When the baking mood hits, are you spending more time hunting for your ingredients, pans and measuring cups than you should? If so, it’s a good time for a little pantry organization project!
I’ve collected my favorite ways to organize baking supplies in the pantry to help ensure you spend MORE time cookin’ and less time lookin’. Read on!
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1. Create a Pantry Zone for Baking Supplies
Pantries work best when divided into zones (categories), so you know exactly where to look for your items. I recommend creating a zone in one section of your pantry for your baking supplies. In this zone, you can store:
- Baking pans
- Baking tools like measuring cups, cookie cutters, and cupcake liners
- Baking ingredients like flour, sugar, chocolate chips, and food coloring
- Small appliances like a stand mixer or hand mixer and accessories
How much you store in your pantry baking zone depends on the size of your pantry.
If you have a walk-in pantry, you probably have more storage space for a multi-shelf zone. In a small kitchen, your pantry may be a set of cabinets…if so, your zone may be a baking cabinet or a single shelf. That’s ok! You can work with what you’ve got.
Want to learn more about zones? Check out my post on using zone organization in your home.
2. Use Airtight Containers For Dry Ingredients, Sugar & Brown Sugar, Chocolate Chips, etc.
In my opinion, using clear airtight containers is the best way to preserve dry goods and sugars. (They’re also great for storing chocolate chips, cocoa powder, sprinkles and much more!)
AND, clear containers allow you to monitor your inventory of these food items. Because there’s nothing worse than starting a recipe only to discover you’ve run out of critical pantry staples.
I added labels to mine with the help of my Cricut. Labels really come in handy when you use different ingredients that look similar, like all purpose flour and gluten-free flour or baking soda and baking powder.
It’s also a good idea to use chalkboard labels or a dry-erase marker to note the expiration dates of the food items.
RELATED ARTICLE:
Sensational Ways to Make Labels to Organize Your Home
3. Keep Brown Sugar Soft With a “Saver”
Brown sugar can be an issue. Over time it becomes hard as a rock without adequate humidity.
I discovered this ingenious product on Amazon made from terra cotta that keeps humidity levels constant in a brown sugar canister (just soak in water and toss in the container). It also works for storing baked goods, dried fruits and more:
4. Store Cookie Cutters in a Clear Handled Bin (Sort by Occasion)
We’re big on chocolate chip cookies in my household, but every once in a while I get on a sugar cookie kick. That’s when I haul out the cookie cutters, sprinkles, frosting and all the rest.
I have cookie cutters for different holidays (namely Halloween, Christmas and Easter) and I like to store them in clear handled bins. The bins are easy to grab off the pantry shelf when I’m ready to bake. I prefer to sort them by occasion, but this is only necessary if you have a lot.
5. Use Under Shelf Baskets to Store Cake Pans and Smaller Items for Baking
Whether you have a full walk-in pantry or a kitchen cabinet for your baking center, you need easy access to all of your baking items.
To maximize vertical space (and avoid toppling piles of cake pans), I installed these under-shelf baskets in an upper cabinet. As you can see, they work for small muffin tins, too. It’s so easy to see and access my pans now!
RELATED ARTICLE:
Outstanding Ways to Organize Baking Pans
6. Add Pull-Out Drawers for Lower Cabinets or Pantry Shelves
The bottom shelves of a pantry (or lower cabinets in the kitchen) can be tough on the knees and back. This is especially true when you’re trying to pull out a small appliance or a heavy Dutch oven.
My favorite storage solution for these awkward areas? Store your baking supplies in a set of pull-out drawers like this:
These products come in a wide variety of sizes; be sure to measure your space before you order.
7. Store Your Most-Used Items on a Lazy Susan (Great for Deep Cabinets or Shelves)
The Lazy Susan is probably one of my all-time favorite pantry and cabinet organizers. In a kitchen baking zone, it’s helpful to install Lazy Susans for your most-used items and baking supplies. They make it much easier to access ingredients for your favorite recipe that might otherwise get lost in the back of deep cabinets or shelves.
Group like items together: for instance, place all of your sugar containers on one Lazy Susan and little jars of sprinkles or nuts on another.
For bags of ingredients (like candy toppings), try a Lazy Susan with clear bins to keep the bags upright and easy to find.
RELATED ARTICLE:
Game-Changing Ways to Organize With a Lazy Susan
8. Have a Spice Rack Dedicated to Baking Ingredients
Rather than one spice rack for ALL of your spices, consider dedicating a spice rack just for your baking ingredients like cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.
9. Store Your Favorite Baking Spices Inside Your Cabinet Doors
I have a very deep and narrow spice cabinet. To make it easier for me to grab my daily-use spices, I installed adhesive spice bottle holders to the inside of my cabinet door. You could do the same for baking spices.
RELATED ARTICLE:
Spice Storage Ideas for Small Kitchens
10. Hang Measuring Spoons on the Inside of a Cabinet Door or a Pantry Wall
If you don’t have enough room in a kitchen drawer or pantry shelf, you can hang your measuring cups and spoons right on a cabinet door or pantry wall with simple Command hooks.
Take it one step further and hang them beneath these amazing vinyl decals with kitchen conversions!
11. Use an Adjustable Rack to Store Baking Pans on Their Side
I detest having to dig through a pile of stacked baking pans for my favorite cookie sheet. This product is perfect for storing pans, sheets, tins and even cutting boards neatly on their sides. It offers easier access to each pan when you need it.
12. Try an Over-the-Door Organizer for Bakeware
The back of a cabinet or pantry door is often a forgotten goldmine of storage space. Use a small over-the-door organizer for bakeware like muffin tins and cookie sheets:
If you have a full walk-in pantry, you can maximize the space behind the door with an over-the-door rack for all of your baking supplies and essentials:
This product is highly-rated on Amazon and features stabilizing brackets that reduce sway.
13. Use a Rolling Cart Under the Bottom Shelf of a Pantry
Get a load of this great idea. You know that space on the floor of a pantry that can be awkward and hard to use? It’s actually a great place for a rolling kitchen cart that stores all of your favorite things for baking!
Load this baby up with airtight food storage containers and you’ve got a mobile baking station within easy reach. Sometimes, kitchen organization just needs a little creativity.
14. Keep Foil, Parchment and Wrap Neatly Organized in a Drawer or on the Wall
Baking requires the use of foil, parchment paper and plastic wrap from time to time. This amazing product from SpaceAid keeps them neatly stored in a single bamboo organizer (it cuts them too).
It easily slides into a drawer or can be hung on a pantry wall. Forget that flimsy cardboard box that crumples before all the foil is used!
15. Store All of Your “Cake Stuff” in a Cake Decorating Tool Caddy
This is perfect for a pantry shelf. Wilton’s cake caddy holds all of your piping bags and tips, chocolate molds, and cake-decorating tools for easy storage and transport to and from the pantry.
MORE KITCHEN ORGANIZATION ARTICLES:
Thrilling Ways to Organize a Small Kitchen
Organize a Walk-In Pantry in a Weekend
The Best Ways to Declutter Kitchen Counters
Cozy Ways to Organize a Kitchen Coffee Station
Best Ways to Organize Ziploc Bags, Plastic Wrap & Foil
Last update on 2024-12-05 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API