Custom design lets you create a custom pantry with everything in its place, perfectly—just in time for Centreville barbecue season!

Independence Day marks the official start of barbecue season, and the entire DC Metro area is decked out in patriotic flair to celebrate. As far as I’m concerned, this might be the biggest holiday of the year—and the food, fun, and fireworks only make everything that much better. Whether you’re heading up I-66 for a parade in Fairfax or you’re enjoying a quiet barbecue at home in Centreville, there’s nothing quite like a good Fourth of July celebration.

As we transition into prime time for cookouts, pool parties, and weekend summer hangouts, it’s likely that you’ll be spending more time in the kitchen than you did in the rainy springtime. When you’ve got picnic baskets to fill, patriotic paper goods to spread on outdoor tables, and enough snacks and drinks to feed an army, it’s likely that your poor pantry is overflowing. Now is a great time to be thinking about the kind of organization you’d dream of having in the most important storage spot in your kitchen, and how you can make that plan come to life with the help of custom design. A custom pantry is a perfect way to celebrate summer in Centreville.

Plan the Perfect Pantry Remodel

Now that the pantry is as full as it will be all year, it’s the perfect time to assess how much space you’ll require for all of your staples. Planning a successful pantry layout is all about making the most of a limited storage space. When you work with a custom design expert, they’ll be able to help you prioritize your space and get everything you need in a convenient location. Your pantry will become the I-29 that runs through the center of your Centreville home—and it’ll be far more functional (and far less crowded!) after the remodel.

Do you tend to buy a lot of canned drinks around this time of year? Plan to house these in a couple of sturdy pull-out drawers close to the ground. Have an abundance of paper goods and plastic cutlery that need somewhere to live during the colder parts of the year? Consider reserving them some space at the very top of your pantry, where they’ll be out of the way but still easily accessible. The items you grab most often (cereal goods, daily snacks) would ideally be located closest to the pantry entrance, and at kid-level for when your little ones get the munchies or when your older kids come home from Liberty Middle School with growling stomachs.

Include Some Chef-Worthy Details

When you design a custom pantry from scratch, even if you’re working with a reach-in space that you may think doesn’t have much storage potential, you’re able to include accessories that other Centreville parents only dream their kitchens had. Start dreaming now about which luxurious details will make your pantry feel like a professional chef’s kitchen:

• Sliding Chrome Baskets. Keep those pesky potatoes out of your kitchen cabinets and in the cool, dry space where they belong. Chrome baskets are easy to wipe clean and can be used for a variety of purposes, from holding kids’ snacks to keeping your summer-themed napkins and towels within easy reach.
• Lazy Susans. This is the feature I most often recommend to clients who are pursuing a pantry remodel. Most pantry corners are dark, untouchable areas where that last can of black beans gathers dust. But with a lazy susan, you have easy access to the corner of every single shelf. It’s also the place that visitors to my kitchen head first out of curiosity.
• Slide-out Wine and Bottle Racks. After a brand new bottle of Bull Run wine fell out of my horizontal wine rack and smashed all over the beautiful hardwood floors, I vowed to find a better way of storing bottles. With slide-out bottle racks built into your custom pantry, they can live safely out of the way until you need them.
• Soft-close Drawers. If you’ve ever wished your Centreville kitchen could have included more drawer space, this design idea is for you. Adding a drawer or two to your pantry space not only looks sophisticated, but gives you a perfect place to store that extra silverware set, serving utensils, or gadgets that you only use once in a blue moon.

This summer, when you’re busy getting out the grilling tools and using the step stool to grab your star-spangled tablecloth down from the cabinet above the fridge, start thinking about how your dream pantry might look. When you’ve got some ideas about what layout you might be interested in trying and which accessories you’d like to sprinkle in, it’s time to partner with a company that will bring your plans to life.

At Closet America, we specialize in creating storage spaces that inspire our clients in every room of the house. We’re happy to help you create the custom pantry that will make your summer barbecue season that much more enjoyable—and (bonus!) will definitely become a statement piece for every visitor to your Centreville, Virginia home. Sign up for your free design consultation today to get the pantry party started.

Lead image source: Unsplash user Stephanie McCabe