Kitchen Pantry Designs
Create, remodel, organize and use your pantry
Small Kitchen Designs: How to Include a Pantry
You might think that a pantry is something that will only fit in a large kitchen, but nothing could be further from the truth. Our grandparents’ kitchens were mostly small, and they had pantries: in fact the kitchen could be small partly because much of the food and “stuff” was stored in the pantry, not in the kitchen. Given that we have a lot more “stuff” to store now, a pantry can be even more useful.
So, how can pantries be squeezed into small kitchen designs?
Types of Pantries and Multiple Pantries
First, open your mind to more than one type of pantry. While we often envisage a pantry as a small room we can walk into, with a door and lots of shelves, that’s not the only type.
A “step-in” pantry is like smaller version of a walk in – more the size of a deep closet, you step in and are surrounded by storage shelves, bins or drawers.
A pantry cabinet is not even a separate room: it’s a regular kitchen cabinet (full height, base or wall) outfitted with storage units that make every cubic inch of space usable and accessible. If you don’t want a single full height cabinet, it’s quite possble to have several smaller pantry cabinets in your kitchen, perhaps with each one devoted to a different type of storage.
One more type of pantry is a shallow cabinet, often full height, that makes use of space where a standard wall or base cabinet would not fit.
Where to Put a Pantry
Including a walk-in or step-in pantry in a small kitchen design will often mean either using an existing or previous pantry space, or stealing space from a nearby room.
If you have an older house with several small rooms in the kitchen area, the trend in previous years has been to knock down the walls and make them into one big kitchen. That may not be the best use of the space, though: consider using one of those smaller spaces as a pantry.
Stealing space from a nearby room may mean a laundry room, mud room, garage or even bedroom, and can be as easy as putting a door in a non-bearing wall and building another short wall section behind it. You’ll need to consult a construction expert before juggling walls around, to decide where the bearing and non-bearing walls are.
Another option is a corner pantry. If you have an L-shape or U-shape work area, one possible use for a corner is a pantry which takes up a little more than the footprint of a regular corner base cabinet, and has a door the goes diagonally across the corner. Inside, the whole space can be shelves and you never have the “out of reach back corner” of a base cabinet. A tall corner pantry like this works well lined up with a fridge or wall oven stack.
Pull out pantry cabinets can be placed anywhere in the kitchen, although if you want a full height pantry you may want to line it up with other full height appliances and cabinets.
Hallways are often good candidates for shallow pantry shelving or cabinets: if you have 6″ of depth you can build a wall of shelving (with or without doors) which will hold an amazing amount of cans, jars and small packets. On an interior wall this can even extend to between-the-studs storage, which again is a great place to store cans and jars. If you are truly stick for space but you have wider-than normal stairways, shallow wall shelves and cabeinst up the stairs or on a landing may be an option.
So, don’t rule out a pantry if your kitchen is on the small side – pantry designs can be an integral part of small kitchen designs and improve the looks, style and function of your new kitchen.
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The Best 7 Small Kitchen Remodeling Improvements
If you’ve got a small kitchen, like I do, and you’re thinking about remodeling, there are some things you can do which give you a better “bang for the buck” than others. These projects can make your kitchen work better, feel more spacious, and look better into the bargain.
- Paint – the walls, ceiling, cabinets, even the floor! Paint is the quickets and often the cheapest remodeling project you can do, and can make a huge difference to how spacious and how welcoming the room feels. If you have open or glass-fronted cabinets, the interior color makes a surprising difference too, so consider painting the insides.
- New counters are more expensive than paint but also make an amazing difference. If you have old laminate counters which are in good shape (no laminate coming unglued from the substrate) and which have square edges, not the curved “post-formed” front and back edges, you can glue new laminate right over the top. Other economical counter upgrades include new laminate counters (custom edges and realistic-looking laminate patterns make these better looking than the old type), tiling (even over top of laminate), and butcher block coated with a hard-wearing finish. Replacing old counters with an expensive option like stone or solid surfacing requires you to think hard about whether you plan to upgrade the rest of the kitchen to match, and whether that later upgrade will allow you to re-use the new counters.
- Replacing appliances can be simple if yours are all standalone and standard sizes. You can easily replace a standalone fridge and range with new trendy appliances. A dishwaster is a little more awkward, although the sizes are fairly standard and you might even be able to get a new front panel for your existing dishwasher to match other new appliances, instead of completely replacing it. The most difficulty arises when you have older built-in appliances like ovens and cooktoips where the sizes of the newer models are different and would require modification of your cabinets.
- Flooring – if your flooring is worn before its time but the rest of the kitchen is still OK, a new vinyl tile, sheet finyl or laminate floor is an easy fix which will make a big impact, given the size of the visible floor. Floating laminate floors are especially useful to cover surfaces which are not completely smooth, like tiles.
- Cabinets – now we’re getting into serious investment territory. Replacing cabinets can be the most expensive improvement you can make to a kitchen, although less so in a small kitchen. Simple repainting may work if your cabinets are still in good shape, or refacing which requires rather more work and considerably more expense, or even replacing teh doors and drawer fronts while keeping the old cabinet boxes. All these options assume that the old cabinets are in good shape structurally to make the work worthwhile.
- A new backsplash may not be your first thought for a remodeling project, but it can completely change the look of your kitchen and can improve the function too. Subway tile, mosaics, and glass or stone materials are “in” at the moment and can all give you a good-looking and mess-proof backsplash, although mosiacis leave you with a lot of grout lines to clean. Even better, replacing a backsplash creates much less mess and upheaval than most other small kitchen remodeling projects.
Backsplash storage is another good idea: narrow shelves, hanging rails and grids, or storage accessories which hang under the upper cabinets can all make good use of the easy-to-reach backsplash area. - A pantry in a small kitchen? Yes! Some older houses may already have a step-in or walk-in pantry combined with a small kitchen, and optimising the pantry space can make the kitchen itself work and look better. Squeezing a pantry (separate, or a pull-out in a cabinet) into an existing small kitchen can feel like a juggling act but because pantry space is usually extremely well-packed storage, if you can find the space for a pantry it will help free space in the rest of the kitchen.
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Troubleshooting Pantry Ideas: When Pantry Designs Go Wrong
Food packages are “double parked” on the shelves, with things stuffed behind or on front of other things, so you can’t see the ones in back.
How to fix:
- use shallower shelves that only take one item deep
- space shelves closer together vertically so you can fit in more shelves and have more shelf space
- use wire organizers to double-deck your shelves
- continue to double park but only put identical items behind each other
You can’t walk in to your walk in pantry because there’s so much stuff on the floor!
How to fix:
- Pull out anything that shouldn’t be in the pantry at all, and store elsewhere
- Add bins to the pantry for bulk foods which come in large sacks, if that’s what is blocking the floor
- Move small packets from large bulk boxes and store on shelves or in baskets
- Add a rolling cart, store the floor stuff on that, and move it out when you want to go in the pantry
Shelves are sticky or dusty
How to fix:
first clean them, then…
- Place drippy containers on a tray or saucer which can be easily removed or cleaned
- Screen oprnings to stop house dust getting in, and weather strip doors
- Make sure ceiling is clean and not dropping dust
- If you have wire sheves and spliis migrate downwards, line them with plastic, hardboard, wood, even cardboard.
Lighting is too dim to see what you’ve got.
How to fix:
- Install a higher wattage bulb (if your fixture supports it)
- Install a new double-bulb fixture
- Install a track fixture which allws you to direct light in several directions
Your pull-out pantry sticks and won’t pull out
How to fix:
- If food packages are jamming the operation of your pull-out, pull it out a little way and use something which will fit through the gap (coat hanger wire, chopstick, knitting needle, etc.) to reach in, find the obstruction, and un-hook it. Then de-clutter the shelves so there’s not so much stuffed into them.
- If the mechanism itself is jammed, WD40 in strategic locations may help. Once you’ve got it out, remove all the contents and check for rollers not on their tracks, obstructions in the tracks, or the cabinet or mechanism itself being out of square or not level. If something is broken, check your warranty or call the installer to get it fixed.
Food gets lost in the back of the pantry, goes out of date and has to be thrown away
How to fix:
- Rotate duplicate food packages: e.g. when you buy more jars of pasta sauce before finishing all the old ones, put the new ones in the back and pull the old ones to the front
- Use a clipboard and list to check items in and out, noting the date bought and the use-by date.
7. There isn’t enough space for all the items you want to store
How to fix:
- Pull out anything that shouldn’t be in the pantry at all, and store elsewhere
- Use the fixes listed above under “double parking” to increase the shelf space available.
- Use a rolling cart to add storage space and pull it out when you need to walk into the pantry
8. Tiny packets fall through cracks in wire shelving
How to fix:
- Store the small packets in baskets, bins or boxes
- Add a rack on the door to hold small items
- Line the wire shelves with something solid like plastic, masonite, or thin plywood.
The best pantry designs in the world won’t help much if you don’t use the pantry in an organized way, or if you have more to store in there than can fit.
How Pantry Designs Can Improve Your Small Kitchen Remodel
A pantry can help with your small kitchen remodel even though you may think pantries are only for people with lots of space. How can this be?
Well, there are several ways this can happen:
- A pantry saves on the need for cabinets in the main kitchen, so you don’t have to squeeze as many in. It’s also much cheaper storage space than cabinets if you can use a walk-in (or even just step-in) pantry with open shelving.
- It allows you to use space which is not quite within the kitchen proper (because your pantry items are things you don’t use every day, so it’s OK if you have to take a few steps to get there). That means you can steal space from other rooms to make a pantry.
- A pantry cabinet, such as the fold-out, swing-out or pull-out models available from cabinetry companies, squeezes the most storage possible into the smallest square-footage of floor space, making all shelves accessible right to the very back without having to crawl on the floor to get to the back of a base cabinet. If you have a pantry cabinet which stretches right to the ceiling you may well need a small ladder or a step stool to reach the very top pullouts, but it’s still easier than reaching to the back of a deep cabinet. The shelves in pullouts are also height-adjustable, so you can set them to match their contents and squeeze in as many shelves vertically as possible.
- Pantry pull-out type cabinets are available even for small spaces, as small as 3″ wide from some companies, so you can use them to make use of every inch in your small kitchen.
- Having most of your food in one place instead of scattered around the cabinets not only makes it easy to find things (because there are fewer places to look) it also frees up space in the other cabinets for the utensils and equipment you use frequently.
- You can store seldom-used china and equipment in the pantry as well as food, keeping it out of the main kitchen and reducing clutter.
More Counter Space!
A pantry can also help maximise counter space in a small kitchen, in several ways.
- If you have a walk-in pantry outside the kitchen, there’s less need for tall cabinets in the kitchen itself and so more potential counter space.
- If you have room in a pantry to store small appliances, or if you can store them in cabinets because your food is now in the pantry, it frees up counter space.
- If you have cabinet pantries, although the most common ones are full height you can also get them as base cabinets and wall cabinets, so you can still have counter space between them.
As well as saving on cabinet space and free-ing up counter space, a pantry can save aggravation too – if the pantry is at one end of the kitchen and snacks are stored there, it minimises multiple people wandering through the kitchen as kids and spouses can get what they need without entering the work core.
So, when you’re planning a small kitchen remodel, make sure you include pantry designs in your thinking.
Pantry Ideas for Your Kitchen
If you’re thinking about including a pantry in your new or remodeled kitchen, you’re not alone. While pantries were out of fashion for many years, lately their usefulness has been rediscovered and pantry ideas are in all the shelter magazines.
Finding Space for a Pantry
If you don’t already have a pantry, and you want one, the first question is probably where to put it. First, let’s think about possible locations for a walk-in pantry:
- Steal space from a closet that backs on to your kitchen, and add a door from the kitchen
- Stack the washer and dryer to make space in a laundry room
- Shrink your breakfast area or dining room into a nook or eating bar and use the rest as a pantry
- Construct a bump-out from the kitchen or other service room
- Use part of a mud room
- Build a small room for the pantry in a corner of the garage near a door to the kitchen
- Use part of a spare bedroom closet
- Build one in a corner of the kitchen or eating area, either alone or integrated into a run of cabinets
- Use part of the basement
“Walk-in” in pantry terms doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be able to walk in and walk around: it can mean that you step through the door and are surrounded by storage, all within arms reach: more of a “step-in” pantry.
If you absolutely have no room for a walk-in pantry, then a pantry cabinet is probably the solution for you. There are many designs or swing-out, fold-out or pull-out pantries made to fit in full-height cabinets, base cabinets or wall cabinets, from large to small.
Inside Your Pantry
Inside your pantry, once you’ve found the space, you have a long list of choices for the storage structures you choose to build. Many of them depend on the type of things you want to store in the pantry.
Shelves – narrow so you don’t lose things at the back, easily cleanable, labelable if you want to have specific areas of your pantry for specific types of goods. The vertical space between shelves can be customized to the height of your stored objects. Adjustable shelving is a great idea if you think you’ll change your mind about heights, but in reality most people find that they never change their adjustable shelves once they’ve initially been set up.
Baskets – these can be hung under shelves, stacked on shelves, placed or stacked on the floor, racked up in rolling carts, and made of natural materials like wicker or seagrass, or of wire (chrome or plastic coated). Plastic baskets are also available, and cheap, but they tend not to last very long unless they are seriously heavy duty.
Bins – made of metal, wood or plastic, with or without lids, stackable, with open, glass or solid fronts or lids, placed on shelves, the floor, or in drawers.
Drawers: can be solid or open (wire); wood, plastic, basketry or metal; compartmented or otherwise organized or subdivided inside; large and deep or small and shallow, with or without label holders, full extension, or removable to carry to a work area.
Hooks – to hold bags, aprons, clipboards, strings of onions or garlic, etc
Barrels, clean garbage bins, or sacks for holding seriously large quantities of bulk foods
Racks on walls or the inside of door(s) can hold smaller packages, pots and pans, kitchen utensils, etc. Pegboard racks are especially useful for walls or spaces where you can’t stick out into the room much and so don’t have space for shelves. A plate rail at the top of the wall can decorate your pantry while storing extra plates or platters.
You might also consider including these other items in your pantry:
- Lighting on an automatic switch which goes off when the door closes
- Yellow sticky cards to warn of insect infestation
- Small appliances and gadgets (for example a can opener, lid gripper)
- A notepad and pen for lists – perhaps on the door or wall outside the pantry, or right by the door inside: maybe on a clipboard
- Labels and a pen or pencil for noting dates on foods, and labeling containers
- A basket for carrying things back and forth to other storage areas or the main kitchen
- Spare empty containers
- Scissors and a knife for opening recalcitrant packaging
Safety in the Pantry
If you live in an earthquake zone, your pantry ideas should take that into acount. Breakables need to be held in place, and heavy items like canned goods should be stored so that they can’t fall, break other things, block the door closed, or hurt people.
Your pantry contents would be part of your emergency food supply if an earthquake happened, so you want them to be in usable condition and accessible.
What to Keep in Your Pantry
- bulk foods
- home canned foods
- home dried foods
- pet foods
- people foods
- soft drinks
- emergency supplies – water, candles, flashlights, matches,
More Pantry Ideas
- Paint the inside bright white with semi-gloss or gloss paint so you can wash it down and keep it clean
- use a smooth, easy-clean flooring such as sheet vinyl so spilled food can’t hide in cracks
- caulk all gaps so insects can’t get inside
- make it rodent-proof
- use a solid door and hang racks on the inside, clipboard with lists and notes on the outside, or paint with chalkboard paint.
- use a glass door and leave a LED light on inside to look decorative, especially frosted glass with patterns on or the word “pantry”
- If you have too many doors leading off the kitchen, disguise the door so it blends into the wall
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Pantry Designs
There are many different pantry designs for different types of pantry, and each needs a slightly different approach. Butlers’ pantries, kitchen pantries, cold storage rooms, larders, pull-out cabinet pantries and walk-in pantries have different requirements and may serve different purposes.
A butlers pantry is usually set between the kitchen and the formal dining room (or the place where you do your entertaining) and it’s where the heat and rush of the kitchen becomes calm, cool, elegant food service. Fine china and glassware is often stored there, sometimes with a sink and dishwasher so the dirty dishes never even reach the kitchen.
A pantry for dry goods and bulk foods is best if it’s as dry as possible, and ideally reasonably cool, although not as cold as a traditional larder or cold room. A north wall location for coolness, and top and bottom ventilation for the chimney effect will help. However, you definitely need metal screening over the vents to keep out insects and rodents. If your north wall is exposed to high winds or rain, you may need more protection for the vents in the winter.
A walk-in pantry can be ideal if you have a lot to store. You can see everything at a glance, reach things easily, and if it’s right off the kitchen it’s very convenient. It’s also much cheaper than the same amount of storage in the form of cabinets, because you don’t have to buy fancy doors and drawers, just plain shelves.
If there’s no space for a walk-in pantry, a pull-out or unfolding pantry cabinet can store a lot of stuff in a small space. Most are full height, so they blend well with fridges and wall ovens in a full-height wall when you’re designing your kitchen. However, they also come as wall cabinet or base cabinet units, in many widths as small as 3″!
Many of your pantry design decisions will depend on what you plan to store there. General categories of items which make good pantry storage candidates are:
Bulk items – paper goods such as bathroom tissue, paper towels (but consider using rags instead) and facial tissue, dry goods like pasta, sugar and flour, canned or packaged goods, home-canned food, home-dried food, pet food, etc
Seldom-used or “extra” equipment – small appliances and large pots and pans, the canner, fish cooker, pressure cooker, big platters and serving bowls, extra china and flatware, plastic containers, and empty canning jars plus spare lids and rings.
Fresh food – food which doesn’t need to be refrigerated but takes up too much space in your kitchen cabinets might include potatoes (if you can provide cool and dark storage), onions (cool and dry), winter squash (cool to warm and dry), ripening fruit for eating soon, nuts in the shell, etc
Some people store cleaning supplies in the pantry, but I’d recommend separate storage for that if at all possible. Mops and brooms are not the cleanest things in the world, and cleaning fluids, detergents etc often smell – you don’t want your food picking up soap or detergent scents!.
If you do have a walk-in or step-in pantry, the door can be a real decorative accent in the kitchen if you wish. There are some beautiful etched-glass pantry door designs here:
- An Array of Etched Glass Pantry Designs! – At Sans Soucie Art Glass, the designs are custom, made to order with no limit to the possibilities! Turn an ordinary kitchen pantry door into beautiful decorative accent, with a design specifically suited to coordinate and compliment ..