When designing your kitchen pantry, its not always about aesthetics, its more about practicality and functionality, pantries help you to keep organized and be able to visually see everything you have stored in a neat and tidy fashion. Having plenty of storage space in the pantry is typically an important factor for most families when planning to incorporate one into a kitchen. The bigger the space, the more stuff you pack in there, meaning more waste when its hard to see items on deeper shelving. Having a well organized pantry is a necessity to cut back on throwing away unused, expired items. Everything should be easy to see and arranged in containers, baskets, pull-out drawers and even labelled to make things easier to spot. There are a few factors when designing a pantry that should be taken into consideration, the first being how much space you have to allocate to a pantry. You may only have a wall for a hutch, an unused closet, or enough space for a whole walk-in pantry like the one pictured above.

Typically you would want to have cabinet or closet designer create one for you, spending on average $5,500. However, if this is not in your budget, you may want to consider a DIY project, especially if you are just wanting to refresh your current space (refer to the very last image in this article). If you have high shelves that are hard to reach, consider installing a ladder (pictured above). Clear canisters allow you to be able to see what is inside, but you can also add fun labels for some extra creativity. Baskets are great for storing any round items and can be easily pulled out to see what is in them. Great for storing things such as onions, potatoes, apples, and other nonperishables (best placed on the lowest shelf of your pantry). Baskets help to keep items organized and allows ventilation, preventing food from get moldy too soon.

Have a look below for clever ideas and tips on how to organize your pantry, renovate it or create a brand new one. Get inspired and enjoy! Tell us, what would your dream pantry look like, do any of the images below fit the bill?

One other essential to a great pantry is lighting, especially for a walk-in pantry. Consider going glam with a chandelier, or more casual with a pendant light or even recessed lighting to illuminate a specific area such as a glass fronted cabinet (pictured above).

**In the image above, a San Diego home needed to be retrofitted with a kid-friendly pantry, adding plastic containers for healthy snacks for the kids, which are accessible on the lower shelves and glass jars for baking products stored up higher. There are also baskets filled with items in bags, such as bread and chips. Cookbooks have been organized by color, filling the shelves and creating a visually pleasing aesthetic.

Here are some great tips for organizing your pantry: 1. Sort through everything in your pantry and get rid of anything that is expired. 2. Sorting: Organize items by either canned goods and boxed items or by their use so that they are easy to find. 3. Use clear canisters or plastic containers where you can see what is inside, consider using labels. These should be used for flour, sugar, cereals, noodles, nuts, etc. 4. Any heavier items should be stored at the bottom of your pantry to make them more accessible. This includes bottled water, soda and even smaller appliances.

Need more pantry ideas, have a look at one of our past articles to help further inspire you, 53 Mind-blowing kitchen pantry design ideas.

In the pantry shown above, a vertical shelving solution allows for the storage of muffin tins and cookie sheets as well as re-usable grocery bags. Below this is pull-out shelves which allows for deeper storage (so you can store more stuff) and being able to more clearly see what is being stored.

Pictured above is a home in San Francisco, whose pantry showcases a framed doorway with display shelving on either side. Glass doors open to a nicely organized space complete with a marble countertop housing small appliances.

A closet pantry above displays just how tidy and organized a pantry can be. In this one there is even wine rack storage at the top as well as a rack for your stemware. Pull-out drawers and a basket makes organization a breeze!

A larder cupboard is what you see above, which is a standalone piece, a cross between a pantry cupboard and a storage area. This one is built into the wall with bi-fold doors that opens up to reveal a marble countertop and oak shelving. There is plenty of space to store items and appliances.

This base cabinet pantry is an excellent solution for those who have a small kitchen but still want some great organization.

A custom designed pantry can help maximize your space, keeping your kitchen organized with plenty of additional storage. An all-in-one pantry can include storage baskets for your shelves, wire baskets on your doors and pull-out shelving to keep everything at your fingertips.

This small kitchen features open shelving pantry storage painted in Benjamin Moore Georgian Green. The pantry countertops are a cherry wood, while the rest of the wood is poplar, with beadboard clad vertically.

On the side door of this pantry is a custom walnut-veneer spice rack, helping them to easily be seen and kept well-organized.

This built-in pantry cabinet features drawers that have been engraved with custom labeling, large shelves, spice racks affixed to the doors and wine storage on the top. Items are simple and quick to locate, making this an easy pantry solution for your home.

This farmhouse pantry features vertical shelving to maximize space, while a library ladder allows higher shelving to be easily accessible.  a tall food pantry that maximizes space by going vertical. The shelves are filled with adorable baskets lined with linen to fit with the aesthetic. Brick floors also compliment the look.

Hidden behind pocket doors is a well-organized closet pantry (it seems the more organized your space is, the more space you have to utilize). In this pantry, pull out baskets are used to store smaller items that would be messy on shelves.

This pantry cupboard features Blum soft close drawers that open out to easily access food items. The shelves are laminate and has outward opening doors. The laminate shelves house canisters filled with dry goods, making it easy to find what you are looking for.

This larder pantry cupboard is a stand along piece that has been custom built into the wall to house small appliances, some dishware, cookbooks and food items.

This pantry has a lot of stuff, but is well organized by items.

This pantry in a family home in Los Angeles, California is concealed by sliding glass doors that open to reveal white subway tiled walls with black grout lines, creating a vintage looking pantry.

This Kansas home showcases easily accessible storage with a series to make organization a breeze. The look is very sleek and clean, great for any modern home.

Utilize the space under your stairs and turn it into a pantry to store all of your extra food items.

If you do not have the luxury of a walk-in pantry then you need to utilize the space you do have with cleverly designed cabinets with smart storage solutions. Try painting the cabinets in a different color from the rest of your kitchen to make it appear more as a freestanding piece of furniture.

A walk-in pantry is cleverly concealed by a narrow door, which swings outwards.

A farmhouse in Pennsylvania features a rolling library ladder in the pantry to allow access to items stored on the upper shelving.

A walk-in pantry is used to store small appliances and even an extra refrigerator. A ladder is used to access the higher shelves.

This eye-catching pantry area has been well organized to display items and store them in their respectful spots.

A DIY makeover to an existing pantry showcases a flower print wall decal, containers from Ikea, Walmart and Target. Labels were placed on a lot of the containers so that family members would remember where items get stored when they are finished with them. Very well organized don’t you think? For more detailed information on this DIY, visit the photo source listed below, #35.

Photo Sources: 1. Hayburn & Co., 2. Neat Method, 3. Benvenuti and Stein, 4. KitchenLab, 5. Lorin Hill Architect, 6. Todd Alder Construction, 7. Figura Kitchens & Interiors, 8. Wood-Mode Fine Custom Cabinetry, 9. Holme Design, 10. Tyner Construction, 11. Roundhouse, 12. BML Media, 13. Maison Maison, 14. Closet Classics, 15. Jasmine McClelland Design, 16. Anthony Edwards Kitchens, 17. Kerri Robusto Interiors, 18. Von Fitz Design, 19. Cody Anderson Wasney Architects, 20. Young Remodeling, 21. Dwellings Design Group, 22. The Kitchn, 23. Mylands, 24. Kitchen Encounters, 25. Mark Williams Design Associates, 26. Benbow & Associates, 27. JW Construction, 28. The Aldrich Group, 29. Architectural Digest, 30. Garman Homes, 31. Chantry Kitchens, 32. Jenna Burger Design, 33. Zillow, 34. HGTV, 35. Classy Clutter