How we Turned a Coat Closet into a Functional, Organized Pantry

Our kitchen was lacking a pantry, so we often kept canned goods and backstock on a shelving unit at the foot of our stairs in the basement. But because half of our food and snacks were downstairs and half were upstairs it made for frequent mistakes when buying groceries… it was hard to visualize exactly what we had and where so we often ended up overbuying certain things and forgetting to buy others. Tired of wasting money, food, and time running up and down the stairs I decided to make over a coat closet into a functional pantry. | This post contains affiliate links |

Now while this coat closet (pictured below) was pretty jammed full, it was very underutilized. It’s where we kept our off-season coats, hats, and boots as well as some hiking gear and my daughters’ Art Cart - most things we did not need to use daily, or often at all. My solution to this was to relocate all these items to our basement - I hung a closet rod under the basement stairs and moved all our off-season clothing and gear to this new space where it was still easily accessible but out of the way.

| Adjustable Closet Rod I used for under the basement stairs |

Coat Closet - BEFORE

Relocated off-season gear to basement

The next step was to pull out the old wire shelf and closet rod system, patch the holes, and repaint the inside of the closet. Thankfully I already had spackle and some leftover white paint so I was able to get the closet to a clean slate easily and it didn’t cost a dime.

Now for the fun part! I got to decide how many shelves I wanted and the spacing, so I laid it out with painters tape to play with how I wanted it before I made a final decision. For our setup I decided on four shelves starting at about waist-height. I wanted to leave the bottom open to accommodate the dog food bin, the Art Cart, step stool, etc. Then I screwed in 1x3 inch “runners” that would support the shelves along the back wall. I used a stud finder to make sure I was screwing the runners into studs and a level to make sure everything was square.

Then I added runners to one side of the closet next, following the same routine - but with these pieces I had pre-drilled pocket holes with our Kreg Jig first so it would make for a clean and secure joint in the corners.

Before installing the runners on the opposite side of the closet, it’s wise to keep in mind how you will be able to maneuver the shelf boards in once all the runners are in place (it would be very difficult to get the top shelf in with all the runners installed, for example). So before installing the opposite side’s runners I slipped some of the trickier shelf boards into place first (I used 1x12”s cut to length for the shelves) before I finished screwing in all the side runners.

I secured the shelves into place with some finishing nails, then taped off the shelves and runners to get ready for paint. I used primer and then several coats of white semi-gloss paint since it’s a little easier to wipe down and keep clean.

I just love how farmhouse and “Shaker” the exposed rails on the sides look and I wanted to play it up. Once the paint was dry I added some functional hooks to hang aprons, lunchboxes, etc on the side rails.

| Skip Hop Fox Lunchbox | Similar Style White Metal Farmhouse Basket | OXO POP Containers |

And now the project is complete! I am so happy with how it turned out and it’s wonderful to have everything in one place. I can see this project saving us money on groceries in the long run now as everything will be in one place now and we’ll be less apt to waste food.

Eventually, I would love to replace the closet door with a fun screen door and get some more glass jars and baskets for a cleaner looking pantry - but all in good time.

| Similar Clear Plastic Storage Bins | Dog Food Container (on the floor, just out of the picture) |

| Similar White Metal Craft Cart | Small Wire Baskets | Similar Clear Plastic Storage Bins |

| Flour, etc. jars were made using Cracker Jars with custom vinyl labels I made on my Cricut | Vintage Pie Tins |

Over this past winter I added a few simple add-on organizers to our pantry to maximize the space and love how functional they are. Here they are below (and please excuse the glimpses of clutter in the pantry… as it now holds extra groceries and our family board games too - because, real life):

Additional Storage for the Walls

| Similar Wire Wall Basket | Mason Jars to store Trail Mix |

Under-Shelf Storage

| Wire Under-Shelf Basket - Perfect for Storing Potatoes! |

Decal for Pantry Door

It turns out our door is an odd size and in order to get a screen door for it we would have to custom order one (at a cost of about $300+! Yikes). So instead I decided to cut a custom vinyl label to stick to the door to make it more finished. I could have designed my own but I found a design I really liked on Etsy and bought the digital design file. After purchasing the design file, I used my Cricut and 651 Permanent Vinyl to make the label and then transferred it to the door. In hindsight I probably should have made it slightly smaller, but overall I love how it came out and how budget-friendly it was since I already owned a Cricut Machine and the vinyl.

| Pantry Digitial Design File | Cricut Machine | 651 Permanent Vinyl in Matte Black |

Back of Door Organizer

Finally, we decided to add a ClosetMaid Adjustable Organizer to the back of the pantry door to fully utilize the space. It was very simple to install and I am impressed with how sturdy it is once it's assembled and screwed in. We used the lower baskets for foil, parchement paper, ziplocks, silicone bowl covers, etc. The middle baskets we designated for frequently used canned goods, smoothie mix-ins, as well as salad fixings and rice cakes. Finally on the top two baskets we put convenience foods that we rarely use since I'm so short. Note: If you have a hollow-core door, you might want to use a specialty set of anchors/screws to attach it to the door for stability, rather than just screw into the door with regular screws.

| ClosetMaid Adjustable Organizer (18 inch) | True Nature Silicone Food Covers |

Stackable Canned Goods Organizer

Another later addition to our pantry organization are these amazing stackable can racks for organizing canned goods. Before I had quite a few canned goods just sitting on the floor of the pantry and in a separate kitchen cupboard, but I never could see everything at once and often cans in the back got forgotten -- Now everything is in one spot where I can see them and I can meal plan more efficiently.

| Stackable Can Rack Organizer (I have two racks stacked here) |

OXO POP Containers with Scoops for Snacks

Another thing that's been a huge game changer is moving dry snacks into OXO POP Food Storage Containers. We love these for our snack crackers and pretzels. They keep everything fresh and it's easy to see if you're starting to run low on these staples. To keep the kids from going too wild with serving sizes we added clear OXO 1/2 Cup Scoops in each container too - making it easy to grab a serving.
I used my Brother Label Maker to make labels for the containers. These can easily be peeled off and relabeled as needed.

| OXO POP Food Storage Containers | OXO 1/2 Cup Scoops | Brother Label Maker |

Disclaimer

This website shares personal opinions and experiences regarding a variety of topics. Please do your own research regarding all things and use information/opinions stated here at your own discretion and risk.

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How to Install New Cabinet Hardware + GIVEAWAY!

Our home came with a classic late 90’s “builder’s grade kitchen” - you know the type: honey-colored basic cabinets with no hardware and laminate counters. Someday we’d love to totally overhaul the space and paint the cupboards, trim them out, and install granite countertops - however all those things involve a lot of work and money and just aren’t in the budget right now. In the meantime we’re working on making small upgrades ourselves that will make the space look more finished. And what’s the easiest, budget-friendly way to update the look of your cabinets? Replace or install new hardware! If you’re installing new hardware on blank cabinets it can be a bit intimidating, so read on for my tips on installing for the first time. And don’t forget to enter our GIVEAWAY over on Instagram for a $50 Credit to Cosmas Hardware!
| This post is sponsored by Cosmas Hardware and affiliate links |

Cosmas Hardware is an online company that provides an amazing selection of quality hardware at great prices. Cosmas Hardware was kind enough to provide me with the hardware for this post - the knobs and drawer pulls I used are: Cosmas 5560FB Flat Black Cabinet Knob and Cosmas 783FB Flat Black Cabinet Cup Pull.

Tools You’ll Need:

• ruler/tape measure

• pencil or fine tip marker

• electric drill with different sized drill bits

• screwdriver

• new hardware

• construction paper (optional)

• cabinet hardware template (optional)

BEFORE

How to Install:

If you’re installing new hardware on a blank cabinet door, the first step is deciding hardware placement. I’m a very visual person so to help me decide on where things would go I first traced the hardware on a piece of black construction paper, cut it out, and taped them to the door and drawer fronts. This way I could step back and play around with the placement before I finalized it.

For our cabinets, we decided we liked the knobs two inches from the edge of the cabinet (not including the beveled edge). Once we decided on this placement, it was just a matter of measuring it out on all the cabinet doors so they were centered side-to-side on the trim piece as well as two inches in. Consistency is key to having uniform placement - and I made sure to measure multiple times in both directions before marking it with a pen

Alternatively, you can also use a Cabinet Hardware Template to help get consistent placement.

It’s important to measure the knobs on each door independently - if the doors aren’t hung evenly, it may look off initially but the hinges can be adjusted later so everything (the doors themselves as well as the hardware) will line up visually.

When it comes time to drill the holes, it’s important to make a small pilot (starter) hole before you drill the full size hole. There’s several reasons for this, but the two most important ones being that larger drill bits tend to “walk” when you drill on a smooth surface, and without drilling a pilot hole first you might end up off your mark. The other important reason is that pre-drilling the hole smaller first will help lessen the chance of the wood splitting. Be aware of what’s behind the cabinet front when you drill! Make sure you aren’t drilling into the cabinet frame or dishes that may be in the cabinet behind the door. For the larger hole you’ll want the drill bit diameter to be just barely bigger than the diameter of the screws that come with the hardware.

Once the larger hole is drilled, slide the screw in from the back and use a screwdriver to hold it in place while you thread the knob on snuggly.

Deciding on drawer pull placement. (Note that while the lower cabinet knobs are each in the correct place, they look off since the cabinet doors are uneven - this can be fixed by adjusting the cabinet door hinges, which I did once I was finished installing all the hardware.)

For the drawer pulls I followed a similar procedure as I did for the door fronts. One thing I had to keep in mind though is the drawer pulls I chose aren’t symmetrical top-to-bottom - the mounting screws are towards the bottom of of the pulls. Therefore, playing around with the placement of the drawer pulls was very important - the drawer pulls needed to look centered visually from top to bottom on the drawer fronts, even though that made for the screw placement to be slightly below center.

Once I liked the visual placement of the paper templates I carefully measured out the spacing on each side as well as down from the screw holes to make sure everything was accurate and even. These particular drawer pulls have screws 3” apart so I made sure that the spacing between the screw markings was accurate as well. (Once you get an idea of placement, you could also use a Cabinet Hardware Template here to help mark everything out.) In our kitchen the drawers are three different sizes, so this process needed to be repeated several times - on the shorter drawers I used one pull, and on the longer drawer I used two pulls.

After the hole placements were marked, I remeasured the spacings several times before drilling the pilot holes and then the screw holes. Then it’s simply a matter of screwing the screws in from the backside of the drawers with a screwdriver into the drawer pulls.

AFTER

And that’s it - the whole project took less than an afternoon to do and it really helps our kitchen look more finished. I just love how it came out! Once we replace our countertops with a more modern granite counter the space will really look sharp and the hardware will compliment it beautifully.

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GIVEAWAY!

Head on over to our Instagram for details and to enter our Giveaway with Cosmas Hardware for a $50 shop credit so you can update the look of your kitchen too with the hardware of your choice!

Giveaway ends 3/11/19 at 5PM EST.

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- I received these items from Cosmas Hardware but all opinions expressed are my own.  Please read our full Disclosure Policy for more information - 

Disclaimer: Installing new cabinet hardware from scratch is something that most people can very easily do on their own and here I’ve shared my tips on the easiest way I’ve personally found to measure and install them. However, use your best judgement when installing your hardware - if you’re in doubt of your measuring or drilling skills, there’s no harm in consulting a professional before you tackle this or any project.

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