Kitchen Pantry Makeover DIY Installing Wood Wrap Around Shelving to Replace Wire Shelves

Today I replaced the wire shelving in my pantry with wrap around wood shelves

and I couldn't be happier.

I cut the lengths of wood I needed for it yesterday so I could get started first thing today.

It took about 5 hours from start to finish.

This is my before....just keeping it real y'all. 

 It's an abyss and a constant battle with those 2 ft deep shelves where boxes and bottles

won't stand up straight or things end up falling through the wire.  

I have to move stuff around every time I'm looking for something.

After reorganizing it for the hundredth time,

 I decided there had to be a better way.

Here's what I did...

I ripped the old shelves out, patched the holes and repainted

Do yourself a favor and get the pre-primed wood pieces for the shelving

....what a time saver. 

I used standard sizes I found at Home Depot so all I had to cut were the specific

lengths I needed. I ended up using wider boards for the bottom two 

shelves because I wanted a spot for my crock pot and other larger items.

On the sides, I didn't want the shelves to stick out past the door opening

so for my pantry, I used 6" boards, obviously, yours may be different.

I didn't make any fancy cuts. I put full boards across the back of the pantry

and butted the ends of the side pieces to the back shelf.

I didn't attach the ends to each other, they are only butted together.

The distance between most of my shelves is about 13".

The top and bottom shelves are about 16", I made sure the top shelf could

accommodate one of those giant boxes of cereal standing up.

Other than that I didn't really have any criteria, I just kind of eyeballed it

and they ended up being around 13".

You can easily adjust for your own needs.

To attach the shelves, I screwed 1" x 2" strips to the wall, making sure they were level,

then screwed the shelf boards into the strips, placing the screws 

just on the very back edge of the shelf, it really is super secure. 

I used white cabinet mounting screws I found at Home Depot to 

attach the mounting strip, or cleat, to the wall. 

I used shorter wood screws to attach the board to the mounting strip.

The after.

I gained two additional shelves that I didn't have before,

the one at the very bottom and one at the very top...yay!

It wraps alllll the way around....*starry eyed*  

I seriously had to stand there and admire it...it makes me very happy.

Then I started filling it back up...

I created this pantry in 2011 when my boys were younger

so excuse all their junk food!... bleh

I now have a shelf for the crock pot and cat food so they don't have to live on the floor of the pantry.

So there's my pantry makeover, I love how it turned out

and after living with it for a few weeks, I'm amazed how

organized it has stayed, it's so great!

I've gotten a lot of emails from people wanting to do this to their pantry but 

afraid they won't have as much room.

I promise I have more room than before, not to mention everything is 

easily accessible and in plain view.

Update 2015 Pantry Makeover #2

The photo above shows my second pantry makeover that I just

completed in my new home. I had to alter the process slightly and this time measured 

before and after to calculate if we were losing any space. Result?...negligible.

A very easy project that helps you stay organized and we absolutely love it.

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