Pantry Inspiration: Infusing Utility with Colour and Pattern

Pantry Inspiration: Infusing Utility with Colour and Pattern

Pantries are the stuff dreams are made of. A designated space for all those bags and boxes and tubes and tubs of food that don’t pass muster for display on the kitchen worksurface, but just don’t seem to work within the cupboards either – a room for the spares, the extras, the Christmas overflow, and those use-once-in-a-while foodstuffs like arrowroot powder(?), liquid smoke (?), and coconut sugar(?).

There are very few non-essential-but-essential rooms quite as exciting as the pantry. True, they’re practical spaces that don’t get all that much attention, but that doesn’t detract from the joy of being able to take advantage of bonus storage space for everything that doesn’t warrant pride of place in the kitchen.

But, even if the pantry is good for storage, that’s not to say we don’t want it to look beautiful in its own right. It’s a part of the home you will spend a fair amount of time popping in and out of, even if no one else does, so embracing those aesthetic pictures you see of perfectly organised, jarred and labelled (maybe even alphabetised) pantries isn’t a waste of time or effort.

Swap the pantry door for a curtain

Removing a cupboard door from its hinges is one of those jobs that’s easily done by the plucky DIY-er, and without much preparation – although, at the very least, we’d advise waiting for the curtain fabric to be delivered first.

A curtain is way more practical than you might think. When you’re in the midst of cooking, baking, or putting away the weekly shop, you can have your pantry curtain pulled back and tied in place so that you’re not constantly flapping back and forth. It saves getting doughy, sticky, or eggy fingers on the doorknob, without taking up space if you want to leave it open.

When the pantry is not in use, the curtain can be pulled across to hide everything from view. A strong, durable, and robust fabric, like one of our weaves, will make for a great, hard-wearing curtain fabric (since it will likely see a lot more use than your window curtains).

Take a look at our useful guide for choosing curtain fabrics. A durable cotton weave will prove the most useful in the kitchen, especially if it’s being pulled back and forth many times a day.

Store your excess ceramics and table linens in there for more colour

We’re big fans of open-face kitchen storage – open shelves or dressers that give you plenty of opportunities to put your table linens and ceramics on display, rather than hiding them away in the cupboards. In fact, you can if you want to make the most of beautiful items even when they’re ‘in storage’.

That said, however, we can accumulate far too many to give them all pride of place, and some – like the ‘birthday tablecloth’ – are best kept in a slightly less prominent position, just so they stay special.

That second-best place is, of course, the pantry, where they will still get to impact your décor without being quite so ‘in your face’. The colour and patterns that your linens will introduce into an otherwise drab, practical space will give it its own beauty, as well as being incredibly practical. In this way, your table linens can put in the work year-round, rather than during those brief stints actually on the dining table.

Draw on some botanical inspiration

One of the easiest (and yet most effective) ways to bring a sense of life into a space is to lean on those oh-so trusty roots (and stems, flowers, and leaves). Plants enliven a space, which makes them particularly good for parts of the home that don’t see quite as much life as others. The bathroom, for one, is a great place to add a couple of plants and fresh flowers to.

The same goes for the pantry. If yours is without a widow, try a spider plant or the affectionately named Dumb Cane (leopard lily). Perched up on a high shelf and left to spill over the edges of their pot, you’ll be surprised at quite how much of a difference a little greenery can make to the pantry.

To take it a step further, consider removing your shelves to hang some wallpaper that echoes your choice of greenery. A botanical or adds a new twist to the space, and gives it that freshness it needs.