My grandmother’s house had a pantry. I remember it as a small cool room with shelving and counter space where she kept the shortbread. None of the houses I lived in while growing up had pantries though – it seems they were phased out in favor of using the space for something else. Now we’re seeing a return of the pantry in various forms: large deep pantry cupboards; walk-in corner pantries; even separate rooms with cabinets, drawers, and counter space.

In our last house, we had a pantry cupboard, and this was great for storing everything from canned goods to flour and dog food; the problem was that things tended to get lost at the back, and getting to them involved moving everything in front. In designing our new home, we knew we wanted to include a walk-in pantry of some sort, preferably a corner pantry, with lots of shelving that wasn’t so deep. Designing a pantry of this sort solves other problems as well. It:

• avoids the problem of the awkward corner cabinet, usually wasted space
• provides maximum cupboard space in a small kitchen
• provides a place to keep things like potatoes, bags of flour, and dog food with easy access
• can hide some of the clutter and mess of a busy kitchen when company comes
• can be a place to put small appliances away
• creates a perfect place out of sight for cookbooks

I wanted some counter space in my pantry for my electric mixer, with space underneath for larger items like a bag of potatoes, a basket of onions, and a bin of dog food.

Working out the best dimensions for the walk-in pantry took some thought. We found that examples we looked at in show homes were four feet wide along each of the back walls and as deep as the counter with the door in the front diagonal wall. That would have been a little cramped for anyone standing at the counter in the pantry, so we made our counter four feet long, with the other wall five feet long. This allowed shelving 11 inches deep above and opposite the counter, and 9 inch shelving along the back wall above shoulder height. The space under the shelving on the back wall proved to be a good spot for a bulletin board for a grocery list, clipped recipes etc.

Another nice touch was having the light switch located in the door frame, so the light comes on when you open the door, and goes off when you close it. (Don’t do this if you think you might want to go into the pantry and work inside with the door closed.)

Our corner walk-in pantry proves that a pantry needn’t use up space that could be better used for something else. Rather, it makes optimal and very convenient use of space that might otherwise be wasted.