Our kitchen pantry was deep but narrow, making it difficult to keep track of what was in there and even more difficult to find a specific item. We needed a better pantry, but we were all out of closet space. While climbing the stairs from the garage to our kitchen, it dawned on me that the area above the handrail was available space. I could install plenty of shelving to hold what we needed, and the shallow depth would keep everything accessible and in sight.

I made the shelf boxes out of 1×6 knotty pine, joined at the corners with box joints cut on a tablesaw. I preassembled two 6-ft.-wide units and mounted them to the wall studs using cleats on both the top and the bottom. The shelves were cut from the same 1×6 pine. I notched the underside of each shelf end so that 3/16-in. steel pins set into the vertical sides of the boxes would recess into the shelf, preventing it from sliding forward. The pins were cut from material available at most hardware stores. Holes spaced every 1-1/2-in. in the vertical sides make the shelving adjustable.

On my way out to the store, I now can just glance at my shelves to take a quick inventory. After returning, I simply unload the shopping bags on my way to the kitchen. If I were to do it all over again, however, I would make a full-size template for drilling the shelf-support holes. I would also use a nicer but sustainable hardwood.

Be sure to consult your local building authority before building this type of storage unit so that you can be sure it doesn’t violate egress requirements.