When homes are designed, the pantry is often simply tucked in a corner that is “leftover” and not useful as open kitchen space. However, this can mean the pantry interior features odd angles and is too cramped to turn around in.

During a remodel that involves making your kitchen larger, don’t forget to convert your pantry from a broom closet into a nice walk-in room. This kind of pantry shouldn’t make you feel like a sardine in a can, so don’t skimp on space. 30” is a comfortable walkway width for most people – but this doesn’t include the area taken up by shelving along the wall. Keep this in mind when you are deciding if you really have enough room for a walk in pantry. The shape of this space should, of course, be rectangular if you want to make use of modular containers, bins, and shelving kits available for kitchens from places like The Container Store or Home Depot.

Tuck Appliances Out of Sight

Strategically placed electrical outlets in your new pantry will allow small counter-top appliances to be hidden away, yet close at hand. These plugs can be located in hidden corners on or near the ceiling or floor. This means quality wall space is not unnecessarily obstructed. Some of these power conduits can be used to recharge batteries and cell phones completely out of the way from open living areas.

Don’t Cram Your Space with Stuff

Some walk-in pantries are large enough to include secondary refrigerators or freezers. Only put one of these in if you won’t have to crawl/reach over it or squeeze by it to access your pantry shelving. Otherwise, you’ve defeated the purpose of having a walk in pantry.

Go Wide Instead of Deep

You may need to make your pantry wider rather than deeper depending on the layout of your home. In that case, you can put accordion doors on the pantry to keep it separate from your kitchen but still allow immediate access when you need to grab some pasta for dinner. A shallow pantry is actually a very efficient design since the shelving will not be so deep that canned goods get lost and go out of date while you’re not paying attention.

Related posts:

1. Maximize Pantry Space in Your Kitchen
2. Add Kitchen Storage Space With A Corner Hutch
3. Design your dream kitchen
4. Adding a Second Floor Kitchen
5. Universal Design for Kitchen Cabinets

Tags: Kitchens

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 18th, 2010 at 1:22 pm and is filed under Kitchens. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.