I love having a counter in my pantry!!!! Ours is right off our back hall and a walk through to our kitchen. When I'm coming in with groceries it's a perfect landing place!

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I love having a counter in my pantry!!!! Ours is right off our back hall and a walk through to our kitchen. When I'm coming in with groceries it's a perfect landing place!

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I was just thinking about how we should have done this. It would be nice to be able to park some of our less attractive small appliances in the pantry on a counter rather than out in the open.

We have the space, but we are holding off in the interim. I'm hopefull that after a year of living with 4x the space we'll have a better sense of how we use it. Commercial wire racks until then...

marciab10, can you tell me the dimensions of your walk in pantry? Are the shelves adjustable? Have you found the depth of the shelves to be deep enough to be functional but not so deep that you have to dig through stuff to find it? Also, I want my pantry to store a lot of dishes--serving dishes and china--any recommendations for that? I thought of pull out flat shelves so I don't have to stack them? Other ideas or pictures?

I am currently out of town and do not have dimensions. I will be home in a few days and post the dimensions then.

My shelves are not adjustable. I think they are only 12 inches deep, but whatever depth they are is good for me...

My walk in pantry was my 'must have' for our new build - I really wouldn't change anything about it!

Willlppost more details after I get home.

Perfect! Thanks!

My pantry is a walk-thru space that also serves as my mudroom. At just 8x10, it's pretty small but still functional since it is just DH and me. (If I had kids I think I'd want it to be twice as big at least.)

I do have a counter top (6.5 ft long by 24" deep) along of the 10' walls and I love it...except that I do have to make a real effort to keep it cleared off. EVERYTHING lands on that countertop... mail that needs to go in/out, my husband's tools when he is too lazy to carry them on out to the garage, anything we want to remember to take with us when we leave the next morning, our cell phone chargers, my purse, etc. But having it all land there means it doesn't wind up landing on the counters in my kitchen or on the breakfast nook table so I'm happy. LOL!

And, except when I let too much other junk pile up, the pantry counter is a perfect place to set down bags of groceries because my upright freezer is immediately across the aisle and above the counter I have 12 inch deep cabinets (with doors) with moveable shelves where I store most of my groceries (I just wish I'd made the the upper pantry cabinets 15" deep like the ones in my kitchen because occasionally something that I'd like to be able to store in the pantry won't quite fit.)

Underneath the counter top, I store things like the recycle bins, cases of soda and water, extra paper towels, seldom used appliances, etc.

Hello again.. My pantry is 12 x 5'8". I have shelving on both sides. On one side(wall 1)there are 2 rows of shelves, 8 feet high(10 foot ceiling)those are 13 inches wide. The lowest shelf has a height of 24 inches, the next 3, 12 inches and the top 18 inches. On the end of that wall is a broom closet, with a decorative opening above.
The opposite wall(wall 2) has the counter, which is 6.5 long x 20 inches deep. The shelves below that are 19 inches deep and above 12 inches deep.

wall2
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wall 1
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view from door opening in back hall, just off garage
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view from kitchen door
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Dear TNCRAFT, may I please ask what you decided about your walk in pantry? we have a walk in pantry the same size and I am trying to decide whether to put a "counter" on one side or just shelves....thanks so much!!

I'm planning on putting a working counter spot into my walk-in pantry. My plans:

- 4' wide x 24" deep seems just right to me.
- Shelf above the work space to hold measuring cups and knives.
- Under the work space I will have a trash can and a kick stool (I am too short to reach the upper shelves -- you might not have the same need).

My rationale:

- Landing spot for groceries. I like to put things away "right". For example, pasta and dried beans don't stay in bags; they move into their glass jars, where they're both more attractive and better protected. Individually-wrapped cookies and granola bars don't stay in their boxes; rather, they're stored in the lunch treats basket.
- Space to measure out a cup of flour or beans instead of carrying the whole (large) container into the kitchen.
- Place to run a crock pot or let bread rise, while keeping it out of the main kitchen (which will be small).
- Place to set home-canned vegetables while they're cooling.
- Place to hide dessert out of the way 'til it's time to serve it.
- Place to hide large dirty pots (though I'm not opposed to the oven).

Thanks for your great post. All makes sense to me. I need a kick stool too! Am meeting with contractor tomorrow so this was a huge help. Thanks again.