DIY Pantry Shelving That'll Maximize Space & Keep The Kitchen Organized

While most houses come with a pantry, that can mean a lot of different things, as these kitchen storage spaces come in all shapes and sizes. Not everyone lives in a home with the pantry of their dreams, but even a small pantry offers benefits like helping keep your kitchen organized. One of the most common types is the closet pantry, and although it might not be as big as you like, it's better than nothing. Unfortunately, with the limited storage space in closet pantries, they can be a magnet for clutter. If you have this problem, you might be able to upgrade and declutter your pantry with DIY horseshoe shelves.

When you want to create a pantry system that works hard and actually stays organized, horseshoe or U-shaped shelves offer several advantages compared to wide, straight shelves that run along the back of the wall. First, you can see everything better, which is key to staying organized. You can also reach the backs and corners of each shelf. Another advantage is that you can use the extra space on the sides. While it might not seem like much, if you can get an extra square foot from the side of each shelf and you have five or six shelves, that's an extra 10 or 12 square feet of storage space in your pantry. Even though closet shelves can take days or weeks to finish, this is still a good project for people with moderate DIY skills.

With careful planning, a good design, and the right tools and materials, giving your closet pantry an extreme makeover will be well worth the effort, since it can almost make it seem like you have a walk-in if you add horseshoe shelves. While that might seem like a bit of an exaggeration to some, there's no denying that U-shaped shelves are a good way to add usable space to your closet and make it easier to keep your kitchen organized.

To start building the shelves, find and mark the studs in the back of your closet. You will need to attach the shelf framing to the wall studs to ensure the most secure installation. Then, measure the width, depth, and height of your closet, and decide how much space you want to allow for the inside of the horseshoe. One of the best ways to do this is to make a template out of cardboard to ensure you like the shelf size.

Before you buy materials, decide what type of shelf you want, whether it's a solid piece of plywood or something framed, like a torsion box. Then, map out your ideas so you know how many shelves you need and how big to make them. It's also helpful to make a cut list, and if you're tech savvy, you can use a tool like SketchUp to create a design that makes the most of your materials. 

This is the perfect type of DIY project to practice your skills, since any mistakes you make will be invisible by the time you fill up your pantry. When it comes to making DIY horseshoe shelves, you have a few different options. To make torsion box shelves, which are just hollow framed boxes with a solid surface on each side, people typically use small dimensional lumber like 1-by-2s, 1-by-3s, or 2-by-2s for the framing and sheet materials like plywood or MDF for the faces. For this method, build the frames in place first, being sure to mount the torsion box frames to the studs in the back and to the sides of the closet. For wide closets, you may need a support in the middle of your shelf to hold up heavy pantry items.

Don't cut your sheet materials until you get the frames in place; that way, you can ensure a good, tight fit. Once you have them cut and installed with screws or nails, small touches like using wood filler in nail and pocket hole jigs or caulking the back of the shelf where it meets the wall will ensure a professional installation. Then, you can finish your shelves with stain, paint, or polyurethane to make them easy to clean. Once you organize your closet with affordable Dollar Tree solutions to reduce pantry clutter even more, you might even have to go shopping to fill up all the extra space.