If you have a walk in pantry

[WellTidy]

Would you be willing to lose it? We have a walk in pantry in the corner of our kitchen. It’s about eight feet by five feet. It was there when we moved in, there are sleeves all down one wall, a massive 6 foot freezer and an under counter freezer on another wall, four big recycling crates stacked on another wall, and the door is in the last wall.

Our kitchen desperately needs replacing. To accommodate a table that seats six on chairs ie no bench style seating, all the kitchen planners are telling us to lose the pantry. They all incorporate pantry style storage in the fitted units they plan, but not a walk in pantry.

There is absolutely masses in our pantry all year round. All of the non-fridged food is in there but for bread products, the fruit bowl and tea/coffee/hot chocolate. At Christmas you can barely move in there. It really earns its keep. I also keep things in there that we don’t use regularly like the big popcorn maker, chocolate fondue etc. And all of the recycling is in there which means that I only have to empty into the outside recycling once every two weeks when it’s bin day.

I am toying between thinking that I would be mad to lose it when it works so very hard for us, and I really value it; and on the other hand thinking that if I’d never had it, I would keep my food and drinks etc in the ku he cupboards like everyone else, and that is what the new kitchen would offer, with nice pantry style cupboards.

Don’t lose it.

I'd definitely keep it .

No I wouldn’t. Ours is very small. It’s step into rather than walk and only about 1.3m wide. But it holds recycling, potatoes in sacks, hide’s microwave and soda stream thing. Plus all pans and dry goods. Things like dehydrator on too shelf. If we got rid of it our kitchen would be far messier

Is there an option of having a small one?

Yes and I love it. It's very small, but I couldn't do without it.

Sounds very much like ours.

I wouldn't be without mine.

I wouldn't be without mine!

I think you'd really miss it!

I love my pantry, it’s one of the reasons I bought this house!
The kitchen desperately needs a revamp but I’ll be keeping the pantry.

Don't get rid of it. It is priceless for storage.

I kept ours. Even though the heating pipes running underneath it are potentially an issue for some food storage, it's invaluable for everything else. And I may have a suspicious mind, but I'd be wondering if the kitchen planner just wanted to sell me more units and installation work.

I have a pantry. In fact we're putting shelving in this weekend. There are lower level cupboards for all our tins etc and the worktop we use for all my gadgets/microwave etc

As soon as I get the opportunity I'm putting one in. It would take so many full height cupboards to replicate the same amount of space. Can you post a kitchen diagram with dimensions to see if anyone can come with a possibly solution?

A pantry is great but I wouldn't prioritise space for two weeks worth of rubbish and barely used appliances over somewhere for everyone to sit and eat.
Could you make it smaller, so you can still use it for food, drinks and appliances, incorporate a your freezer into the kitchen design and take the recycling straight outside?

Don’t get rid! We’ve just done our kitchen and out in a corner walk in pantry, it is the best thing for using corner space and I love it. Our freezer and appliances are elsewhere but so good to have everything visible and accessible.

I absolutely love ours and wouldn't get rid of it.

What's wrong with bench style seating anyway?

all the kitchen planners are telling us to lose the pantry
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In the words of Mandy Rice- Davies - well, they would wouldn't they.

Scrapping a pantry so you have to buy a shed load of expensive pantry cupboards is probably on page one of the kitchen sellers' designers' handbook. Make them work harder for the kitchen you want.

I knew you’d all say this. I would definitely miss it! I will revisit the whole design. I am absolutely willing to have a smaller pantry as I think I could be more clever with the depths of the shelves, and therefore have more or the same amounts of storage in a smaller, better designed space.

Nothing at all wrong with bench style seating, but I don’t want to have it, I’d much prefer to be able to have a table with six chairs.

I had one (that I loved!) and moved last year to a house without, although the kitchen is bigger, so a few more cupboards.

I was worried I’d miss it but I have realised that it just encouraged me to bulk buy and hoard crap! I’m much happier with the extra space in my kitchen.

do you still have a dinning room ?

I'd keep it. We had one in the last house, there wasn't one here.
It was such a dmaned nuisance not having one (despite having a fairly large kitchen) that we ended up builing a small one in the dining room side of the kitchen diner as there was no other suitable place.

Quite. A pantry, even a small one, provides space for a lot of things that simply don't fit well in cupboards. (Turkey foil, flour barrels, etc.) You can arrange the shelves as you want them. And as a pantry is floor-to-ceiling, not plinth-to-dust-collecting-cupboard-top, you get a lot more storage for the footprint it takes up.

Absolutely not!