For some time now kitchen designers have been incorporating a kitchen pantry into their brand new kitchen layouts or refurbished ranges. And no wonder. Having a particular large and organised store cupboard for all your dried goods, tins and bottles makes perfect sense.

It’s just strange no-one has thought of it before. Oh, that’s right – they did; but then it was called a larder and went out of fashion when fitted cabinets arrived. Well, now you can have a kitchen pantry as part of your fitted cabinets. Or you can still have that walk-in kitchen pantry too, of course. It all depends on just how much space you have – and how much food you plan on storing. Here are some kitchen pantry ideas right here. Find out which one suits your kitchen best:

Kitchen pantry: cabinet incorporated or freestanding

A kitchen pantry as part of your overall kitchen unit design looks great – as well as neat. You’re not giving up too much of your kitchen space to have it either.

Pros of a built-in kitchen pantry

With a cabinet-based pantry everything is all right there at your fingertips. Your eggs are right next to your condiments and the pan is a stretch to the right. In other words, everything is literally within arm’s reach and you don’t have to go rummaging through various shelves to find it all. This is especially the case if you can slip items in your pantry into neat pull out shelving (rather than standard shelving where items can get lost at the back).

They don’t take a big chunk out of your kitchen space like a specially-built walk in kitchen pantry would. Instead they are cleverly concealed behind tall cabinet doors that fit it aesthetically with the rest of your kitchen cabinets. In fact, it’s often difficult to tell the kitchen pantry from other cabinet doors.

Cons of a built-in kitchen pantry

The storage space is limited to mainly foodstuffs. In other words, it can be difficult to find room to store appliances, such as a food mixer too.

As you would expect, due to their size and complexity to build, they are more expensive to buy and fit than standard kitchen cabinets with double shelving.

Kitchen pantry: walk-in

You might think you want a walk-in pantry because of all that perceived additional storage space. And that’s true – they can have a lot more acreage in terms of available shelving and floor space. But in order to make use of the extra room you have to be organised.

Cons of a walk-in kitchen pantry

There’s no point having deep shelving, for instance, because you’ll only ever store tins you use most at the front and all those at the back will get lost in the midst of time – or at least, until past storage date and they have to be chucked out. Deep drawers are a better option. Alternatively, large baskets can also work (but take up more space than drawers).

A kitchen pantry that’s so big you can walk into it may also make it difficult to find specific items when you’re in a hurry ie during a dinner party. Not only that but it can be a pain walking between the pantry and cooker or prep area when you’re cooking. may be so far away that

A walk-in pantry that’s big, means a whole lot more area to clean.

Pros of a walk-in kitchen pantry

You’re always going to have so much more storage with a whole separate room in which to store your food, pots, cook books etc.

You’ve so much space that you can categorise and store items separately ie breakfast foods, dinner items, tins etc.

Kitchen worktops remain uncluttered because your walk-in pantry is so large there’s even space to store your coffee machine, toaster, smoothie blender and microwave in there.

Storage secrets

Regardless of which type of kitchen pantry you opt for, the best way to secure excellent storage space is to use ‘components’ such as roll out drawers (which allow you to see everything at a glance) and shelving for herbs and other small condiments inside cabinet doors.

Get in touch with our kitchen experts!

If you’re thinking of having a kitchen refurb and changing your cabinets – or even just replacing your kitchen cabinet doors – then do get in touch with the team here at Kitchenware Ltd. We would be happy to talk through our range of kitchen cabinets and other accessories – all of which are designed to improve storage and efficiency in your new kitchen. Call us on 01765 640 000 or email via our websiteKitchenwarehouseltd.com.