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)

Am I the only one who read the title ad "kitchen party givers"!

We've had a pantry for the last 25 years (it came with the house), really nice with a window and a cool stone shelf at one end. We use it for deepfreeze, all unopened food (there's a fridge and a cupboard in the kitchen for food that has been opened), cleaning stuff, recycling, and noisy things like the microwave, and things we want to get off the work surface, like the toaster and bread machine.. (Yes it's a big pantry)

Having opened food in the kitchen means I'm not walking back and forth for a tablespoon of flour for a roux, or a dash of soy sauce. Having open shelves in the pantry makes putting groceries away is a lot quicker.

It's really nice to have a quieter kitchen, and more workspace in the kitchen where I need it, and also to have a well-stocked food store.

Though I suspect if I didn't have space elsewhere for laundry, it would become a utility room.

We had an old pine cupboard 3ft wide by 6ft6 high, that we painted to match our last kitchen and shelved it out with spice racks on the doors and spaces for different things. It took so much food and freed up the rest of the kitchen. To unpack shopping or get cooking ingredients out you only have to go to the pantry and the fridge.

This house has a modern kitchen but we’re just about to take delivery of a matching tall double cupboard so we can fit it out the same way.

I love mine. It's from DIY-Kitchens. It's been installed since June, and I've rearranged it three times so far, with a fourth change pending.

It's not really tge same aa walking into a room. You have to open a cupboard door to get something out, and it's no more than one step forward

But it swallow up an enormous amount.

We have a walk in one, no door. I love the look of everything on show, but we also keep it tidy! I'd never had one until we bought this house (the previous owners had a beaded curtain over it 🤢), but I really love it and lots of people have commented on the nostalgia of it too.

We have a walk in pantry- it’s an interesting solution to a structural engineering nightmare in our case and used to be a corridor. It has ikea shelving and is really great. Could do with a bit of a tidy though.

I’m not sure I would have one if the space had a better use and in an old house we had a floor to ceiling food cupboard which was also excellent. Basically the bonus is having all the dry food together.