Planning your dream kitchen and facing reality can be two different things. In a perfect world, we could have endless pantry storage at our fingertips, but sometimes installing a pantry into the kitchen (or elsewhere in the home) requires some compromise – or at least a little creativity. Here are a list of ideas for the best food pantry you can place in your home so that you can find the best option for you.
At One End of the Kitchen
Whether your kitchen is spacious and has a little free space, or a compact kitchen with nowhere else to put a pantry, using a tall cabinet at one end of the kitchen is a great solution. This layout creates an appealing symmetry, with a tall cabinet at the other end for a refrigerator or other appliances.
One disadvantage of this solution compared to using a standard upper and lower cabinet with a section of counter in between is the loss of some counter space.
However, using high, full-depth cabinetry can provide more storage space and give the kitchen a sense of heaviness and sophistication. Plus, it can also give you more surface area to paint rich tones if you want to.
If you have an island nearby that can be used as a prep space, then losing a small counter can be well worth it.
Separate Cabinets
Instead of adding a whole set of cabinets to the wall, consider using a single cabinet (a built-in or self-contained unit securely attached to the wall) to create a storage room without filling an entire wall.
This can create a beautiful accent in the room, a little contrast with the other cabinets, and become a focal point rather than just a functional pantry.
In addition, if you use sturdy cabinets, it will also be easier to move to a new home later than a real built-in cabinet. Just be sure to fix it carefully.
In the Former Closet Space
Sometimes, planning the storage space in your home can be a priority. The space for closets near the kitchen can be convenient for storing coats and boots or cleaning supplies, but converting this space into a pantry with lots of shelves and drawers may be a better option for your needs.
For a more traditional look, a relatively small structure can transform a typical wardrobe with doors into an alcove for a pantry – either custom-sized units or some prefabricated cabinets with slender filler panels at the ends to provide a seamless look.
Consider giving this pantry its own finish (like the beautiful pastel blue-gray shown here) as an accent. It’s also a clever way to avoid matching newly added pantries with existing cabinets.
Instead of adding actual cabinets, you can convert your closet into a pantry by adding a variety of shelves or drawers to store smaller items. Baskets are useful for storing some items, but for items and tools that are used frequently, investing in some suitable drawers will provide better functionality.
In an Adjoining Room That Has Been Remodeled
Want to make some bold changes in your renovation process? Converting an extra room in your kitchen into a pantry may make better use of space than a breakfast nook or den that is rarely used, especially if you actually find yourself spending more time in the kitchen itself.
If the remodeled space is large enough – especially if you can run water pipes for the sink – the new pantry can also serve as a prep station for a second chef.
If that’s your goal, use separate upper and lower parts on at least one wall to allow some usable counter space. You can also consider using some open cabinets that don’t have doors to keep everything within easy reach.
At One End of the Main Cabinet
When using stock prefabricated cabinetry in a kitchen, the available cabinet sizes often don’t fill the walls 100% perfectly.
Don’t leave the last precious inch idle, but consider adding a small, shallow custom cabinet at one end (on the side of the other) as a compact pantry.
Shelves that are only a few inches deep may not have much use outside of the kitchen or bathroom, but here they are perfect for storing spices, bottles, jars, and other small containers, all within easy reach.
Laundry
The dream laundry room is big enough, well ventilated, with plenty of workspace and alleviating some of the drudgery of washing and folding with a little natural light or fresh air. However, even the most desirable laundry room only needs so much storage space to store laundry supplies.
Double the functionality by adding a pantry. It makes good use of space and gives you a great excuse to make your laundry room bigger than the bare minimum.
Small Spaces
Stealing a slim storage space from a place that would otherwise go to waste is a great way to store your kitchen gadgets.
If you find a good contractor during the construction process, you may be able to find some hollow wall holes and transform them into clever storage niches. This niche can be used uncovered for open shelving in a modern style, or it can have its own set of doors to suit any style of décor, as is typical of cabinetry.
Down the Stairs
I love seeing the creative use of those weirdly angular spaces under the stairs, and if you happen to have stairs near the kitchen, a pull-out pantry like this one is a genius choice.
The cavities under the stairs are often unused and have a strange shape that makes them difficult to access. Slim, tall pull-out drawers allow you to access storage without having to crouch and rummage in tight spaces. This type of storage is suitable for small containers, so the pantry is a natural choice.
For a simpler solution, standard rack cabinets will provide a lot of storage space, especially for bulky items like small kitchen utensils or seasonal cutlery that aren’t used often. Moving these items out of the chef’s cabinet will give you more space in the main space to store small pantry items.
Keep in mind that you have to customize the doors and stagger the height of the cabinets (or custom cabinets), which makes this type of cabinet more investment-friendly than a standard cabinet installation. But ample storage makes it an idea worth considering.
In the Corner of the L-Shaped Kitchen
It’s a popular trend not to use upper cabinetry in exchange for a more open kitchen look, but this will obviously reduce some storage space.
Using full-height cabinetry at the end of an L-shaped layout balances these two priorities by adding some extra storage (such as a doorway pantry, open cabinetry, or both) without drastically shrinking the space.
In the Home Office
Sometimes, a space in the home has to do a double job, and such a space is often a home office, especially when such a room is only used occasionally and not for working from home.
For those who won’t be distracted by clutter, the office can double as storage space without interfering with your work. Perhaps it’s best thought of it as a luxurious walk-in pantry that also houses a computer.
Utility Room or Rear Entrance
Placing the pantry near or inside the entrance, while not necessarily right next to the kitchen (depending on your layout), can be a trade-off that allows you to put items directly into the pantry without having to move them all the way around your home.
If you dream of dropping a few grocery bags and putting them away right away, having a pantry at the entrance can save you a lot of effort.
Open Shelves in Corridors or Aisles
Open shelf living isn’t for everyone. Displaying household items requires some planning and maintenance so that they don’t look cluttered. But this style of food pantry can create a beautiful feature when used to display attractive items like glass bottles, snack baskets, or any other item you like, especially when storing multiple items like this.
In addition to the ease of gripping items, the main advantage here is that the elimination of the door also eliminates the need for swing space to open the door, allowing some storage space to fit into narrower aisles.
In the door
This fun final idea isn’t very common, but it does add a unique touch to the home and also makes clever use of space.
Unlike typical doors, a deeper door with built-in shelving steals some extra storage space from a completely unexpected spot and camouflages a hidden passage to a top-secret room for a bit of intrigue.
