Meal-planning and preparation can be a challenge even if you love cooking. I work with clients every day who say a lack of storage space and too much clutter in the kitchen is negatively impacting their desire and ability to create the meals they’d like for themselves and their families. I have lots of experience with kitchen pantries, and I’m about to share my best advice.
In this article, we’re going to go over:
- The problems that cluttered kitchens cause
- The benefits of a custom kitchen pantry
- Key features of effective kitchen pantries
- Tips for designing your kitchen pantry
At Organizing Solutions, we work with individuals and families to design beautiful storage spaces in all rooms of the house and the garage. Kitchen pantries are one of our specialties, and we’d be happy to work with you on optimizing yours.
If you’re ready to learn about how you can best use the space in your kitchen to make meal-prep and shopping much easier, keep reading!
The Problem with Cluttered Kitchens
Overview of Common Issues
There are some issues that tend to crop up in kitchens that have too much clutter. They include:
- Difficulty in finding items: When countertops and cabinets are overflowing or stuffed to capacity, it can be difficult to find specific items, like ingredients you need for tonight’s dinner or a tool that you need for food already on the stove.
- Inefficient use of space: Clutter can build up on various surfaces, and that makes it hard to make the most of your kitchen. Your cabinets might be stacked haphazardly, and items might even topple out when you open the doors. In the worst cases, this can even be a safety issue.
- Difficult meal preparation: The work area where you should be chopping, mixing, and assembling meals is crowded, and you don’t have a good place to get these tasks done. It can lead to you throwing up your hands in frustration and calling for a pizza.
- Duplicity in shopping: If you can’t see what you have on hand, that makes it difficult to not overbuy ingredients. You might purchase a new box of crackers only to find that you have one or two more stuffed in the back of a cabinet.
Impact on Daily Life
Over time, these problems begin to pile up – causing you to notice the impacts in your daily routines.
- Stress: Trying to prepare meals in a messy kitchen is stressful. It also adds to the mental load of feeding yourself or your family. Rather than simply being able to get into the tasks of cooking, you first need to shuffle items around and try to tidy up your piles.
- Inefficiency: You will find that getting food ready will take longer than it should. Not only are you trying to clean up before you can even start cooking but you also will find it hard to clean up the cooking mess you’re making. This makes everything more of a hassle than it should be.
- Health implications: Cooking in a cluttered kitchen can quickly turn into cooking in a dirty kitchen, which has some negative health effects. If, for example, you accidentally drop a piece of raw chicken on your counter, it could spread the contaminated juices to piles that you have nearby – making it impossible to sanitize everything. In addition, you might find yourself relying on fast food more often, which is also not a healthy option.
- Lack of joy in cooking: Preparing food doesn’t have to be your favorite chore, but it also shouldn’t feel like torture. If you’re dealing with too much clutter, you might be dreading dinnertime, and that’s not fun for anyone in the household.
Benefits of a Custom Kitchen Pantry
A custom kitchen pantry comes with a lot of benefits that will help negate many of the problems you might be experiencing with your cluttered kitchen.
- Maximized storage space: Unlike a standard kitchen, your custom pantry system is designed just for you and the way your kitchen is laid out. My team will tailor it to eliminate any wasted areas while creating plenty of room for your kitchen essentials. We offer customized features, like adjustable shelves, pull-out baskets, and specialized compartments.
- Improved organization: Custom kitchen pantries can enhance your organization by giving each item in your kitchen a specific “home” within the pantry. You can categorize and separate your items. For example, you can have specific zones for baking supplies, cereal, and beverages. Good Housekeeping has a long list of additional ideas for kitchen storage and organization.
- Enhanced meal planning: When all of your ingredients are visible and within easy reach, it will be so much easier to plan and prepare your meals. You can see what you have on hand at a glance, so you won’t need to run out to the grocery store at the last second. Also, you’ll be more likely to use up your items before they expire – saving you money. Finally, you will find yourself relying on fast food and convenience foods less and less.
- Aesthetics and home value: A well-organized kitchen adds visual appeal to your home. The pantry itself can be a focal point and should complement your existing kitchen decor. This will help you feel more at home in your kitchen. In addition, you’ll be increasing your home’s value by investing in custom storage solutions; people who are looking for a home overwhelmingly want a functional kitchen and lots of storage space.
Key Features of Custom Kitchen Pantries
Every custom kitchen pantry is different, but here are some common features that we use in our pantry systems:
- Adjustable shelving: When shelves are adjustable, they provide a lot of flexibility; you can move the shelves as desired to accommodate whatever items you’re currently storing. This is particularly helpful if you tend to change your foods seasonally – using more canned produce in the winter and maybe a greater selection of beverages in the summer.
- Pull-out drawers and baskets: These features allow you to reach items stored toward the back of the pantry, where you might currently have a lot of clutter buildup. When you can access every corner of your pantry, you’ll naturally tend to use up the items rather than forgetting about them and letting them expire without realizing it.
- Custom compartments: Depending on your cooking style, you might need customized holders, like a wine rack, a break box, a spice rack, or a holder for canned goods. We have a lot of different accessories available to help you make the most of your space while providing the type of storage you need for your family’s favorites.
- Integrated lighting: You will need to add lighting to your pantry to improve visibility and ease of use. There are a lot of options to consider – from an overhead light to LED strip lights along the edges or undersides of your shelves. You might also consider a motion-activated lighting system, as this will make it easier to access your pantry when putting food away or when in the middle of a recipe.
Tips for Designing Your Custom Kitchen Pantry
Are you ready to get started? Here are some of the ways my team can help you achieve your dream kitchen pantry system:
- Assess your needs: We’ll start by helping you to take stock of your pantry’s inventory and the way you want to use your space. We’ll take a look at what you have in terms of food, kitchen appliances, cookware, and paper products. We’ll ask you how frequently you use each item and if there are any changes you’d like to make. From there, we’ll be able to start designing your pantry on our 3D software system.
- Consider your space: We’ll take accurate measurements of the area we’ll be using as your pantry. If you already have a closet or cutout area in your kitchen, that’s great, but if not, we can find space in an area in or near your kitchen. We’ll think about how we can use both the surface area and the vertical space.
- Prioritize accessibility: Our top priority is for you to be able to reach what you need when you need it. We’ll help you decide which items should be at your fingertips and which can be further back or stored higher in the pantry. We want it to be easy to navigate even when your hands are full of groceries or when you need to carry items to the stove while you’re in the midst of cooking.
- Incorporate aesthetics: Your kitchen pantry needs to be functional, but we also want it to be beautiful. You’ll be able to choose the materials, colors, and finishes that best complement your kitchen’s overall style, and we can also talk about decorative elements, such as glass cabinet doors or elegant drawer fronts. If you want to paint the pantry a bold color, ask your designer when you should do that to ensure the space is ready for installation day.
Conclusion
A custom kitchen pantry can help you really maximize the potential of your kitchen. Organizing Solutions is here to help! We offer a free in-home consultation, so you can meet with a member of our design team and benefit from a customized pantry design. There’s no obligation, and it’s a great way to find out if one of our kitchen pantries is right for you. Call anytime to schedule this complimentary consultation.
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