Could you put in an ikea 24 in wide pantry with full extension pullouts and leave the rest of the space for brooms. That would be a lot of ergonomic storage for the dollars. You won't need the cabinet door and that will save a few hundred as well. You will LOVE the full extension pullouts.

Do you have a link? I have never been able to find anything at Ikea's page and their stores are not much better.

In case it wasn't clear, the door is already installed and I don't plan on removing it. It's a high quality 6-panel solid wood door that matches everything else in the house. Opening the door won't hurt anything. Unless you meant that the Ikea product has doors...but I guess a link would help there.

84" x 29"--so you essentially have a reach-in closet with a 30" walk-in closet door centered on the 84" wall.

I don't think that is ever going to work. Think about installing a set of double French doors.

We have a large reach-in pantry with similar measurements but it has double doors. Any chance you can reuse the existing door, buy a matching one and rehang them double style?

Here's an old post with pics of my pantry after I "organized" it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Large Reach In Pantry

In an ideal world, that would be exactly what I would do. However, it would require finding someone to custom build a matching door, redoing the wall finishing, move the light switch for the closet, and re-tile the kitchen since I'll never find the tile that's down. If I were to do that, I'd basically be at a point where I'd need to consider redoing the counter tops, refinishing cabinets, replacing the island range hood, etc.

In other words, I would love to fix all that, but I'm not all that interested in a good sized renovation. I was hoping to spend a couple hundred on new shelves that would be more functional, really.

I misread the measurements, I thought it was 84 inches tall and 29 inches deep, 30 inches wide. That is why I suggested the Ikea pull out pantry which is 80 inches tall 24 inches deep and 24 inches wide. In the catalogue with the applad door it is $454 but you can buy it without the door and save probably $100. That could slide right into your existing pantry if the measurements are as I thought. You can google images for "Ikea pantry" and see lots of these, loaded.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ikea pantry

This post was edited by scrappy25 on Sat, Nov 8, 14 at 21:27

Does the door open out into the kitchen, or in into the pantry space? If into the pantry, that really makes it difficult to maximize the use of the space.

The pull-out pantry concept might be a solution, if the door opens out, by placing pull outs into the bilateral ends of the pantry so that they can be pulled toward the middle to make access easier. Look for some examples of tall pullouts that people have built in narrow spaces next to refrigerators. You could do them sized so that you could still have shelves across the middle back, and the pullouts would be in front of those shelves when pulled to the middle.

There are folks who have posted here who have built their own to fit their space, or had a carpenter build it to their design.

bkenobi--You do not have a shelving dilemma. You have an accessing the shelving problem. That's what you need to fix. Whoever installed a 30" single door into that closet was an idjit.

A picture or two would definitely help with shelving suggestions. :)

yep. that's a problem. mine is about 4' W w/double doors (nothing now, I took 'em down) and shelves 18" deep.

you might be able to put pull out drawers back into each side of the door - with no actual door for each 'unit'/side. you'd just have a stack of slide outs on either side. you'd have the middle space to sort of step into to turn and pull out the trays.
split out what is kept on the 2 sides. canned things on 1 side and dry stuff/bottles misc on side 2.

you could put a rack up high on the back wall to hang some things too. maybe. if you're shorter and won't bonk you head on them when 'entering'.

keep a step stool in there for pulling out the top slide outs (those might be a pain). maybe the top few on each side could be things you don't use often. Holiday items, roaster, canning equp.

I have a few photos, but since the space is small they don't show much. I used The Container Store's online tool to make a quick scale image that basically shows the space.

Yes, they were idiots when they designed the space. The only thing I can think is that they realized there was wasted space inside the walls on either side of the pantry and expanded. I suspect it was originally a standard coat closet size (something like 40" width) but added the extra since it was there. That's great, but it almost makes it harder. I would have made it french doors or a pair of sliders.

I like the idea of those roll outs but wonder if that adds a ton of cost for the benefit. What if I were to install ~12" deep shelves? That would provide 18" to move which is tight, but doable. I could wrap the shelves around the ends too, but that might make the corners ridiculously hard to use.

What do you want to store besides the mason jars? Appliances? Food? Some things just require deeper shelves.

We had a tiny pantry where I changed the shelves to 8" on the back, a deeper one at the bottom, shallow basket-type rack on one side, and was able to store at least as much but I could access it all!

Option 1: In yours, I'd do the same. Wrap shallow, 8" or 12" shelves around the back and sides. One hook on each return for broom, dustpan. On the door, a basket rack.

Option 2: On the sides, do elfa drawers, and on the back wall start shelves above the height of the drawers so the drawers can open with nothing in the way. You'll have a lot of empty space above the drawers, but it's that kind of closet! We had another closet where this worked (we had to leave the center back open because it was the "secret door" into the crawl space under the middle level of our split-level)

Above all, good lighting is essential in there. One overhead light bulb is not going to cut it. You need at least two appropriately spaced.

Option 3: take off the door. On each side, install base and upper cabinets,mmaybe drawers, kind of like a hutch. it could look like a butler's pantry. A nice picture or blackboard on the wall in the middle.

I would make it a walk-in closet by running 30 inch long shelving along the sides. I would use 20"-24" deep shelving just to maximize the storage space, but any depth under 24" would work.

The cheapest shelving would be mounting 8' pre-drilled melamine shelving boards on the sides with melamine shelves cut to fit; this would allow you to group similar height items on each shelf to maximize the number of shelves you can fit. With this type of shelving, you could also mount a garage type hanging system on the center back area for brooms, tools, etc. This is a system with hooks and baskets that I had a carpenter cut to fit a sloping area under stairs: http://www.amazon.com/Suncast-SW04G-Slatwall-12x48-Section/dp/B000GA0LJY

If you want to spend more money, you could hack pull-out drawers into one or both sides, but clearance will be an issue if you use the back wall to hang things on and may be an issue to clear the door frame. Clearance issues would simply require attaching the required thickness of wood strips to the 2x4s in the wall for mounting the pullout drawer hardware. There are many suppliers online that will make custom sized pullout drawers which seem reasonably priced to me. IKEA pullout drawers might also be hackable to use without a cabinet if the sizes work.

"What if I were to install ~12" deep shelves?"

you could do that. measure to see how many shelves you'd need and then price them at HD or Ls. Mine has shelves 18" deep (I have the whole length and width of a hallway to stand in to access tho). I did put in 2 shelves that were around 8" deep for smaller things like the tiny cans of blk olives, soups. I don't can these days and I seldom even cook - no regular family type meals at all. A family would need more shelving for sure.

Other shelves I use for my stand mixer, nu-wave oven, container of misc kitchen tools I only use 1-2 times a yr. Pop/juice on one end of a deeper shelf. Water bottles on the floor under bottom shelf.

Upper shelf has extra p towels, insulated bag for grocery, etc. lite stuff in case it falls on my head when I'm reaching up for it...

I have 4 of the deeper shelves and 2 of the shallower ones. I could fit more in - but the original 4 were very built into the wall and I didn't want to have them ripped out. I found that I could add a shallower shelf between 2 of the original ones and so far I have plenty of space.

HD has the shelving in at least 2 widths (deep) and comes at I think 90 some inches long. they can cut it down to make maybe 3 shelves per board. I think they ran around 15.00 a board out here.

I've come up with a solution that I think will work well and we'll be happy with. After thinking about some suggestions here, I disassembled the existing wood pantry modules. This left me with 2 24x82x16 (WxHxD) shelves that I rotated to the sides. I then mocked up a 10" deep stand in shelf and slid it against the back wall to see about clearances.

After 2 weeks of using it that way, we've decided that we'll install 6-8" shelving on the back wall and primarily 10" shelving on both sides. I will be using a modular rail system (horizontal bracket at top, vertical rails, wooden shelf brackets) from one of the local box stores. I'll then rip plywood to the appropriate depth, add a molding strip to finish it (probably making it stand a little proud to add a small lip), and paint it white.

This leaves me with a few questions. This is a pantry and will be primarily holding canned goods and boxed items. The boxed items will be on the sides and much of the canned goods (both metal and canning) will be on the shallow back wall.

1) I'll use 2 vertical rails on the sides, but what spacing is needed across the back? I think the shelving store suggested 16", but I'm not sure if that's appropriate for plywood or if it can be more or less.

2) How much overhang is acceptable on the sides? The shelving store used 2" in their example, so I'm assuming that's a good amount.

3) What spacing on the back wall canned good shelves? I was thinking of just adding ~1" to the height of a typical can that would be stored for the spacing.

4) What thickness for the plywood? I was originally thinking 1/2" would be sufficient, but I don't know if that will flex too much. I could go with 3/4", but that seems like it would look really bulky. I suppose if I go 1/2" and it does flex, I could add another vertical rail or 2. Adding extra verticals is easy, but gets expensive quickly depending on the brand of hardware since shelf brackets can range from $2-8 and I'm looking at maybe 10 shelves.

5) I was thinking of using outdoor primer as the paint since it can handle getting wet better than indoor paint. Any thoughts? I've had indoor wall paint in the past that has stuck to items and left marks on them. Is there a better brand that won't have that issue for shelving?

I would make shallow shelving on the back wall and deeper shelving on the side walls. I wouldn't go too deep on the side walls because things can get lost and forgotten on a deep shelf.

Here is a link to my daughter's pantry which has 9" shelving on the back wall and deeper shelving on one of the side walls.

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

FWIW, I'm using 3/4 plywood for all my built in shelving in various closets and the pantry. I figure stronger is better, so I specified the 3/4 plywood.

We add a trim piece across the front edge, I think it is about a 1x2, so it is really about 1 1/2 inches tall and 3/4 inches deep. The trim piece adds even more strength and stability.

The shelves that are already in use and are built this way are *very* sturdy. I am pretty sure they'd hold 100s of pounds easily. I have free weights stacked on one closet shelf, and they don't seem to make any impact.

FWIW, I've been agonizing about shelving layouts in various closets and our pantry . . . and, if I were in your shoes, I'd put 18-24 inch deep shelving on the side walls and 8-10 inch shelving on the back wall. :)

The deep shelving is handy for stacking large and bulky things like cases of water, cases of soda (lengthwise), paper towels, etc, so I'd go ahead and take advantage of ALL my space on at least one of those side walls. If you need a space to stash a broom/stick vacuum/etc, you could even do deep shelving on the one side and NO shelving on the other short side. That'd leave you with 20 inches or so (in front of the back wall shelving) on that side wall to hang some brooms (either on the side wall or on the "front" wall or both.)

Happy shelving!! :)

(Be sure to account for trim pieces in your depth measurements.) You can use the same 1x2 as a ledger board "cleat" across the length and side of the shelves, too. I don't think it looks too bulky, but that may be a matter of taste. I have wide trim everywhere (1x4 casings, 1x6 baseboards, 1x5 at the top of casings), so these pieces don't look wide to me at all.

I was able to devise a solution that was installed in the last few days. I usee a Closetmaid rail system with plywood shelves. There are 8 6"x55" shelves across the back wall for cans and 4 and 5 9.5"x30" shelves between the two side walls. I used sanded 3/4" poplar plywood which was a bit expensive, but it really makes for a nice finish. I added end caps on the side shelves so they would paint nice and 1-1/8" tall lips to the back shelves to keep things from falling off. I primed then painted everything in the off white my wife selected and am now just waiting for things to cure before loading everything back.

Stellar! Can't wait to see them fully loaded :) . What did you do on the returns?

I'm not sure what returns are, but if they are the sides of the shelves I left them natural. I considered adding a lip to the sides but my wife was adamantly against them for some reason (no clue why).

Here's a shot from outside. If you compare to the before shot (didn't post it I guess), there's lots of space in the after to navigate.

I meant the space between the door trim and the side shelves. Is there room for a hook to hang a broom or an apron? Basket of labels and a Sharpie?

oh, right. I will put something up if I can make it lay very flat but only after we get the pantry loaded up. I can mock something up to see what it would be like and if it doesn't take significant room, that will be in the plans.

We have a very large laundry room a few feet away, so if nothing else I'll install something there.

it looks great all loaded up! I left space under the right side shelves for storage on the ground. Apparently a single drawer or a rolling drawer type shelf may be needed for potatos/onions/etc. Havent decided on a broom storage method yet, but I found individual handle holders that can be screwed in where needed, so I'l likely use those.

The picture is an attempt at a panorama, but the space is tight so it got muddy.

Something like this for potatoes and onions? Several, to sort your different varieties if you like, and I think you can find taller or wide to hold a harvest, and with more of a lip so they don't tumble out.

Something like that would probably work great. I found one by closet maid that has a lip and is a good size, but looks to be online only. Where did you find the one you posted or what search terms did you use?

http://store.closetmaid.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10201&storeId=10151&langId=-1&top_category=15551&parent_category_rn=10058&categoryId=10160&productId=10075

The one I pictured is from The Container Store. I searched on Under Shelf Basket. I've also seen them at Target. But after thinking about it, you might want something that sits on the shelf or floor. These baskets can get loose and slide out along with your hand as you grab a tater.

The baskets here are also from the Container Store and would set on the floor or maybe on a shelf. (no, I don't have stock in CS, though I should lol!)

Here is a link that might be useful: York pantry baskets

The one bpathome posted is from the Container Store, but it doesn't have a lip. I searched "wire bins under-shelf".

This post was edited by sjhockeyfan on Thu, Jan 8, 15 at 15:02

Or this on the floor. This is what I use for potatoes and onions, the fine mesh holds everything in well but lets air circulate. Mine is x-narrow but regular depth. This cabinet-depth one might work better in your pantry, and you could get the width and height of drawers that works for you.

Elfa is on sale till early February for 30% off.

Here is a link that might be useful: Elfa fine mesh drawers

This one would be my choice in a pantry closet. You wouldn't stack them in your angry, just line them up on the floor for easy access. You can find them almost anywhere, much cheaper than elfa (even on sale)

Here is a link that might be useful: Plastic Stacking open front baskets

You could hang the broom, dustpan and mop on the inside of the pantry door if there is no room on the walls in there. We found an over the door coat hook rack that had small enough knobbins to slide the broom handles onto for our old house.

There are also ones that you just click the brooms into, like the ones at Amazon. Looks like your solid wood door could handle the install.

Here is a link that might be useful: Broom Holders at Amazon.com

I've mulled over the idea of a set of hooks on the return or on the back of the door. I don't really want to put anything on the returns because not much would fit and it would clutter up the space too much. I like the idea of putting the broom and whatnot on the back of the door, but I don't want to put holes in the face of the door. I envision using either an over the door or modifying an over the door to put screws into the top edge of the door.

However, from what I've seen, I don't like what's available for over the door. I was envisioning either hooks, clips, or something similar on a horizontal mount of some kind. Basically, something in an over the door in one of these:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-Wall-Mount-Bathroom-Mop-Broom-Holder-Home-Cleaning-Tools-Hanger-W-Hooks/1147292794.html

http://www.hsw.com.au/?product&id_prod=611&id_cat=3&id_dept=12

http://rapidswholesale.com/mop-and-broom-hanger.html?gclid=CjwKEAiA0O2lBRDOrPX4oJP3t2oSJACjpaHAd5msHPi0IOztOHjiB_5CzdGcCIxc18T5Z5XUVGHePBoCyKvw_wcB