I'm working on pantry plans too, so am interested in seeing the resonses to your question. Also curious as to how you will use the space.

How would you use the counter? Is this another prep area or a landing space? I think having a full counter depth would make it difficult to access storage underneath unless you used drawers or pull-outs. Would you use regular cabinetry in the pantry rather than shelving?

Are you certain that you want your fridge in your pantry? That seems like a hugely inconvenient place to have it - I access my fridge quite often during the cooking process and would hate to have to leave my kitchen to go into another room to get something every single time I found that I needed an item and then needed to put it back when I'm done.

And I can tell you for sure that if you have plans on selling the house in the semi-nearish future, if I were a buyer, a kitchen with a fridge in another room would be a pretty hard stop on going any further with buying regardless as to other positive features.

Anyway, with that being said, If your fridge is in there, I would for sure have some type of countertop somewhere around the fridge area. I can't imagine needing to walk into the pantry to get a drink out of the fridge, have to walk into the kitchen for a place to sit the glass, pour the drink and then need to walk back. Same with when you get groceries - you would want an area to sit the groceries to put in the fridge.

Sorry, but going back to the fridge in the pantry area...not being aware of your layout, I would be highly inclined to create a layout where you perhaps recess a fridge into the pantry wall a bit so that it would come out to counter depth (assuming that you have cabinetry going on the side of the wall nearest the pantry).

(I'm guessing it is a second fridge?)

I've never understood 'not' having counter space in a pantry that has room enough for a walk-in. Shallow upper shelves give an easier view for produce/products and nothing gets buried behind other things. Also keeps the feeling of the room more open feeling? Similar to our upper cabinets in the main kitchen...but without cabinet doors.

Not that the entire wrap around needs to be counter, depending on storage needs, but having clear counter space directly accessed when walking through the door, without a twist or turn, is a very useful surface. When i bag my groceries i like to organize for the various drop-off zones...downstairs garage entry where the auxiliary fridge/freezer is located, and veg/root veg/-fridge/freezer for the main upstairs kitchen, separate bags, and pantry another bag and dropped off to unload those non-perishables later.
Or to pull down what is needed for a specific recipe adventure for later.

If pressed for space to move around by trying to accommodate a fridge, the counter could still be valuable at 18 or 20 inches instead of the usual 24. Floor to ceiling shelves, if one wall does not really need a counter, 16" is a good depth. All of my bins; wire mesh for potatoes, onions, and garlic, and the various ones i've purchased, for recycle, dog crap, etc., seem to all be 13-15 deep. And if that is your only fridge, you will want counter space next to it for sure. Even if it is a second fridge, me thinks.

A website somewhere has a long photo flow of pantry ideas. Mentioned here before. Quickly you will see what works and does not. Wood construction with some adjustable shelf options makes much better use of space. Your basic cabinet construction without doors. Too deep and things get lost. Wire shelves are not at all efficient...lots of wasted space. A couple full pull outs under a counter works. My larger bins for recycle, bird seed etc., just sit on the pantry floor. Easy to pull out. Under a shelf that is tall enough that i can toss in an egg carton without having to move it.
Having the ability to adjust later on can relieve any pressure for designing now and locked in. I've been in my home 8 yrs now and just added another shelf last weekend...giving it just 6" for a few platters i use all the time...prevents all that stacking since only three will fit the space. No more do i have serving bowls stacked on top...sometimes it's the little things... : )

Cindy103d- It would be another prep area and landing space for groceries. It is where my old kitchen was and it already has counter height electrical outlets. I was thinking I could leave less oftened used appliances on the counter.

andreak100- Sorry, I guess I should have specified this is my second fridge which is currently in the garage. We store sodas and bottles of water, extra meat and veggies, etc in it. I have a fridge in my kitchen as well I just decided since my pantry is for food storage, why not move my over flow cold storage in there as well?

sleevendog- Yes this is my second fridge which is currently in the garage. You list some great ideas, do you happen to have any pics of your pantry?

I had our trim carpenter build a table based on a potting table. I love it! Microwave, toaster, Bullet and K cup machine are on top. Still room for a plate or grocery bag(s). Underneath is one shelf with two large baskets and five smaller ones, used for storing bottled water, extra napkins, etc.

All of our food is stored in the pantry, with the exception of spices. These shelves are deeper than they look (built out/around an HVAC return).

Alison - how big is your pantry, and how deep are the shelves?

I'm still thinking of expanding my pantry into the coat closet behind it - but it will be only 3ft wide. Builder said that the door (30") was too narrow for walkin, all I want is "stand-in", that door is same size as our BR door, and the linen closet in the master bath is 3x3 with only 24" door!

So no room for a table/counter, but I would prefer narrow shelves along the sides to the 16" deep wire shelves in the 2ft deep pantry I have now.

Your description brings to mind the This Old House Bedford pantry. The family used open shelves for growing herbs. They used drawers with wire drawer fronts to store root veggies, and they too had fridge and freezers devoted to extra/bulk food and beverage in the space. It came out looking a lot like the sketch

Here is a link that might be useful: TOH

EAM44- I LOVE that pantry. I really wish I had a window in mine!

My pantry is located where my old kitchen was and one of the reasons I remodeled was because it was a cavernous pit with no natural light.

It is awesome to see a pic of a similar layout. Thank you.

I used to call our pantry "The Pit of Despair". It's a standard reach-in closet with sliding doors right by the kitchen door. Initially, it was nothing more than a 6' wire shelving unit with the trash can underneath, an overflowing wall-mount mail organizer, and a huge pile of random yet essential stuff on the floor. Hence, "The Pit of Despair".

We removed the doors and installed 12" shelves over a counter. We wrapped 8" shelves around the side wall and put some customized cabinets under the counter.

With the right space, I will always do something like this in any house I own. I see no downside whatsoever to have a small section of counter tucked away into a functional utility space. The key, like any kitchen project, is to map out what needs to go into the space, and design the space for the need. My little reach-in closet comfortably stores:

wicker baskets
roasting pan
huge party coffee percolator
2-3 dozen cookbooks
2 medium bins for coffee and tea
lunch bags on their own shelf
ALL of my dry foods (which didn't fit before)
bread machine (on counter)
crock pot (on counter)
snack bin (on counter)
microwave (on counter)
root veggie storage
work/school bag cubbies
pullout trash
pullout recycling
large "floorless cabinet" for DH's carboys

I love the counter the best - just enough room to set a dish out of the microwave or a stirring spoon at the crock pot. Not enough space to collect clutter. Keeps the lower portion less dusty, takes no time to wipe down with the kitchen counters.

Do a search for pantries on here - I've seen some beautiful and inspiring storage spaces.

CeltiaKris - how wide/deep was your existing closet? Must have had at least 8" on each side of doors if you installed 8" deep shelves on side walls (without narrowing the doorway). I'd love to see pictures of your pantry niche!

Here is a nice pic from Houzz.com. I think I would keep the bottom open shelving to store my large bowls, tupperware containers, meat slicer, punch bowl, griddle, roasting pans, etc. I would have my pizza oven, bread machine, ka mixer, coffee maker on the counter. My pantry is both food and kitchen ware so I would need to account for the items I have and how big they are, also what I will store food wise, or paper wise and plan the shelving size based on that - some more narrow like 8" and some 12 or 16" as needed and as fits.

My wall oven/ microwave stack is on left and fridge on right with the counter in between the "baking center". The pass through will be one continuos counter into the pantry. It will have a sliding barn style door covering the opening. It will usually stay open but I can close/hide if need be. I can pass bulk items through as needed. The pantry, 5'11" x 8'9" will also house the second fridge. My debate was weather to have a sink in there too. Chose not to. Haven't gotten to the shelving yet, but love the wood shelves posted earlier!!!! Inspiration again, GW making my life more expensive once more!

Jen

Ajsmama, my closet doesn't have deep sides - we just decided to live with the 3-4" overhang. We put 12" shelves on the back wall - it seems like the right depth for a pantry. The 8" shelves are nice for cans, since nothing gets lost. We use the corners for stuff we want to hide or avoid (chocolate...), bulky packaging, and less-used baking supplies. I decided to have the tall cereal boxes on the counter level next to the MW, but we're out, so there are none in the pics. I used an 8" shelf for the lunch bags to open up the counter space a bit more on the left side. We used Elfa shelving for the flexibility and portability, since we weren't really sure how we'd use the space once we got it done. Turns out we're using it exactly as we planned. When we finally do a full kitchen reno, I have big plans for this space!

Thanks for the pix - I've guessing 5-6ft wide and maybe 3ft deep, since it looks like you have 24" deep cabinets in there and still have a few inches in front (so you could actually put doors on, they wouldn't hit the cabinets)?

I was thinking of doing something similar, taking the door jamb out and just casing the opening (so instead of cased opening to DR, basement door, pantry door, cased opening to foyer, I'd just have the 1 door) but shelves have to be attractive to do that. Eventually put in cabinets like you did, but I don't know since I only have 23" to the interior door/opening trim, it would have to be something like a bathroom vanity, can't fit standard kitchen lowers in there.

But I don't know, with an island and traffic pattern from mudroom to rest of the house going right past, how does it work to have it open? Looks like you have similar traffic pattern & island (though your island is farther away from your pantry than mine).