We live in an older house and don't have a real pantry.  When we moved in, I transformed a broom closet into a pantry and we adore it.  I took the closet's measurements at the house inspection, Looked at ClosetMaid's pantry design ideas, planned it all online with ClosetMaid's Visual Storage Planner, printed the shopping list, and went to Lowe's and bought everything in one trip.  Then installed it in a morning.  You can do this with almost any closet.  Even if you have tons of pantry and/or closet area, you may as well make it work well for what you need!  I especially like the packet holders, bins for potatoes and onions and the pantry shelving that has the wires close together so things don't fall through.

For more home organizing tips, take a look at Home Organizing Books, Creative Closet Organizer for Small Closets, and even more here.