How to turn a closet into a pantry

Clear the closet out, add lighting and power if needed, freshen up with paint, install the right shelving, and then organize. No renovation required.

My Victorian had only ONE closet, downstairs, right off the back door by the kitchen. Even though it was about 10′ long and 3′ wide, all it had in it was a washer and dryer, without even room for shelving. I gladly moved the machines to the basement so I could have a MUCH more functional daily living area.

So many homes don’t have pantries, and if you need one, think about a space in your own home that could be turned into one. A lot of homes have closets near the back door, which is usually near the kitchen. This could be a great option for you!

Assess your closet

Think about what’s currently using the space and if it’s the smartest idea or if there’s another way. Do those things need a full closet or could they go elsewhere, OR could they share the space with a pantry?

How big is the space? It doesn’t need to be huge (like mine), even a small pantry can make a big difference in how your kitchen/cooking functions.

Clear out what doesn’t belong

Completely empty it out. This is a great time to simplify anything you don’t need. Extra coats and shoes can go in their appropriate bedrooms. Off-season gear can go in a basement, garage, attic, under beds.

It’s not likely that you’ll run into the same issue as me here and need to remove plumbing and special electrical, but if you do, now’s the time!

Add lighting, outlets if needed, and paint

If you actually want to use appliances in your closet-turned-pantry, then consider adding some electrical outlets to it. It can be pretty practical, but it’s definitely not a necessity, so don’t let it hold you back if you aren’t ready for that. They can always be added later.

Now that the room is empty, it’s a great time to paint. Small spaces are always fun to go bold in, but in my case I was on a serious budget so I grabbed a $5 can (a little more expensive today) of mis-tinted paint from the hardware store and painted it yellow.

Most closets have lights, but this is the perfect time to swap them out for prettier ones. If yours doesn’t have a light and you’re not ready to wire one, there are tons of rechargeable options now! They’re handy, affordable, and often look really good. Just keep in mind if you do go with rechargeable lights that you want to mount them somewhere you can easily reach them. Just trust the 5′ tall woman who didn’t do that and just lived with dead lights because it was too much of a pain to grab the ladder every week or two…

Choose your shelving

So many options here.

I went with what I already had from a previous house: IKEA adjustable wall shelving. I just needed to add on a few more pieces. Mine was similar to this from Amazon. You can also buy them in whole sets now so they come with all the brackets and shelves, like this set.

Keep dimensions in mind. Make sure the shelves are deep enough to be useful, but not too deep to be practical.

In my case, I used deeper shelves on top to hold bulky, light things like paper products, and the shallower shelves on the bottom.

The adjustable shelving system isn’t always the prettiest, but it is very practical. Once you live with the space for a little while, you can adjust the various heights to where you actually need them.

When you’re installing the shelves, make sure that all of the brackets or rails go into studs. Pantry items are usually pretty heavy and you DON’T want them falling off and ripping holes in your wall.

What I’d do differently

First, this was before I learned the joys of simplifying, so I would have simplified my inventory first.

I would have left room for cleaning products like the vacuum cleaner.