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Those of you with walk in pantries...

sarahmh509
11 years ago

How did you do your shelving? Did you DIY it? My kitchen designer wants to design the pantry, but I am not sure if I want to spend big $$ for the cupboards, etc. Especially because our space is not that big. Thank you in advance for any help you can offer!

Comments (21)

  • Annie Deighnaugh
    11 years ago

    We were building a whole house so we had a closet guy come in to do all the closets and the pantry....

  • wallycat
    11 years ago

    Mine was here when we bought the house and it has upper cabinets, a counter, and lower cabinets. I hate it.
    I would much prefer all open shelving since I can close the door if I worry about keeping things "neat."
    I think it depends on how large your pantry is whether you need a designer or just simple logic on the most bang for the shelf. Always worth getting a KD opinion and then go from there.

  • ww340
    11 years ago

    I designed it, but had cabinet builder build it.

  • willtv
    11 years ago

    Our pantry is a converted mudroom and is open to the kitchen.
    We did as "WhiteRiverSooner".
    We designed and the cabinetmaker built the cabs.
    Here's a shot.


    FYI. The back wall is 4' and the side walls are 5'.

  • beaglesdoitbetter1
    11 years ago

    Ours was built by the same cabinet maker who did our kitchen. For us, it was definitely worth it to get the pantry designed just the way we wanted and with storage for everything we were looking to store:

    There's stuff in their now, this was right after the tall cab was installed:

  • beeps
    11 years ago

    Mine will just have open shelving around the room. Can't imagine why I would want cupboards in this space. There is a door, however, so this won't be visible to the rest of the house.

    Here is a pic of the pantry in the model with *empty* Bud Light boxes. :)

  • breezygirl
    11 years ago

    Your thread reminded me that I've been meaning to post my pantry on the comprehensive pantry thread over on the Gallery side of the forum. I've just done that and will link the thread below. It might be of some help.

    My carpenter put my HD adjustable shelving system in mine. It was cheap and fast, which is what I needed at the time just before t-day when we moved back into the hoise. I wanted something prettier and more custom, but this works.

    Here is a link that might be useful: The Pantry Thread

  • sarahmh509
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Great! Thank you for your helpful responses (and inspirational photos of your beautiful pantries)! Looks like I may want to see how much it will cost for our kitchen designer to do, and then take it from there. Thanks again everyone!

  • babs711
    11 years ago

    Ours is all open shelving with the shelves spaced the distance I wanted. My builder did our pantry. I wanted to be able to see everything so I didn't do any drawers or cabinetry. I've since added more open organizers though.

    For some reason I can't access my photobucket right now. But if you click below, our pantry is about 1/4 of the way down the page. It's not quite the whole thing but gives a decent idea of it:

    Here is a link that might be useful: babs711 Finished Kitchen & Pantry

  • ww340
    11 years ago

    beagles - I had not seen your pantry finished. It really is beautiful.

  • kirkhall
    11 years ago

    Ours is all open also (the door is enough "cover" for me).
    We chose to get and install shelving from IKEA--the Broder line (with the wood shelves). It was cost-effective and they are adjustable to our needs.

  • Laurie
    11 years ago

    This was a great thread to open. I have a large closet/butler pantry (not sure really what it was originally - may have only been an added on part to the house for all I know). Right now it serves as my coat/storage closet as it's the only one on the ground floor and, it's right off the dining room. I keep thinking there HAS to be a good way to make this into coat/pantry storage and the photos here gave me some good ideas on how to achieve that. Even could finally get the cat's feeder out of the kitchen maybe - that would make me really happy since it's kind of in the way there.

    So eventually lol. No funding right now but I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. I saved pix for when I can. Fantastic job on all accounts!

  • ILoveRed
    11 years ago

    Hmmm. I had no idea there was a pantry thread on the Gallery side of the forum. Lots of great ideas over there for anyone trying to find info on finishing out a pantry.

  • janetraz
    11 years ago

    We have a very large walk in pantry, 6X10. I love it. The builder put in a skylight which is a really nice feature. Its always very bright in there. We have the standard, white wire shelving, 3 rows on 2 walls and one long wall with a shelf about 6 ft. up and hooks below for brooms, mop, etc. Although we don't have an abundance of 'stuff', I don't know how I ever lived w/o a walk in pantry, lol! It really frees up the kitchen cabinets so everything is very visable and very uncluttered. The short, back wall is perfect for my 3 sets of dishware and service pieces. One long wall contains food, partyware, and asst. bakingware. The perimeter under the shelving is perfect for soda 12pks, animal food and spare towels for cleaning.

  • fouramblues
    11 years ago

    I designed this and DH built it:

    The shelves are almost all adjustable. He'll do the opposite wall as time allows, but I really needed this one to get moved into the kitchen.

    I knew pretty much what I needed in the way of storage (measured everything), so felt no KD was necessary for the pantry planning. YMMV.

  • Cloud Swift
    11 years ago

    Ours is kind of ragtag utilitarian. It works well for us and has a door so it doesn't need to be a showplace.

    When we bought the house, the pantry had shelving that was like the kitchen cabinets (and most of the other cabinets in the house) except open shelves with no doors. The cabinets were on one wall configured for an upright freezer next to cabinets with a counter on the bottom and upper cabinets all across. We have a chest freezer so we moved the lower cabinet unit out to the garage for storage there and put the chest freezer on the empty wall across from the cabinets. We found bookshelves that were the same depth 12" as the uppers to fill the space under the uppers and for the bit of wall next to the chest freezer.

    My DH also put some plywood for hanging storage on the end wall and between where the chest freezer ends and the door. We hang the woks, wok lids, and some other awkward items there.

  • Buehl
    11 years ago

    We did the interior ourselves. Our KD told us it would be far less expensive if we put in the shelving, etc. ourselves.

    Our KD was very up-front with us when she thought things were overpriced if we did them with her. I really appreciated that!

    Another thing she told us not to do through her was get the glass for the doors and shelves in our two glass door cabinets. She recommended we go to a glass place instead. She was right! It was far less expensive!

  • julie diane
    last year
    last modified: last year

    Anyone got any pics of their walk-in pantry shelving configuration with good tips on what to include and perhaps things that you haven't found useful in hindsight on https://kuicksy.com/product-category/grocery/pantry/? My space is 2metres in length by about 1.3 metres wide. Any clever ideas about the best way to use the limited area I have. My door is on the 1.3m side

    I like the ideas in the pictures attached. Any clever suggestions?

  • wannaknow2
    last year
    last modified: last year

    Julie Diane, See the links above; those sites contain more links to other threads from Garden Web (the predecessor of Houzz, the links still work, even though they are maybe 13 years old) and other places. Lots of lists of what to include or not, shelf sizing advice, photos, etc.. Breezygirl has a link to The Pantry Thread, which is named Pantry photos/ pics of pantries (https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2401919/pantry-photos-pics-of-pantries) which has 69 comments, lots of pics and links.

    The second comment in Pantry Photos/pics etc. is from Buehl contains 5 more links(copied here for convenience):

    Buehl

    13 years ago

    I have a pantry suggestion... Ventilate!
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg101417068231.html

    Walk-in pantry -- can I see yours?
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0518351723171.html

    Would A Walk-In Pantry Be a Major Selling Point To You?
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0512413918847.html

    Wood or wire shelves for walk-in pantry
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0712125512141.html

    What size should a step-in corner pantry be?
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0812114524457.html

    Buehl's Pantry Pictures. (These were on Photobucket which are now lost to time, I’m sure she’s probably reposted them on Gardenweb/Houzz)

    Some other (certainly not all!) pantry discussions:

    Anyone see a pantry like this one?

    https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2678517/anyone-see-a-pantry-like-this-one

    Walk-in pantry -- can I see yours?

    https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2662215/walk-in-pantry-can-i-see-yours

  • wannaknow2
    last year
    last modified: last year

    I love the idea of such a huge lazy susan posted by Beaglesdoitbetter1 above, especially the idea of shelves that are spaced differently although I’d like to understand how they carry their weight with so many ’’platters“ able to rotate on the pole.


    I think I’ve read that it’s better not to have a window in the pantry, partly because of potential heat, and partly because of bright light. That is something to research and consider if it’s in your control.


    i also wonder if it’s optimal to have a broom or vacuum (loose dust?) or possibly cleaning substances (possible spills or unintended fumes?) in a food pantry if you can help it.

    i hope others will chime in with photos and ideas from the last 10 years!