’t fit in these handy spice jars in my kitchen.

And I store the rice on the counter space in a large rice dispenser.

Lastly, the floor cabinets are the right place to hide all my appliances like wet grinders and instapots I could also fit all the bowls, plastic vessels, and larger pantry items here.

At last, By dividing these little sections we can see a huge difference in an organized pantry.

Conclusion:

I hope this post inspired you to revamp your closed or open pantry and stay organized! You can find detailed videos and tutorials on my IG stories here

Do follow me on Instagram for more such attainable DIY projects.

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