The kitchen is one of the most important rooms of your for-sale home, and in order for your kitchen to look its best, you need to make sure it’s neat and organized beyond the surface.
That includes your food pantry, which often can get messy and overcrowded with things, including a lot of unused items that you probably forgot you own. With potential buyers giving your kitchen the once-over, it’s time to get your pantry ready for inspection.
Clear It Out:
Start staging your pantry by taking everything out of it. That means all food items—canned, packaged, bottled, boxed. Take special care with items like flour and sugar, where bags can tear and lead to spills. Also clear out anything you store there, such as linens, dishes and cutlery.
Make It Sparkle:
Now that it’s empty, give the pantry a thorough cleaning. Wipe shelves with a damp cloth or appropriate cleaning product. There may be sticky spots where items like syrup bottles were placed so scrub those away. Be sure to clean corners and use a vacuum cleaner if it will help get the job done.
Go Through Your Stuff:
As you remove everything from the pantry, you’re likely to find a lot of stuff you don’t need. Throw out unexpired items and half-filled packages of products you know you’re not going to use. If you have unopened items that haven’t expired, especially canned goods like soups, tuna fish, and fruit, donate them to a local food pantry or soup kitchen.
Put Everything Back:
Now it’s time to organize. Arrange all your items neatly and keep things together by category. For example, reserve a shelf for cereal and other things that are in similar-sized boxes. For canned goods, group items together, for example, keep all your soups together. Then set aside space for ingredients and spices.
Maintain It:
This can be the hard part. Be sure everyone in the family keeps your pantry organized. Tell kids to put cereal boxes in their proper place, for example. And when unpacking groceries, put everything back in its proper spot.
Now, as people visit your home and look in your pantry, they’ll see a neat space that offers terrific storage.
