Q: My pantry is a single cupboard. How do I make the most of the small space?

A: Pantries are our bread and butter (excuse the pun) so we have a multitude of tricks up our sleeve, no matter how small your space….

The smaller the space, the tighter the edit. Before we started this edit, we didn’t just ask our client what her family eats, we asked how they eat. What’s the breakfast routine? Do cereal and snacks need to be on a lower shelf so little hands can access? Is pasta a staple? Rule of thumb is this: anything you’re reaching for more than twice a week needs to be prime real estate. No bending down, no reaching up high. Then check use by dates and weed out anything old or that you know you won’t eat. Ensure you’re creating a system for the food you actually use and love.

Once we purged, we grouped items into zones: Breakfast, Pasta, Dried Goods etc. Breaking a space down into zones is like a brain map. Next time you open your pantry door, you’ll know exactly where to reach for cereal, potato chips or pasta. It saves time and effort (win win).

The large white baskets are fantastic for pantries and are super versatile. We always add inserts to keep things neat. The smaller baskets are a real crowd-pleaser. We use these to store items that pack a visual punch. Other space-saving tricks? Turntables. They maximize space and make things easy to reach. We also added square acrylic containers to the bottom shelf to house excess salty snacks. Label everything otherwise the system will fall apart. For extra polish, we add our custom labels.

Yep, we love to purge plastic. Where possible we decant goods into sustainable glass containers. Not only does it elevate the look, but you’re more likely to use what you see (plus it makes shopping for groceries so much easier). Here we decanted pasta and cereal. But items like flour, sugar and grains really lend themselves to being set free (make sure you use jars with a seal for items like flour). Pro tip: add cooking instructions to the jar. We use our custom cooking labels, but a chalk pen underneath the lid works well.

It’s all very well designing a beautiful system, but you need to be realistic. A too-rigid system is stifling. We always factor in a refill area for any multiples or excess. Because space was tight here, we stashed the refill basket behind the cereal on the top shelf. Just remember to always, always check your refills before your next grocery order!