Pantry
For clients who want a uniform look in the pantry, I recommend containers for basic ingredients — flour, sugar, rice, beans, grains — rather than their original packaging, which is often not secure. See-through containers also allow you to gauge when it’s time to repurchase, whereas original opaque packaging doesn’t.
Walk-in pantries can comfortably fit larger appliances like microwaves, slow cookers, juicers and deep fryers, freeing up kitchen counter space and ensuring they’re ready to grab when you need them. Some pantries may even have enough space for a second refrigerator.
Walk-In Pantries Pro: They have more storage capacity. Walk-in pantries are a home chef’s best friend. They take the cake when it comes to sheer volume of storage space. With multiple walls of floor-to-ceiling shelves, they’re big enough to store dozens of ingredients, cookbooks, snacks, pots, pans, medium to large cooking appliances and more.
Walk-in pantries let you get a little more creative with your organization techniques. You can sort your items by row or column, by food group and so on. Consider dedicating a column of shelves to nonrefrigerated fruits and veggies or your most-used oils and spices. You may even have room to house your baking sheets with built-in tray dividers.
Put Everything Away Put the contents of your kitchen cabinets and drawers in their new homes, prioritizing what you plan to use most in the most accessible spots and placing rarely used items, such as seasonal platters, out of the way. “This is what the top shelves are for,” Cohen says.
Counter depth one side / can storage other side
Platter storage
Way to organize
Label Foods: Store dry food, such as rice, flour and sugar, in glass jars. Make sure the containers are big enough to hold a full new packet, so you don’t end up having lots of little ends of packets to store. Writing on jars with glass pens to help you remember what’s inside. You can wash it off if you change their use.
Table cloth storage
Cabinet lined in Pacific Silvercloth keeps silver from tarnishing
Cabinet under window
Will there be enough light? Another typical mistake is to have either poor lighting in the pantry or none at all. Your pantry will more than likely be built without a window or with just a small one. One way to make sure that you have enough light in there is to install quality LED lighting. Or, if your home is a single-floor dwelling, put in a skylight. Also, the light switch should be reachable and in an accessible spot by the pantry door.
The size of this pantry is approximately 9 ft.wide by 12 ft.deep. This allows for 24” of counters on both sides and 5 ft.walking space to move around. The depth is more dictated by what you have in mind for storage, sink and prep. For floating shelves mount steel brackets into studs prior to Sheetrock. www.federalbrace.com
Will the position of the pantry aid or hinder kitchen traffic and cooking? You not only need your pantry to be well illuminated, you also need to get in and out of your pantry quickly when cooking. If the pantry is positioned in such a way as to hinder the flow of kitchen traffic, you’ll have to walk too far to grab essential ingredients. For that reason, it’s important that your pantry is near where you are preparing food. Also consider the process of stocking your pantry and where it will be in relation to counters and tables. A kitchen countertop that is just outside a pantry will prove convenient for setting down groceries. Its close proximity also makes using it as a sorting station from which to fill pantry shelves extremely handy.
A common error is to line the pantry with shelves from top to bottom with no break. A small and wider shelf at counter height not only can accommodate larger, taller items and appliances, but also can provide an extra surface for food prep.
What larger items will be stored, and where? Appliances and cookware dishes and pans often are kept in the pantry instead of in a kitchen drawer or cabinet, mostly because it’s easier to access them. To accommodate these bulky items, create some large but uniformed cubbies.
How will the shelves be arranged so that common items are easy to see? Obviously put the items you use the most on the shelves that are in front of you when you walk into the pantry. Make sure the shelves are not too deep, and that you can see everything at once by placing smaller items at the front and larger items at the back. Heavy dishware and servingware can be stored on shelves that are wider and lower down.
Does the pantry need any special features? It’s really only in the planning stage that you can incorporate special features that will become permanent but useful fixtures in your walk-in pantry. Special features could include pullout baskets for root vegetables, narrow cubbies for large platters, and spice or wine racks.
Adjustable shelving
Neat pantry adjustable shelves
Like idea of baskets to hold somethings.
Pass thru
Which way will the door open? A common mistake when planning a pantry is installing a door that gets in the way. When space is at a premium, the best options are sliding or folding doors. An outward-opening door gives more room for pantry shelves and is the next best option — but only if there is plenty of space to swing the door wide. A door that opens inward can work, but be aware that it might make an already small space smaller. It can also compromise the space behind the door of your pantry, limiting the amount of stuff you can store there.
custom doors with fluted-glass inserts introduce the alder wood seen throughout the kitchen to those about to enter the room.
Bookshelves on either side of doorway to hold cookbooks! Food pantry: The walk-in pantry by the baking station holds food, extra dishes and utensils, and small appliances. This is a family of avid readers, and although a full library was built in another part of the house, bookshelves were added on either side of the pantry doorway to hold books related to cooking and travel. The design team added a transom window above the door because it’s a traditional design element and highlights the pendant light inside the pantry.
Like pantry doors and shelves
How can top shelves be accessed? There is no point in planning a pantry with floor-to-ceiling storage if you can’t access the items on the top shelf. If your pantry is large enough, park a ladder on a sliding rail to access the infrequently used items on the top shelves. Store things you regularly use farther down. If your pantry is small, store a step ladder in a handy spot for easy access. Inexpensive plastic single steps also can be folded flat and hung on a hook. Library Ladder: If your pantry is narrow but tall, make use of all that vertical space by outfitting the pantry with a rolling library ladder. This way, you can easily slide the ladder to just the right spot and step up to grab what you need. Pro: They can store bigger appliances with ease. Cabinet pantries can house toasters, coffee makers and mixers too, but it’s usually at the expense of valuable storage space. Walk-in pantries can comfortably fit larger appliances like microwaves, slow cookers, juicers and deep fryers, freeing up counter space and ensuring they’re ready to grab when you need them. Some pantries may even have enough space for a second refrigerator.
Baking cart
Close up of tile
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