I mentioned this in the comments yesterday that I some day hope to have some built-in shelves in our pantry. It's a small pantry, about 6 by 6 feet, and would best suit an L-shaped layout. The door is a pocket door, so I can't use the back of the door as storage space. Here's what it looks like.
To the left is a tall plastic shelving unit (from my childhood). The shelves are about 10 inches deep. Built-in shelves could be deeper and accommodate more containers.
The back wall of the pantry has an 18-inch deep metal shelving unit. There are gaps on either side of both units, gaps that could be filled with shelves that run from wall to wall.
I thought today I'd share some of my pantry dreams, the elements of other pantries that I like and why.
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| https://www.thespruce.com/pantry-shelving-ideas-7197799 |
I love the decorative shelf supports in this pantry. This type of built-in shelving would be do-able for my husband and I. Here's a close-up of the support.
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| https://www.thespruce.com/pantry-shelving-ideas-7197799 |
Here's another pantry with decorative shelf supports. I also like the counter work area and the bead board backing. The counter can be used as a work area or additional "shelf" storage for containers.
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| sitbacklounge.com |
This pantry came up when I searched "maximizing food storage in tiny pantry." Okay, so the pantry isn't exactly tiny, but the jars of foods have been massed in there, and they've used every inch of space, all the way up to the ceiling. I love how there's not a lot of excess airspace above the jars. The shelves seem to have been tailored to the height of the jars. It's definitely a bulk food pantry dream. Not many packaged foods in there.
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| thisoldhouse.com |
Here's a small pantry. I like the furniture trim where a toe kick in cabinetry would normally go. I like the open shelves beneath the counter area. I prefer to be able to see everything and not have ingredients hidden behind doors or in drawers in the pantry. I also think open shelves provide just a hair more storage space without door or drawer hardware.
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| roomyretreat.com |
I searched "storage in jars pantry." I imagine my glass jars storage to look something like this, with a variety of sizes and shapes of jars. I'm not sure how I would aesthetically incorporate packaged foods, which we do buy, as well as the bulk foods. Again, notice how well the jarred foods fit inside the shelf spaces. Very little wasted air-space above lines of jars.
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| https://happyinteriortime.com/ideal-dimensions-small-walk-in-pantry/ |
This pantry uses baskets on the lower shelves. On the floor it looks like square baskets of produce. Our pantry is on the warm side (adjacent to the main kitchen work area), so I don't store produce in the pantry. But I do like that look. It's open enough to see what's there, but conceals and brings harmony to the lower shelves. Despite the good, here, they didn't do a great job optimizing airspace above jars and bottles. I see lots of wasted space here. With how much I stock up, I need a design that will allow me to utilize all the space.
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| https://wonderfulengineering.com/25-great-pantry-design-ideas-for-your-home/ |
This is a beautiful pantry. I love the rolling ladder to reach the top shelf all around. They've added crown moulding around the top of the wall, very nice. That's one of those small details that my husband and I could do, would take up next to no storage space, but would add a room-like feel to the pantry and would go with other traditional elements of our house. As much as I like the ladder, it wouldn't be practical in our small pantry. I keep a folding step-stool in the pantry that I can pop open with one hand. For the time being, it rests folded up against the wall as you enter the pantry. Adding a hook to that wall would keep the step stool off the floor.
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| https://www.linenchest.com/en_ca/blog/post/20-pretty-pantries |
Here's my last pantry. this one has an old school apothecary look to it, perhaps from the addition of the scale combined with the lines of identical jars filled with ingredients on shelves above the counter space. It looks like they've used several square shaped jars, which make the most of space.
If you were to design a new pantry, what elements would you incorporate?
When we redid our kitchen, we expanded our pantry from tiny to 3' x 5' by building out over the stairs. It is bigger than we've ever had and I like that I can actually step inside it. The thing we did, that you might consider, is installing adjustable shelves. That way you can do shelf spacing to maximize your storage. One side of the pantry houses all of the small appliances and the other side has the food. I like being about to store the appliances there when not in use to maximize our counter space.
ReplyDeleteHi Live and Learn,
DeleteGreat suggestion on the adjustable shelving. At least some could be adjustable. Are yours adjustable with a track system or pegs in drilled holes or how?
I also like keeping the small appliances in the pantry. The only appliances I keep on the counter are the toaster and the stand mixer. The stand mixer is just too heavy for me to move in and out of the pantry. I've thought about having a work space in the pantry for the stand mixer. I mostly use it for bread dough, so it's not like I need it on the counter often. With the toaster, we use it several times each day and I don't like moving it around because of crumbs. So we just leave it on the counter. Years ago, I kept the food processor on the counter, but now keep it in the pantry for reasons you mention. That's a great idea to have one side of the pantry for appliances and the other for food. So far, I've just stored them wherever they fit.
Thanks for sharing your experience, Live and Learn.
Our pantry shelves are adjusted from holes drilled with little shelf supports that go in them. Shelves in our closets, on the other hand, are adjustable along tracks. Both work just fine. I will say that after we did the initial fit of things in the pantry, we haven't move any of the shelves. But I was pretty adamant about having that option.
DeleteOur pantry is a former closet that had been (poorly) converted before we bought our house. When we redid our kitchen, making the pantry more usable was high on my priority list. Our shelves are deeper than yours, so for us, that meant installing roll-out shelving. While all of these pantries pictured are pretty, I'm with L&L--it would be more useful for you to have adjustable shelves. I'm not sure whether or not additional electrical outlets would be worthwhile for you, but it's something to consider. The This Old House picture most closely resembles the space you have to work with. I hope your dreams become reality!
ReplyDeleteThe first house we owned was really small so my husband cut a double wide closet in the hall between the joices and put shelves all the way to the top.They weren't very wide but it was amazing how much food we could store in there.He also put bi fold doors on it for easy access and also for privacy.He also did the same thing on a small wall in the kitchen for spices and pudding boxes etc.
ReplyDelete