DIY Pantry From a Small Closet

Choose a closet close to the kitchen, if not in the kitchen. Empty your closet. Remove rods and other unnecessary hardware. Sweep and clean it.

Measure the height, width and depth of your closet. Write down the measurements.
Calculate how many shelves you have room for, which will depend largely upon how much space you need between them. Standard kitchen cabinet shelves are 12 inches to 15 inches apart.

Determine how far up you want the bottom-most shelf. If you have bulky, heavy items, like a 5-gallon bucket of dog food or a 20-pound bag of rice, leave enough clearance for those items to go on the floor of the closet under the bottom-most shelf.

Make a chalk line for your bottom-most shelf on the back of the closet wall, using a ruler or yardstick. Use a level to ensure it’s a straight line.

Make another chalk line across the back to mark where the next shelf up will go, and so-on up the closet until you come to your top shelf.

Get the amount of shelves you calculated. Have them cut to fit the width and depth of your closet. Inexpensive wood shelves, such as 3/4-inch-thick pine boards, will be strong enough for most uses, but are heavy and bulky. Wire shelves are strong but light weight, less bulky and easy to clean, but they cost more. Consider your needs when choosing your shelving material.

Get at least two brackets per shelf. If your closet width is more than 30 inches, get one bracket per 30 inches of shelf length. L-brackets are convenient for wood shelves. If purchasing wire shelves, purchase the hardware recommended by the manufacturer.

Hang your brackets, using your guidelines to determine the height at which they will be placed. Make sure they are level with your chalk lines and screw them into the wall with a drill using a screw bit. Space them a few inches from the edge of the shelf, or from the side wall of the closet, and no more than 30 inches apart.

Lay each shelf on its brackets, starting at the top shelf, and screw the bracket to the bottom of the shelf. If you’re hanging wire shelves, follow the manufacturer’s instructions for installing hardware.

Line your wood shelves with shelf paper. Add three-tiered shelf steps to make storage of small items more convenient in a deep shelf. Hang a wire door shelf unit on the inside of the door, if desired, to give you even more space for small items like spices and condiments.