The pantry in the apartment can be used to store supplies, canned goods, sets of dishes, cleaning products, etc. Many of these items should be stored separately: cereals - in a tightly closed container where pests will not penetrate; vegetables - in well-ventilated boxes; detergents - away from food. Therefore, the design of a small pantry requires careful organization. Each thing should have its own specific place. How to achieve this when the size of the room does not leave much to be desired? Find out further with a selection of 10 pantry ideas and 20+ pantry photos!
Also read: How to make a dressing room from a closet
Tall shelving for pantry
Tall metal and wood shelving can double your pantry's usable space and make food storage more manageable. A mobile ladder or stool will help you get things from the upper shelves under the ceiling.
How to divide a pantry into sections
The interior of the pantry should be functional. There are no large areas here, which means that every square centimeter must be put to good use. If we talk about a universal pantry, then it will contain:
- shelves for seasonal shoes below - it’s better not straight, but at an angle;
- section for a vacuum cleaner at the bottom;
- The middle shelves contain those items that you will use most often: tools, things, laundry baskets, drawers. Important! As a rule, shelves are arranged with a depth of no more than 40 cm;
- a wardrobe storage segment with a rod to make it convenient to hang outerwear;
- upper shelves for items that are rarely used - small children's things that you have outgrown, old children's toys, boxes of Christmas tree decorations.
Lattice storage systems
Interesting ways to organize a pantry
Much depends on which room the pantry is located in. So, if it is placed in the kitchen and does not even exceed the size of the refrigerator, you can still use it effectively - place buckets, a vacuum cleaner, and household chemicals here. For mops and kitchen towels, you can make special holders on the door, which will save interior space. You can’t do without shelves for preservation - just don’t forget to delimit the internal segments for food, things and household chemicals.
Wall mounting system - shelf height can be adjusted
Advice. Shelves for storing food and household supplies should be as deep as possible. It is better to place them in the letter P, so that you can immediately see what condition your supplies are in, where and which ones are located. And do not forget that ventilation is necessary in the pantry where food is stored.
The shelves are arranged in the shape of the letter “P” - made of modular furniture
If this additional room is located in one of the rooms, then a folding ironing board can be provided on the door. And the storage room in the hallway will be an excellent mini-garage for placing a children's scooter or an adult bicycle. As a rule, personal transport is placed on the floor, and shelves are hung above it. The structure can be made on a metal base - it can be easily assembled, disassembled or expanded if necessary.
Photo: small storage room in the apartment
You can also set up a modest-sized workshop in the pantry - if you bring out a worktop with various accessories here, there is unlikely to be room left for bulky, capacious shelving. But drawers with fasteners, small cabinets or hooks for hanging hand tools can be mounted on the door.
Kitchen pantry with drawers
But a standard and very spacious storage will only be possible if you can place strong shelving inside from the ceiling to the floor. Most often, such racks are assembled on a frame made of metal pipes, which will allow the structure to be loaded with almost no restrictions. But you can also use ready-made modular and shelving structures, selecting high-quality furniture in accordance with your needs.
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Wall shelves for pantry
Pantry shelves are a simpler option that you can make yourself. Note that they do not solve the problem of organization, but they allow the use of floor-to-ceiling walls. Here are a few examples of how you can use wall shelves in a pantry, in the photo:
Equipping the pantry - what exactly to do?
You should think about ventilation and lighting in advance.
Do not forget that certain climatic conditions are required to store food. It is best if the air duct in the pantry has a special filter, and the ventilation is equipped with a cooling system.
Naturally, in such a room you can do without windows. For a small pantry space you only need one high wattage lamp.
Try to use the maximum amount of natural materials, because designs made from them will reduce the temperature level in the pantry.
Most often, cement-sand mixtures and aluminum profiles are used to construct a storage room.
After building the first layer of the floor, walls and ceiling, it is necessary to wait a period of about two to three days so that the structure has time to dry. Sometimes sheets of plywood, balsa wood or fire-resistant wool are inserted between metal structures. Additional thermal insulation will not be a hindrance. Next, a second final layer of cement-sand mixture is applied.
For flooring it is better to choose linoleum or tiles.
The second material is more suitable, since it can be laid on the first layer of cement-sand mixture and it will better keep the room cool. Sometimes, using liquid nails, the tiles are laid on the finished surface of a clean floor. But it is better not to use parquet or laminate, since these materials react negatively to temperature changes and can deteriorate under the influence of humidity.
Before starting finishing work, the walls must be treated with a primer with an antibacterial effect. This will prevent mold from occurring. To save the family budget, you can use old wallpaper or paint to decorate the walls.
Corner solutions for small spaces
Corner shelves allow you to make the most of space in a small pantry. It is especially worth considering the possibility of installing a rotating corner block, which makes it possible to easily reach deeply hidden objects.
Also read: Secrets of a small space - how to visually enlarge a room?
Baskets and boxes for storing vegetables
Metal mesh boxes and wicker baskets are ideal for storing potatoes, carrots and other vegetables. They are well ventilated and do not allow moisture to accumulate, which leads to rotting. To ensure a smooth surface and ease of maintenance, it is recommended to cover the bottom of these boxes with organic glass, cardboard or plywood.
Also read: Smart retractable systems for the kitchen that every housewife dreams of!
Organizers for a small pantry
There is one place for spices, another for cereals, another for preserves, etc. We adhere to this rule every time we put things in order. But over time, everything gets mixed up again. The next time we clean, we find long-expired cans of condensed milk, moldy cheese, and a source of unpleasant odor in the form of a missing head of cabbage. How to solve this problem once and for all?
Special organizers will help you with this - shelves and drawers with strictly defined sizes and shapes, which are designed to store specific items. Keeping a small closet clean and organized is quite easy when there is only one place for each category of things. Examples of such solutions are in the following photos:
Also read: How to organize the storage of spices in the kitchen - 30 ideas
Tip: Try placing products on shelves alphabetically or in order of their expiration dates.
Arrangement of the premises
The choice of finishing materials mainly depends on the purpose and further use of the pantry.
If the pantry will be used for storing tools, sleds, mops, sports equipment, conservation and all things that need to be hidden, then it should be finished with practical and wear-resistant materials.
Linoleum for the floor is just right (by the way, you can lay it yourself. Read about it here). For walls, instead of wallpaper, it is better to use plastic panels. They are practical, easy to clean and create a clean and tidy room. You can also use MDF panels. It's not difficult to attach them.
When storing food, use materials that are easy to clean. In this case, it is better to cover the floor with linoleum, oilcloth or tiles. Treat the walls with a primer mixture with an antibacterial coating, followed by water-repellent paint.
If the utility room will be used as a dressing room (for example, for children's things), a good solution would be to use laminate flooring, cover the walls with wallpaper or secure them with plastic panels.
It is better to use a door that fits in as closely as possible with the rest of the apartment’s design; it should not stand out. For example, install a door with a mirror finish.
For the functionality and practicality of the room, in addition to the decoration of walls and floors, do not forget about three important conditions:
- Lighting. Since the pantry does not have windows and does not receive sunlight, it is worth taking care of proper lighting. It’s better not to save money here, but to install bright, powerful lamps, which will make it easy to find the right thing. Lamps from 150 W are suitable. There is no need to worry about energy costs, since the pantry is rarely used and does not last long.
2. Ventilation. For the same reason that there are no windows and it is not possible to create a draft, care should be taken about proper ventilation. Otherwise, dampness and an unpleasant smell can ruin not only your mood, but also your things. It would be a good idea to cover the ventilation hole with a mosquito net to prevent insects from entering.
3. Shelves. You can make shelving yourself. Without them, the storage room will not be practical and spacious enough. Shelves are usually placed along one or more walls, in the shape of the letter “L” or “P”
.
Wardrobe pantry
What if you don't have a storage room at all? Then you can organize a built-in closet in the hallway or a corner pantry in the kitchen as a pantry! Photos of such interesting solutions complete our article.
Where can you make a storage room in an apartment?
Even those who are not lucky enough to have such a functional room should not be upset; it can always be built by using some unnecessary or secluded corner of even a small apartment. So, where and how to make a storage room in an apartment:
- In a niche - in this case, you don’t even need redevelopment; we make shelves in the niche and close it with a beautiful door. That's all, the pantry room in the apartment is ready!
- At the dead end of the corridor - ideal if your apartment has a long corridor. A few square meters in its dead end are fenced off (using plasterboard) and a door is installed.
- Above the door is not a very good option, but it is suitable for the most extreme case, if there is no other place in the apartment. As a rule, such structures are built in the kitchen and used for storing preserved food.
- In a wardrobe - in principle, the built-in wardrobe itself plays the role of a small storage room; its spacious shelves allow you to store frequently and little-used household items.
- In one of the rooms - in this case you will have to reduce the room by several square meters. If you are ready to make such sacrifices, go for it!
