“You are going to leave your pantry wide open with no door? What are you thinking!” That’s the reaction I got from everyone on social media when I decided to leave the casing on the opening of our walk in pantry doorless.
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I’m not going to lie. Sometimes it’s hard being a creative, becuase so many people have their own opinions about how things “should be” and they like voicing those thoughts… loud and clear.
But sometimes those people are wrong… sometimes it takes an artist to think out of the box and do something un-normal… something crazy… making the end result something amazing!
Here’s a reminder of what the before space of what is now our pantry looked like in early 2018. My husband is always telling me I need to post more photos of the befores. But I hate to because they are so ugly. Haha!
We built a wall and door casing to make this weird bump out a functional space for our family. Our house has very little storage, so a big area like this was just what we needed.
Here’s a couple tips I put together while sourcing and planning my pantry:
-What ingredients do you cook with the most? Get large jars that will hold your main ingredients, small ones for things like spices.
-If you have little ones, do a “snack basket” for them with kid friendly things. That will keep them away from wanting to get into your breakable jars.
-Display your Recipe Box! It will come in handy while measuring out ingredients.
-Use crates to hide/hold bigger bulky items.
-Don’t be afraid to display some home decor. I added this “pantry” sign I made with reclaimed wood & a big pretty box to hide the small odds and ends.
I am so glad I didn’t cave into the peer pressure of putting a door on my pantry just becuase of all the people telling me, “You won’t keep it clean & you won’t be able to hide all the mess.” I knew in my head what I wanted this space to look like, and it was going to be too amazing to hide away.
I am actually not a naturally clean person- it took marrying my husband (who is very neat & tidy) to step up my game. Once I planned out what I was going to do with this space, I knew it wouldn’t actually be hard to keep up with. I was going to do jars for the dry goods, canned goods would be on the top shelves to the left, and root veggies in the vegetable crates on the floor.
I put all my spices in jars, and all the kitchen pantry stuff (like cupcake liners, plastic cups, paper plates, etc) would go in the baskets with lids. Out of sight, but easy to access.
I keep all the “less” visually pretty stuff on the left side of the pantry since it’s less more hidden. Chips, bread, and puppy treats go in the crates on the bottom shelf.
This wooden box right here holds things like cake boxes, canned goods, and just random assorted stuff that doesn’t go in jars.
I don’t blame most people for wanting a door to hide the mess. But having everything out in the open actually helps me stay on top of keeping it tidy, and is great for grocery shopping inventory.
We don’t have any upper kitchen cabinet storage now (which I LOVE ascetically!) so having a big walk in pantry is a life saver. Even though it isn’t in the same room as the kitchen (it’s just a couple steps away in the next room which acts as our mudroom), having everything in one large space makes cooking and baking prep so easy. Often times I’ll just grab my measuring cup & kitchen aid bowl, and bring them to the pantry to measure everything out.
Eventually I may store less dishes in here, but that depends on whether or not we do floating shelves in the kitchen, and how big we build the kitchen island. But for now, we have our every day plates & baking dishes on these floating shelves.
The artwork I put on the wall we built to enclose the pantry is all hand lettered by yours truly. You can find the canvas sign versions HERE.
So I guess the question everyone is wondering is if I would still keep my pantry visible and out in the open? the answer: YES! Other than having a one year old who likes to take all the potatoes an onions out of their crates (haha!) I have no regrets.
I did shuffle things around a bit in the beginning. But now everything has a place for the most part & I am so thrilled & blessed to have such an amazing pantry. It’s every baker’s dream!
If you want to see more details on how we built this pantry, go to this post HERE.
Go HERE for the three signs I used on the wall next to the pantry opening.
PRODUCTS USED TO BUILD THIS PANTRY:
PRODUCTS I USED FOR PANTRY ORGANIZATION:
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Very lovely! My plan for my pantry will be a screen door…eventually. But my tiny pantry is under the stairwell and includes ductwork – not pretty.
I love this! White ship lap paired with natural wood tones is my favorite thing.
Same! Thank you so much!
You are so talented!! My inspiration!!!
Thank you so much!
It’s beautiful and functional. I especially like how you also placed your baking dishes and mixing bowls in there to free up kitchen space. Nice job!
Thank you! I love that I have room in here o make it functional, and pretty!
Wow, that looks great! I love what you’ve done to the whole place. I’m admiring your flooring in the above pictures – did you purchase this flooring and what brand/type is it (if you don’t mind), or is this one of your projects?
Thank you! It’s Ann Arbor Oak fro Home Depot. We love it!
Absolutely lovely! Love the open concept, and so functional! We are preparing to build a new home in Tennessee…will be using some of your ideas 🙂
Hi there- love this look. I am hoping to do the same or similar for our pantry. Your link for more information about how you made the shelves takes me to “not able to preview”. Any chance you could post how you built it? Thank you.
What did you use to make the shelves? Besides the brackets? What type of wood?
Beautiful!
My cupcake liners get smashed so my solution was to put them in a pint jar. Pretty and safe!
Hi! Love the dimensions of your panty. Would you mind sharing them?
Loving this! Dream pantry for sure!! The link to the hand lettered signs leads to a “Page Not Found” – can you direct me to somewhere I can find them? Thanks for sharing this! You are an inspiration!
I just updated it for you! The signs can be found here.
Love it! Where did you get your baskets with lids?
Homegoods!