These days, walk-in pantries have become a non-negotiable addition to the home. These pantries have grown a lot more popular than cabinet pantries in recent years. Today, almost every modern kitchen has a room exclusively dedicated to the storage of cereals and dry foodstuff.
In old homes, pantries were built to be tucked away behind the kitchen. Their sole purpose was to store dry grains while being out of sight, so no one ever paid any special attention to these rooms. However, in recent times, homeowners have begun to take great pride in designing and showing off their pantries.
A modern pantry ensures that the kitchen remains uncluttered as the pantry provides centralized storage for all food items. A walk-in pantry ensures all ingredients stay in a separate room than the kitchen, keeping the space in the kitchen clutter-free at all times. This creates some additional space for you to store your kitchenware. It also provides additional counter space. The benefits of this cannot be underestimated.
One of the most interesting things about pantries is that they’re pretty easy to add to the layout of a house. If you’re living in a home without a walk-in pantry, it’s pretty easy to add one to your home’s design. All you need to do is take proper measurements and make sure you stick to these measurements while building your pantry. This begs the question, what are pantry dimensions?
What are Walk-In Pantry Dimensions?
For a pantry to be considered a walk-in, you must leave sufficient clear space in-between the storage areas and the shelves so that anyone can go in and out of the space without much stress. If you want your pantry to have enough space for one person at a time, then measure the unobstructed walkway to be 36 inches; however, if you want the space to take up to two people at the same time, then measure it to be 42-48 inches.
The dimensions you measure out for your pantry should be determined by how many people you think would be using the kitchen at the same time. For instance, if you’re building a house that’s going to be occupied by just one person, then you could use the 36 inches measurement for the pantry; however, if there’s a chance there would be more people, use the larger dimensions. Wheelchair users require a pantry that has a space of at least 60 inches to guarantee their access.
The depth of pantry shelves ideally measures 14 -16 inches. Any shelve that extends deeper than this makes it difficult for anyone to pick up items at the back of the shelves. For a shelf to measure 14-16 inches, the depth or width of the pantry has to be anywhere from 64-74 inches. This is necessary if you are going to be installing shelves on the opposite sides of the pantry walls. Wheelchair users will need a pantry depth of 88 inches.
It is advised that you place the shelves closer to eye level so that all items on the shelves are easier to see and reach. If, for any reason, your shelves are out of eye level, and then make sure that they don’t go any deeper than 14 inches.
If there are shelves that are even higher than this, then measure them to be 12 inches and 10 inches respectfully, never measure shelves to measure less than 10 inches, except the shelves are dedicated solely to the storage of small items such as spices, cans, and other tiny bottles. In such cases, the shelves may be 6-inches deep.
When you are building pantry shelves, ensure that you keep the vertical spaces between two shelves as small as you possibly can. On the other hand, if you are building shelves to hold big objects, then try to keep the shelves 16-18 inches apart from each other. Finally, if your shelves are for general storage, keep them 12-14 inches apart.
Types of Walk-in Pantries
You can find below our design and some suggested dimensions for various types of walk-in pantries, including U-shaped pantry, regular pantry, corner walk-in pantry.
Why Add a Walk-in Pantry to the Kitchen?
Walk-in pantries are valuable for the following reasons:
They make everything accessible in the kitchen.
You can arrange everything in your pantry so well that you can easily reach and pull any item of your choice without having to get any other items out of the way, and you can put items back exactly where you took them out from without having to rearrange anything in the end.
Pantries bring great convenience to the kitchen
Most pantries are located inside the kitchen or at least very close to the kitchen. This means you can enjoy the double benefit of having a kitchen that’s not often cluttered with foodstuff and unnecessary cookware while also having your foodstuff and cookware an arm’s length away.
Pantries are Aesthetically Pleasing
Compared to other rooms, pantries are such tiny areas of the house that they’re oftentimes overlooked. Other times, people just toss stuff into their pantries until the small room gets overrun with cereals, pasta, spices, and cookware. However, when done right, pantries can be one of the most efficient, aesthetically pleasing, and user-friendly areas in the home. You must have encountered a lot of internet users showing off their perfectly arranged pantries. There’s something very aesthetically pleasing about a pantry that’s well arranged with every item in perfect symmetry.
Rules for Storing Items in a Walk-in Pantry
Following a few hard and fast rules can make your life considerably easier when it comes to using your pantry.
First, build your shelves so that they’re just deep enough to carry one row of stuff, and make them just high enough so that you can see what you’re looking for on the shelves without having to climb. Bear in mind that in the future, if you need more storage space, you can always change the heights of the shelves or adjust them in any manner you deem fit.
However, to make things a lot easier for anyone using the pantry, aim for immediate visibility. Arrange items on the shelves so that nothing needs to be moved out of the way to reach something else. Every item should be placed in one clear straight line.
