I struggled with the choices in the pantry door. I knew that I was the only family member who would consistently close the door, so I asked the G.C. to make it a swinging door. That turned out to be a budget killer (who knew that swinging door hardware would cost $400?), so I changed to a self-closing mechanism added to the hinge.

The self-closing was too fast when installed, so I had the G.C. adjust it a bit so we wouldn't get hit by the door on the way in and out.

Then we installed a motion sensor on the overhead light in the pantry. That was a great addition.

It's not a perfect solution. i still think a swinging door would probably work best, if there's room and budget for it.

The doorknob doesn't seem to get too dirty

Here's a photo of ours:

My pantry is around the corner from the kitchen with the laundry. We just replaced the door (and the one to the garage) with one-light doors from Lowe's. the glass is frosted so mess is out of sight. These doors are about $250 each. They really modernized the space, and look nice either open or closed.

I think you will want a door and not very expensive when done during re-model. Actually keeps it clean and keeps out cooking smells and will hide the times it needs tidying up. Having it open when multi-tasking, the in-and-out times...and shutting it after a big clean-up is important to me.
A swing door is not all it is cracked up to be. If you change your mind and quickly change directions, wham, you get smacked. (i have one leading into another room and it stays open when pushed full against the walls in either direction). Rarely use it in 'swing' mode. I do like that you can back into it when hands are full and it will stay open if slightly pushed against the wall. (a foot nudge will close it)
Pocket doors are nice as they disappear. I rarely use that one either as it needs a free hand to open and our hands are usually full entering.
My pantry is a full wall of 4 sliding doors. The far right is the one that is a direct path from stove, sink, fridge. Home to things we use daily...coffee grinder, dog food, recycling, etc.
Almost always open and left open by DH. I keep it tidy looking but nice to eventually shut it.
Maybe just plan how you store things from the get-go. Put things you like and keep that area you see looking into the open door tidy. Keep ugly packaging and cleaning supplies off to the left and right.
Common to have open shelves and makes sense. I do like a run to have a deeper counter height and uppers. Maybe that section has just that for organizing and a discussed 'no dumping zone'. haha, yeah right. My DH would manage to junk it up.
But could be a grocery bag spot to dump by others and organize later.

Wow ... love the door pictures! Fredanj, your kitchen is beautiful!

As for the automatic lights, our contractor says he puts them in ALL closets. But I will ask specifically for them to be installed in the pantry. I will probably need more than one in there since the space will be so large. I will be looking for some counter lights since I plan on placing a number of our appliances in there. The actual closet will be pretty deep as we are removing a closet in the back hall that abuts the area from the original plan.

The back hall closet we removed will now be moved to under the back stairs because we will not have any basement as the original design shows on a plan we are adapting.

At our last house we had a corner pantry with the door swinging out, it always got closed (had no choice). At our current home our walk thru pantry doors swing in and no one ever wants to close them. On our new build we will have a sliding door on our walk thru pantry on the kitchen side and a regular door swinging in on the mudroom side.

Current pantry door:

Before we started the kitchen, the pantry had a door that we kept closed. We don't have central air, so we kept a small window A/C in a tiny window for heat and humidity control. Now that half of our house is torn apart and the pantry expanded, there is no door and probably won't be until we get everything else done or until I learn to make an arched door and frame. I keep everything in canisters and jars to keep mice out, which also makes everything a little nicer to look at.