We put one in as a change during the reno.
I also added a pocket door to our walk in pantry.
I was tired of walking into a door that eithe DH or myself left open.
I love our pull out pantry for our needs.
I store snacks, sports food, and tall bottles.
It is great for our needs but no kids in the picture.

It is pretty easy to open and close but I think small kids would not be able to reach the handle with the leverage needed. Teens- might be worried that they might be addressive(think hard yank). And everything goes flying.

I am sure a door cabinet would hold more.
Search gardenweb pull out pantry- there was a thread on this with pictures.

I took some new pictures and they are on my computer. I hope to sort out pictures in the next week or so.

Usual iPhone cryptic and text errors.

I had one in a rental place once. It does hold a great deal of stuff, but it doesn't hold a candle to a true, walk-in pantry. Even with pull-outs, stuff gets lost in the back.

If you have the space available, go with a walk-in. The kicker is that a walk-in, with plain old good quality shelves, will also cost less.

Lovestocookfor6 has a cabinet that opens from both the side and the front, I think it is very cool. It is in this link, scroll through it, it also contains other pantry pictures and deals with this same topic

Here is a link that might be useful: Lovetocookfor6's pantry

I hear what everyone's saying about a walk-in pantry, but I'm just trying to figure out where to store food *in* the kitchen, so it's got to be some sort of cabinet/pull-out/roll-out/drawer. It's a small galley kitchen, so can't put a walk-in there.

localeater: Yep, that was my old post! I thought about just resurrecting it, but my question is slightly different this time, just trying to actually DECIDE between the two options (pull out vs cabinet). So I wanted to hear the pros/cons of both. Thanks!!

My vote is 100% for opening to the side. Less expensive, more useable storage, anyone can operate.

Another thing about a pullout ... I do not think (not sure) the shelves are adjustable. In a side opening pantry, you could add more shelves so to minimize the wasted "air" space between the shelves. When I see pics of pullouts, all I see is the wasted unused space. Pullouts are useful when you are putting it between two things that cannot be moved. Lovetocook is a good example ... Her pullout is between the fridge and another cabinet (that opens to the side). Some people use them between a fridge & a wall.

My vote is for resurrecting old threads. But I am an old timer here from when the number of threads was at a premium. It sure was easier to search then !! Instead of a bazillion results returned when you try to do a search.

We have a tall 15" wide Ikea pullout and it is just great. This was the only way to get pantry space in our small kitchen. It is amazing how much you can fit in it. (The bottom shelf can hold 9 cereal boxes.) My 4-year-old has no trouble at all opening it. The door is attached only to the top and bottom drawers and the others are adjustable. Everything is on soft-close full-extension slides, very little side space is lost to the hardware (frameless cabinet) and the slip-resistant shelf liners keep things from sliding around when you pull out the shelves. It's one of my favorite things in the new kitchen.

I've posted the photos before but here they are again.

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

I have both! I have two tall pullouts (each 12" wide) on one side of the fridge, and a very shallow (9" deep) pantry that opens from the side on the other side of the fridge. I love them both. How much width/depth do you have to play with?

If pressed, I would choose the side-opening one, as long as it is not too deep, say, 15" max.

As for strength of the pullouts, I used ones from Haefele. They are built like a tank.

Here is our pull out pantry

Here it is from the other side - note the finished panels and then refer to jstehl to see hers.

Check out jstehl (from thread above). I had to do a double take on it - as looks almost the same but is side opening.

Here is mine-I was trying to use every bit of space in a galley kitchen and also accomodate an integrated refrigerator that had to be near the wall, thus requiring a bit of 'swing' space adjacent to the door. I love it. Use it now for cleaning supplies. It wasn't cheap but it's handy and I accomplished both the needed storage and a visually smooth way to ensure clearance for the refrigerator door.

Close-up view, shut:

Open (the area on left now has a rack for brooms/aprons/dustpans):

View of entire run:

a2gemini - The pull out larder unit images you posted - where is the hardware from? I think we have the same unit (I thought from Ikea but can't find it online) and I'd like an extra shelf for short cans...
(by the way we have side-by-side pull out larders/pantries and love them - the hardware is rated for 500lbs but everything is soft-close/easy slide and even the 3 yr old can open them to get at snacks on the lower shelves)

northcarolina - do you know the name/catalog # for your pull out pantry hardware? I'm trying to track down shelves but fear Ikea may have discontinued the line (even though we only just installed our pantry less than a year ago).