To ask kitchen pantry-havers if they are really that great?

[LuckyBea]

A very first world problem, I know. But AIBU to wonder if pantries are really the holy grail? They seem to be the trendy new thing to have in your wannabe Instagram-worthy kitchen.

We are considering having one. The interior designer says to go for it. But are they really a pain in the behind? After all, you have to open a door and walk into another little room and then walk out and close the door again every time you want to grab an item (relevant - I am a lazy cow)... OR leave the door open, which is more convenient, but means your millions of food items, cereal boxes, tins of beans etc are permanently on display, which isn't very aesthetic after all?

Also, the potential pantry would use up some space from the utility room. It wouldn't be the end of the world, but it's still a consideration.

Alternatively... in a previous house, we had one of those pantry cupboards, with the double doors and the internal countertop and sockets, and it was great. Would I be mad to just opt for one of those, when I could have a 'full' pantry?

interested in all opinions, but especially those of you who have lived with a pantry and are, like me, a lazy cow lover of convenience...

YABU - put in a full pantry, they ARE the holy grail
YANBU - don't do it... get a pantry cupboard (and max out your utility room)

We have a pantry cupboard and I love it. My holy grail is one of the 30s/40s ones with the pull out metal work surface for rolling out pastry, flour hopper with sifter and all the pull-out storage drawers. Love them!

If it’s a choice between a utility room where you have space to leave an ironing board up (obvs get a built in one like a Murphy bed), miles of work surface to dump/fold washing plus have space for muddy boat cleaning, cat bowls etc OR a full sized pantry, I’d go for the ironing utility room with a double sized pantry cupboard.

I do like those cupboard door things people seem to be doing to hide all the kitchen gadgets. Looks the same as the other cupboards but it’s pocket doors and reveals your fabulous stand mixer/bean to cup machine. Would that be an option? I’m all for spaces designed for very specific things.

We live in a house that had one when built and it still has the original cold slab. It would have been such an upheaval to remove it so it’s still here!

Love ours. We had one in the last house and we'll have one in the renovation. I wouldn't be without it. You can use them in different ways. When my brother lived here he kept big pans in it but we use it for all the food and drinks. We put vent bricks and slate shelves.in our last one because we didn't have a fridge. It was really cool in there. Salads and veg would last for ages and ages.

We have a nuclear bomb shelter in our house - we’ve turned it into a walk in pantry with extra freezer and fridge. It’s so useful, and love being able to do a monthly big shop of essentials. Definitely makes life easier

Still miss ours from a previous house. Food and drinks storage and it housed an extra freezer, not for food prep.

This is ours - I couldn’t be arsed to tidy it for the pic.

For those floor to ceiling ones, how do you reach the top shelves?!

I think that's what would have been called a scullery

Love ours. So brilliant and I feel like I’m playing shop every time. Go for it OP!!

On tiptoe. I can reach ours and I’m 5ft 2in.

I live in a modern house so don't have one but had one as a child in an old house. I guess they were used to keep things cool before fridges. The open window is really small but it does stay very cool.

I don't have one but would love one. We had a small pantry/larder under the stairs when I was small so it might be nostalgia. But we have a larder cupboard in this house, about the same size as a fridge freezer and everyone I open it up I wish it was a proper pantry! All the cupboard foods organised in one place.

I wish I had a pantry off the kitchen. A large one with shelves to put large things like pressure cooker, stock pots, roasters, blenders mixers etc etc.

Our understair cupboard opens into the kitchen so we use that for a storage & pantry area - saves loads of space in the kitchen cupboards for things that take up space & have long shelf lives (bottles, squash, pasta, rice, tins) as well as appliances we don't use that often.
There are also spare paint tins, a couple of musical instruments and all sorts of other bits in there too!!!

Our so called pantry is a wall of cabinets, but it is full up.

We live in an old house and have a larder/pantry. It's stays cold due to vents etc so can store various foods in there. I really wouldn't want to be without one in some form or another.

I had exactly this dilemma OP

I could have had the walk in pantry. It wouldn’t have been big enough to be a dumping ground/second kitchen. Only big enough for storage and maybe a microwave.

I went for the larder cupboard option and haven’t regretted it at all.

My reasons

• the door issue, as you describe
• similarly, distance: food items would be a lot more steps away from the cooking area in a pantry vs larder cupboard
• larder cupboard freed up more space for the utility room which backs onto the kitchen
• drawers under counter level are far, far more convenient for food storage than floor to ceiling shelves, especially if you are short. I am short.
• I know I would knock stuff off shallow shelves and/or forget about any items hidden behind others. Another 2 reasons why drawers work better

However: you want your pantry cupboard to have drawers underneath, doors on top. Lots of them seem to have full height doors and then concealed drawers inside. This is a pain as you have to open both doors to open a drawer.

I would maybe combine the utility room and pantry. My SIL lives in a rather fancy house, you walk into the utility from the garage. The laundry machines are there plus a wall of cupboards opposite with plenty of counter space for appliances not used very often. All of her 'pantry' items are behind cupboard doors, so no mess.

Another friend has a walk in pantry, but yes, opening and closing the door every time you need an onion is a bit of a pain.

They are associated with older houses

Yes, is your utility off the kitchen, @LuckyBea? We combined our utility and small pantry into one.

It has a worktop with a butler's sink and a Quooker tap, an extra oven, a freezer, a wine fridge, the washer and tumble dryer, cupboards for cleaning supplies and the hoover and the ironing board, and then shelves for food storage. It's all built behind cupboards so can look nice and neat just by closing doors. We also keep the coffee maker and microwave in there, and did a sliding door into the kitchen so we don't have a door sticking out when it's open.

I could live without it, but it would be hard to give up!

My mum has a larder in our old house, with a marble shelf. Our neighbour growing up had a walk in under stairs one with a secret door to the kitchen. Bloody loved it. She kept hula hoops in there in big boxes.

I love a pantry. I think most got ripped out during that phase where people kept modernising big old houses and insisted on 'opening them up' by removing 40 to 60 percent of the downstairs walls.

They're great storage but also they do becomes dumping ground. People coming over? Throw anything big or unsightly in the pantry. Dh/dc hobbies out of control? Ok you can do that but only in the pantry. And so on until it's housing some chrysalis that may or may not hatch in a clear tank, a home brewing fermentation kit and all the bottles and funnels gurgling away to itself, loads of random pens and non kitchen items, tools loads and loads of tools.

Yes, the utility and kitchen will be connected, and you make a good point. We are putting in a fully fitted utility with cupboards, worktop, extra large sink etc; almost like a second kitchen. Maybe that makes the need for pantry storage redundant anyway. Especially combined with a decent sized kitchen and larder cupboard, potentially. That is food for thought.

I sort of suspect our interior designers automatically suggest a pantry wherever possible because they assume its the most "luxury" thing to do, and not necessarily because it will add functionality.

We had 2 where I grew up. 1 by the kitchen and 1 in a basement. Basement for produce and preserves, one by kitchen for all else. If you bulk buy and bave bigger equipment it's perfect.
I miss them. I find it always bjt odd how absolute basic thing is now considered luxury. Even shere I grew up it's not common in newer builds anymore. Shame

All homes here have them (I live in Florida). I can’t imagine what you’d do without one. Where would you put your dry goods (flour, rice, etc) if you don’t have a pantry? Where else would it go? I don’t know what you mean by “walking to a separate room”. Walk-in pantries are a door inside the kitchen, like a room within a room. You don’t leave the kitchen to get to one. I keep the door closed when not in use but I’m particular about keeping doors closed because I think the house looks untidy with doors open.