We bought our house sight unseen after a three minute FaceTime call with my parents while they quickly walked through the house. We were in Columbus, OH about to finish up my husband’s residency and were planning on renting a house before purchasing or building. My parents generously offered to drive up from Utah to see the rental before we committed to a two year lease and stumbled upon a new construction home about to be listed. The builder happened to be at the house and agreed to let my parents quickly walk through while we FaceTimed. I remember my Mom showing me the pantry and being so excited that it had counter space, outlets and a WINDOW. It’s a small space, but it is one of my favorite little corners in our home.
The pantry has a pocket door, but it is directly adjacent to my kitchen and with a south facing window, sun shines through it all day long and so I never want to shut the door and block all the natural light. You see right into this little space every single time you walk into the kitchen, so it has to be visually pleasing and functional.
All of the shelves in the pantry are open. The top shelves store produce, recipe books, a stack of extra plates and bowls, and then just favorite serving pieces I have picked up over the last little while. I use larger bowls to keep potatoes, onions, fruit, etc. and the smaller little dishes for garlic. I wanted my cookbooks in the pantry for convenience and to help style the shelves, but I didn’t like all the really bright primary colors and how it made the space feel too busy and visually ‘cluttered’ so I covered them all in Kraft paper. You can read more about that here and watch a reel I made about it here. The wood risers help style the pantry, but are also functional and allow you to vary heights on your table when serving things.
The bottom two shelves are where we store all of our pantry food items grouped by category in my favorite plastic baskets. I labeled them with these black bin labels and a white ink pen. (I don’t have a picture of these, but I posted a video in my instagram stories). In an upper cabinet right next to the pantry and my stove, I have all of these bins with flour and sugar and this little lazy susan with all of my oils and vinegars. Spices have a drawer of their own next to my stove also. I like the flours and sugars in the cabinet because of all of the light in the pantry. The only downside to having a window in a pantry in my opinion (drawers would solve that, but our pantry is all open shelving). Last, we have an entire drawer in the kitchen devoted to kid snacks, organized with my favorite drawer dividers.
A lot of the accessories in my pantry are from a favorite local store, Feather and Twine Home by Boise interior designer, Judith Balis and another favorite (local to Utah store- which we visit a lot because of family there), Highland Gardens. I specified where everything is from below and also linked it from online stores for those that aren’t near those favorite local shops.
Okay, all the sources! (From left to right, top to bottom in the pictures)
Gray wash wood riser- Feather and Twine Home in Boise, online here Seagrass serving bowl- here or here White serving bowl- old from Target, similar here or here Glass and wood canisters- Hobby Lobby, similar here, here or here Marble bookends- Feather and Twine Home, online here or here Gray ceramic pitcher- Feather and Twine Home, online here or here White ceramic berry basket- here Magnolia cookbook- here Light gray bowls- Highland Gardens in Utah, online here My very favorite white dishes- here and here Wood riser- Feather and Twine Home, online here Large round cutting board- Feather and Twine Home, similar online here, here and here Black bowl- Highland Gardens, similar online here and here Blue floral vase- Highland Gardens, online here Marble cutting board- old from Sur La Table, similar online here White salt and pepper shakers- salt here and pepper here Ceramic creamer pitcher- Feather and Twine Home, online here Cookbook holder- Feather and Twine Home, similar here Wood cutting board- Highland Gardens, online here Little ceramic bowls- here or here Light wood handled tray- Feather and Twine Home, online here Tall wood and white cutting board- The Nest, also local to Idaho, similar online here and here Plastic pantry baskets- here Labels for baskets- here Cannisters for flour and sugar (love these ones because they are air-tight)- here Spice racks for drawer- here (I just have all my spices in the store bought jars right now, but these racks help keep them organized in the drawer)
*I may receive a small commission for purchases made through links in this post.
