The Finished Pantry! (Chris Loves Julia)

The pantry is complete and I’m sharing a bunch of photos today! We actually finished it a couple weeks ago, and it has been a dream to have and use. It signifies the completion of a year of hard work and transformation in our home, but specifically this corner of the home. The best way I can show you is through this before and after floor plan (substitute “current” with “previous”; we drew up these plans before the hammer swung):

After gutting a 4th bathroom and turning it into our laundry room with a coat closet and completely renovating our kitchen, the last project was this pantry. And it’s emotional being done. It really is. The layout of this home makes so much more sense to us now and it feels more usable, too. So here’s visual evidence of what was where the new walk in pantry is now:

Obviously I don’t have a straight on view because there wasn’t a doorway into the pantry/old laundry room from the kitchen at the time. But the photo below was taken during the demo phase of the kitchen and you can see the new doorway to the pantry on the left side.

When we were designing the pantry, I just wanted it to be simple and practical, really. A friend asked if we would tile the whole thing, and as dreamy as that sounds (so dreamy!)–there’s no sink in here so what would be the point? We had a $1000 budget from Lowe’s for this project, and we came in a few hundred dollars under budget (woot!) after paint, baseboards, MDF to frame in the freezer, white melamine shelves, brackets, support boards, food canisters and the wood crates.

After a lot of measuring and researching, we determined to store a variety of foods and supplies most efficiently, the best depths and heights of the shelves would look like this:

We supported the shelves with small support boards all the way under them (I painted to match the walls–Valspar’s Soft Wool) and the white brackets provided extra support to where the two shelves met in the corner. Once everything was painted out and loaded up, we had ourselves a real live pantry.

We went back and forth on whether we were going to match the above the freezer cabinet in here to the kitchen cabinets (Ikea Laxarby) or to the laundry room cabinets (Ikea Bodbyn). In the end, it felt more balanced to go with the off-white cabinet and match the color scheme in here similar to that of the laundry room since both rooms are directly off of the kitchen and, generally, simultaneously visible.

A big chunk of our budget went to those Cuisinart food storage containers with black air-tight lids we picked up from Lowe’s. We love them so much–we are ready to get some more so everything can match (not just the main wall when you walk in–haha). It’s been so great to easily see all the dry goods we have in stock. No more buying double quinoa or more cereal because we weren’t quite sure how much was in the box before heading to the store.

The bottom shelves we lined with wood crates from Lowe’s. We designated them for chips, squash and onions, potatoes, breads/tortillas, and packets (oatmeal, protein bars, cocoa, etc.). I used a white paint pen to quickly label each chalkboard and it has been such a simple solution to chaos that tends to exist in a pantry.

We had to leave the wall by the freezer pretty bare so that it could open, but also our circuit box is right there so it worked out. We were able to squeeze in some hooks for a broom and mop–handy! As a finishing touch, I hung a photo of a very young Greta cooking on the wall as you enter. Her smile is contagious and reflective of what we really hope this space is in the coming years–a place for all of us to cook and laugh and make some really great food.

We close the pocket door when we leave and at night so Charly doesn’t get too curious, but most of the time it is open for easy access from the kitchen to the freezer and dry staples.

That’s a wrap on project pantry! If you’ve missed a step of this colossal renovation cluster along the way, you’ll definitely want to check out the before and after of the laundry room, coat closet, and kitchen, too!

Julia Marcum

The Finished Pantry!