One of the great secrets of kitchen design that your grandmother, not to mention generations of butlers, knew well is that a large pantry is absolutely essential to a well-functioning kitchen. In many newer kitchens, however, the pantry has been left out or squeezed into a small, vertical cabinet space with lots of pullout racks. Bad idea.
A dedicated and, preferably, walk-in sized pantry area is dollar-for-dollar and cubic-foot-for-cubic-foot, a far more cost effective and efficient way to store all of your bulk food items, dry goods, excess canned food and seldom-used cook- and dish-ware than any sort of cabinet arrangement. Even a two-foot by three-foot pantry closet can replace the storage capacity 10 to 12 running feet of base cabinets, which at todays prices can run anywhere from $2500 to $8500 installed. And a pantry will provide that storage in a much more accessible and well-organized fashion.
There is a very good reason that the butler’s pantry was a fixture of every great house and no self-respecting professional cook would be without one. But you don’t need to live in a manor house or employ a domestic staff to avail yourself of this particular essential. If you are remodeling your kitchen, simply trade some of that expensive cabinet space for a more efficient, less costly pantry. You may lose some counter space in the process, but as the kitchen pantry above demonstrates, there is no reason you can’t relocate some of those counter-cluttering appliances, storage canisters and knick-knacks to a shelf in your pantry.
PHOTOS: Kitchens for the Rest of Us, The Taunton Press
In the home kitchen of a chef and restaurant owner, left, the well-stocked pantry is just steps from the prep area and a large professional refrigerator. In this California kitchen, right, a small under-used hall was transformed into a large pantry.
PHOTOS: Kitchens for the Rest of Us, The Taunton Press
This not-very-big Houston kitchen, has two pantries, each of which includes a small counter with electrical outlets for appliances that otherwise would hog precious (and expensive) counter space.
Why give up all that precious counter area for your coffee pot, for example, which sits unused for 23 1/2 hours a day. This arrangement will leave your counters open for preparation and presentation, which is really what you need them for. Or you can simply repurpose some auxiliary open space. In one kitchen, above, a secondary, seldom-used hallway from the kitchen to the front door was converted into a spacious, walk-in pantry with no effect whatsoever on the ease of movement around the house.
There is simply no good reason not to create a pantry somewhere in your next new kitchen. It will save you money and add efficiency. And besides, if you do, you know it will make your grandmother very happy.
PHOTOS: “Kitchens for the Rest of Us”, The Taunton Press
In the home kitchen of a chef and restaurant owner, left, the well-stocked pantry is just steps from the prep area and a large professional refrigerator. In this California kitchen, right, a small under-used hall was transformed into a large pantry.
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