Pantry Organization Ideas: DIY Pantry Door Organizer

Hey lovelies! Recently, I’ve been super frustrated with my lack of organization in my kitchen. Who here has that one drawer or cabinet that you dread to open? Hands? Yeah, we ALL do. I was lacking pantry organization ideas….

The worst spot in my kitchen was that dreaded spice cabinet. You know the one, where everything falls out and you can’t find a gosh darn thing… yup! That one.

After renovating and organizing the kitchen pantry, it just felt right to continue the organization trend in the kitchen. Once the ball got rolling I had so many pantry organization ideas flowing through my mind!

After debating how to tackle the dreaded spice cabinet, I designed this pantry door organizer. Not only did it clear out that silly cabinet, it also eliminated a drawer full of aluminum foil, cling wrap and Ziploc baggies!

To make this, all you need is basic carpentry skills and a free weekend! {Ok, the free weekend is the hardest part truthfully!}

What You'll Need

SUPPLIES:

TOOLS:

Table Saw
Miter Saw
Nail Gun
Jigsaw
Kreg Pocket Hole System

The Build:

To start this project, I first measured of the inside of the pantry door. Make sure you take into consideration the door frame. The last thing I wanted to do was to build this beautiful organizer, mount it, and then not be able to close the door!

Once I had all our measurements down, I decided to use some left over beadboard from my Modern Farmhouse Pantry Renovation to use as the backing of each of the organizers. Using a circular saw to make the rough cuts, I trimmed everything down to size.

Once I had a smaller piece to work with, I cleaned up the edges the table saw. This allowed me to make sure the pieces were perfectly square.

When designing the organizers, I knew we needed to take in consideration the decorative door knob plate I have on the inside of the pantry door.

I decided to use 1x3s to frame the top organizer and 1x4s for the lower organizer. The 1x3s were the perfect depth for the new spice jars I had ordered and the 1x4s would give more room for larger items in the lower organizer.

Using a miter saw, I made all the cuts to frame the beadboard backing.

Pocket Holes:

Once out frame was cut, we drilled pocket holes to assemble the frame.

If you’ve never used a Kreg Pocket Hole System. They’re super easy. You just need to know the thickness of the wood you’re working with and this chart.

The wood is 3/4″ thick (FYI: wood that is labeled 1 x (whatever), leading you to believe it is an inch thick. However, this is not the case, it is actually 3/4″ thick. (Don’t ask me why they don’t just label it correctly!)

Therefore, I needed to set the jig and the drill bit both at 3/4″. Now all I had to do is reference this chart to determine what size screws I needed. It’s that easy!

Pro Tip: You measure the drill bit to the end of the spiral. Not the tip of the drill bit. This makes sure the hole is 3/4″ deep with a small channel to guide the tip of the screw straight.

I pre-drilled the holes at the ends of the boards following the wood grain. To make a strong joint, made sure I was drilling the screws into the wood grain of the opposing board. This makes sure the joint are nice and strong.

Also, I made sure to clamp the boards down while driving our screws to prevent any movement! This was a great tip I learned after creating a few crooked joints!

To accommodate the small cut out I made with the jigsaw, I came up with a simple solution. A quick recessed screws! Filling them with wood putty to hide them before the final paint job.

So far, so good. Here are the frames! Now, it was time to add the shelves.

Keeping in mind, there would be a slight discrepancy in the boards because of the beadboard backing, I knew I needed to trim a little off the shelves before installing.

To resolve this, I measured the difference, and set up the table saw accordingly and ripped away (watch those fingers folks!) The shelves were now flush with the frame.

To install the shelves we used scrap 2x4s as spacers. The spacers ensured there would be enough clearance to get items in and out of each shelf with ease. It also kept me from measuring, giving us a faster install. I actually use this trick often. I’m all for efficiency, and not for anything math related!

Lastly, I simply used the same 2×4 spacers to help install some small moulding ~~to help hold the items on the shelf when opening and closing the pantry door~~ (I feel like that was a duh statement!) I anchored these little guys in place with some wood glue and a nail gun. This was a test of patience and accuracy!

Phew! One organizer down!

After both organizers were assembled, I caulked and filled any gaps before painting. I also filled all of the pocket holes with wood filler. Once completed, I waited 24 hours for everything to dry and cure.

The following day I sanded off any residual wood filler and painted. Using Glidden Flat Pure White Paint, I painted both organizers. Two coats gave us good coverage.

And just like that, Poof! Your weekends gone!

How to Mount to Hollow Door:

To hang these pantry door organizers, we used these hollow door anchors. They are shorter in length than your standard drywall anchors, so they fit inside the interior of the door. They are 1/2″ long and hold approximatly 40 pounds.

After the spice rack was installed, I combined all my spices into these glass 6 oz spice jars I purchased from Amazon. They came with these adorable labels, 360 to be exact! Have a spice, they have a label for it.

Now, I feel completely under control of our spice situation. And that wasted cabinet will now hold ~~wine,~~ ~~tupperware,~~ ~~chocolate~~, whatever I need!

Thankfully, I can now move onto more pantry organization ideas since this project has been knocked out.

Well, there you have it folks! It really wasn’t that complicated and I LOVE the end results. If you’re looking for pantry organization ideas, I hope this inspired you!

Till next time…

XOXO,