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How do I Choose the Best Pantry Plan?

Jessica Ellis
Jessica Ellis
Jessica Ellis
Jessica Ellis

Planning a custom pantry is a thing most cooks and bakers dream about. Being able to organize shelving and storage to suit the tastes of the chef can save an incredible amount of time and effort otherwise spent groping through dark cupboards. Choosing the best pantry plan will depend on available space, budget, and personal needs. Understanding some of the basic pantry plan ideas can help narrow down a wide field of exciting choices.

A closet pantry is an excellent pantry plan for those with a small, usable room. Having a whole closet devoted to pantry items helps keep the kitchen organized by providing lots of storage. Creating a pantry plan for a closet may be as simple as installing shelves and lighting for easy use. If the pantry has a tightly sealed door, some people may even install heating and cooling elements to help control the room's temperature for specific purposes.

Woman baking cookies
Woman baking cookies

While some closet pantries may be easy to walk into, others are fairly narrow and present much less usable space. Some pantry plan ideas suggest giving up on the narrow sides of a small pantry closet and instead installing lots of shelving along the back, or widest wall. This can allow a person to open the door of the pantry and be confronted with all the supplies of baking and cooking, rather than having to squeeze into a tiny room to find things hidden on side shelving. A pantry plan with full-wall shelving essentially turns a room into one giant, easy to access, cabinet.

If no pantry room is present in a design, some custom cabinetry can easily create a pantry plan that will fit in with existing structures. If a kitchen features two cabinets that sit at corners with one another, consider replacing the two separate structures with a corner lazy Susan cabinet. This type of cabinet features rotating shelves that can be turned to show the contents. For those with minimal space, this type of pantry plan can provide adequate space for pantry supplies without overtaking the entire room.

Remember when choosing a pantry plan that will include the use of many shelves that bargains can be found outside of the kitchen equipment realm. Storage shelves, baskets, and other excellent pantry furnishings can easily be found secondhand or at furniture stores in the home storage area. While custom kitchen furnishings can be beautiful, using basic metal or plastic shelving units can allow easy cleaning and design changes, and may be a far less expensive option.

Jessica Ellis
Jessica Ellis

With a B.A. in theater from UCLA and a graduate degree in screenwriting from the American Film Institute, Jessica is passionate about drama and film. She has many other interests, and enjoys learning and writing about a wide range of topics in her role as a WiseGEEK writer.

Learn more...
Jessica Ellis
Jessica Ellis

With a B.A. in theater from UCLA and a graduate degree in screenwriting from the American Film Institute, Jessica is passionate about drama and film. She has many other interests, and enjoys learning and writing about a wide range of topics in her role as a WiseGEEK writer.

Learn more...

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      Woman baking cookies