Adding Extra Shelves & A Microwave To The Pantry

There is a party in my pantry. And everyone’s invited. Although, it is not truly a party. And the pantry is far too small to host any sort of gathering. Hmmm. This invitation is going over simply about as smoothly as Brick Tambland’s.

But back to the pantry. See it there, hiding in the back of the kitchen by the fridge?

This is the only “before” I could find of it with the door open. By all the wallpaper and brown trim I could’ve sworn this was from before we moved in, but something about it being stocked with our mess of food tells me this is post-move. #sherlocking

Regardless of when the photo was snapped, you can see that it was – how should I put it? – lacking in any sort of order and organization. Except for perhaps the artfully jumbled pile of bags on the floor. I will wait while you pin it.

Our initial treatment of that space was not at all indicative of our excitement to at last have a legit pantry. In our first house we simply stocked food in some upper cabinets, and in our last one we had a fairly intense pantry-cabinet contraption that was equally functional and frustrating. So having a standard pantry closet (like the ones we both had growing up) is a welcome change for us.

And thankfully, over the last eight months of living with it (and getting increasingly frustrated by our lack of function), we have come up with a few ideas to make it work a lot better for us. First off, we hoped to move our microwave in there. I know it is not your usual placement for a microwave, but since removing our hulking over-the-range microwave, we hoped a better spot than on the counter – and we have had luck with a microwave that was hidden behind a cabinet door in our last kitchen (we do not use it quite frequently, and we truly liked that setup).

So because we had a good experience concealing our last microwave, relocating this one to our pleasant deep pantry felt like the way to go. There would be ample room for ventilation on the sides and back of it – and we’d keep the door open while it is in use. The only hitch was that there was no outlet in the pantry. Until lately…

We in fact got this done about a month or so ago (you may have noticed that the microwave has been MIA for a little while). Right before Christmas we had our go-to electricians swing by one morning and add an outlet right where we hoped it, to the tune of $110. And with that, the microwave had a spot to plug-in, our counter was clearer, and the pantry felt one step closer to being more functional for us.

We have been using it that way for over a month now and it has worked out well. Except that to make room for the microwave, we had to lose one of the existing shelves. Plain solution: reposition the shelves to capitalize on that unused space. But sometimes the simplest solutions take weeks to make it to the top of our to-do list.

Yesterday we at last emptied the pantry (a lively task full of exciting discoveries like “I did not know we still had cookies back here!”) and went to work adjusting the shelves. Our original plan had been to lower the bottom shelf (with the microwave on it) so that the shelf above it could go back in the same spot. But we have since moved our trash can in there too, so we could not go any lower without obstructing the can from opening.

Trash can sidenote: we moved that into the pantry over a month ago on a trial basis with the worry that it could stink up the whole space or otherwise annoy us, but sort of like how a trash can under the sink does not seem to be an issue – especially when it has a lid to seal it – this one has been fine in there. Even with a pregnant wife who right now has a werewolf-like sense of smell.

Instead of lowering the microwave shelf to make room for another shelf above it, we opted to put the missing shelf back in above the microwave shelf. But by hanging that one a little higher, it would create sort of a half-shelf that is ideal for cans and smaller pantry items. So I, quite technically, used a pasta sauce jar to mark how much space we’d want.

The next part was truly straightforward. I used my crowbar to pry off the existing braces (which were simply nailed in) and marked level lines where they needed to be re-installed.

Then using my level to double-check myself, I screwed them back into place where we hoped them.

The whole thing took about an hour, and most of that was spent emptying the pantry, taking pictures for you folks, and eating back-of-the-pantry discoveries. Once it was completed we were inordinately excited to test out our new small-things shelf. It is truly pleasant to have a “bonus shelf” for those shorter items that used to get shoved to the back or clutter up the other shelves.

We did not bother to restock the whole pantry yet because (as you can likely tell) there is still more to be done. Primarily: priming, painting, and further organizing those shelves. We are planning to add a few more systems to keep things organized on those bigger shelves, and might even hang some brought in storage on the door. Sherry has also been thinking about using some cheery wipeable shelf paper or something, so this pantry party is best described as half-baked.

After we are done painting and everything’s dry we can in fact organize it so it looks a bit more appetizing and less like a grocery store mid-looting. And then we will be back with the end result.

Man, it looks so pleasant empty and clean like that. Then again, the rest of the kitchen looks like this, so I guess it is not truly a long term solution.

How do you folks have your pantry organized? Do you have certain bins and systems that you enjoy? Have you drooled over those remarkable room-like pantries on Pinterest? Sometimes I catch Sherry simply gazing at them and muttering things like “magical unicorn pantry.”

Also, let me know if anyone is throwing a pantry party anytime soon. I will bring my friend Brick. He’s a hoot.