Kitchen Interiors are most important part of interior designing your home and Pantries are of that corners of the home, which makes storage much organized, and saves a lot of time while preparing your meals, each kitchen needs a pantry, though the new built-in cabinetry and also the convenience of local supermarkets make pantries has made them look unnecessary in the modern kitchen.
But if one can afford to build a pantry, it has a lot to offer. Let’s learn a little about Walk-in pantries, Kitchen pantries are categorised into two types,
The first ones are walk-in pantries, this is most commonly used and built nowadays. It’s a designated place near or slightly far from the kitchen which can be used for storing grains, spices, kitchen needs, bakery needs, utensils and almost everything relevant to kitchen and cooking/baking.
The second type is a built-in pantry, this is within the kitchen either a cupboard sized storage space or cabinets under the shelves or slaps designed in a manner to hold maximum stuff related to the kitchen while choosing this the user can mention the dimensions according to the need. As the available space is less and it has to be multifunctional.
Depth of Pantry
To makes things most accessible, the usual standard depth of most shelves is 16 to 20 inches deep. The maximum height of the shelf should be lower than12 inches deep.
Minimum recommended a width of aisle is 44″, this means that a walk-in pantry with enough storage on one side should be minimum of 60″ and the one having storage on both sides should be 76″ wider.
Add value to a home with Walk-in Pantry
Stay on a Budget to build an pantry, you absolutely do not need compromise on budget this corner of home is completely adjustable to make it according to your needs, space available, and money you would want to spend on it: Small fancy pantry can be set up in any free corner you are not planning to use for any other purpose, and the high-end pantries can be ones providing more accessibility to the storage, for a long time, equipped with lightening, different size shelves, and proper ventilation.
While size alone does not matter, it’s about simplicity; the way you organize on and the right location is way more worth focusing. A small sized but wisely-designed pantry provides better storage and is more convenient and functional than a poorly designed large pantry.
Certainly while designing a pantry main focus has to be given on considering how it is going to offer Visibility, Convenience, and accessibility.
Visibility or viewable, the purpose is to make things easy to organize and access, so visibility is the first thing to be considered as everything stored in pantry should be easily visible, else there is no point of stacking up a lot of stuff which can stay in home un-noticed, it will be a waste of resource.
On the basis of Convenience, the location of the pantry, the distance from the kitchen or dining area can make it more or less convenient. It can be close or far depending upon what you plan to store, how frequently you are going to need the access of your pantry.
Accessibility, it’s always best to take out your requirements and leave other things stored in the same way, without disturbing the arrangements.
Few helpful tips for Storage
To make it easy to use, you can follow these tips before planning a pantry
You can store every item where it is first used.
Also, consider the size storage of the things which are being stored.
Provide maximum visibility, store items in a clear way with nothing hidden behind or under one another.
These few points can be considered for any storage but they are most important for pantry storages.
As you have to consider the shelf life of food items you are going to consume, and how they are stored should be planned wisely.
You can make your pantry either as whole big space giving storage space to all common needs, or to make t even more organized divide it into the sections, like one corner only for grains, another corner for pulses, species, and completely spate corners for baking needs.
No space should go waste, as many food items that can be stored in tiny jars, can be stored in small leftover corners, and plan it accordingly. If possible shelves can be made adjustable so you can adjust the height of storage according to different storage needs.
Commonly pantries can be configured in three ways, reach-in, swing/pull-out, and walk-in. Following advantages and drawbacks are to be considered,
The most convenient type is reach-in pantry but the pull-out pantry is best for small kitchens with no wall space to spare.
Walk-in pantry allows maximum storage, but as it is generally removed from centers of kitchen activity, it is best used as a remote, second pantry.
Walk-In Pantries Pros and Cons
Advantages are of course they have more storage capacity and top have more storage capacity is our basic and important requirement,
These walk-in pantries are most convenient and friendly for the home chef or home-based bakery setups, it’s a must. They are best when the sheer volume of storage is most needed with maximum space. Compiled with multiple spaces of floor-to-ceiling shelves, they’re large enough to store a couple of ingredients, Crockery, utensils, cookbooks, snacks, medium to large cooking appliances and more.
The biggest and only disadvantage of the Walk-in pantry is, storage is more spread out and needs a lot of space which every home and specifically apartment cannot afford to have.
Having Bigger is always better, doesn’t work always, especially when you are in need of quick dinner preparation. You may need to spend some extra minutes gathering all that you need to form walkthrough pantries without forgetting single ingredients you are going to need for the preparations. At times its troublesome remembering the location of certain food items. These days homeowners prefer the convenience of having ingredients on hand in their kitchen.