Kitchen Pantry

A kitchen pantry is one of the best gifts you can give yourself while redesigning your new kitchen. Believe me, there is nothing like being able to walk into your pantry and start selecting the ingredients you need for a spur-of-the-moment dinner party or for the Sunday morning breakfast that you are making for the surprise guests that just walked in the door.

One of the major problems in any kitchen is storage. While working on your kitchen interior design, make room for a large kitchen pantry, even if it is in another room. You will thank yourself for making the room, and I do mean room. If you can only afford the space of an old broom closet, then use it wisely with a modular shelf arrangement that you can change at will. But if you can design a walk-in pantry, you will love having the space and having the supplies at hand. Consider tip out floor level bins for your major ingredients - flour, sugar, rice, etc. You can buy in bulk and save a ton of money.

One word of caution however, flour may contain 'things' that will progress to little weevils if the flour is kept for a long time. As far as other storage, consider see-through bins so you can see exactly what is in each container. The new silver impregnated clip-top containers are a true saver of food stuffs as they do make an air tight seal. Use these for pasta of all kinds as well as beans, lentils and cereals.

Have shelves made so that you can stack like canned goods more than one can high. Do not forget to have some shelves made with enough height for your taller bottles of oils and vinegars. The shelving needs to be heavy and relatively shallow in depth for the can goods. Make sure that there is plenty of light so you can easily see what you have stored in your pantry.

If there is enough room, have a vertical storage area for tall platters and over-sized cookie sheets as well. You can store extra dishes and very large pans if need be. A kitchen pantry is one of the best uses of space you can design into your newly remodeled kitchen.