I had a pantry closet built by Closet Factory, with five 30x26 inch pullouts (they call them boxes), and with loads of other shelves. Total came to about $1,500, which seems like a fortune to me, but now that I've lived them for 6 months, they were worth every penny. I just love them. I think yours would cost a lot less. Mine was part of a larger closet system.

I found that the saleswoman I dealt with had lots of good ideas so I think it's certainly worth giving them a call and have them come out to give you an estimate.

You could try http://www.slidingshelf.com/index.asp I was looking at getting them when I was deciding on cabinets, but I ended up having the cabinet company I used (Scherrs) make the slideouts for me.

Another online source that does custom sizes (but you or your handyman install):

ShelvesThatSlide.com

don't skimp on the *number* of shelves you get. Remember that since you can pull the shelf out, you don't need any headroom for reaching over.

I suggest laying the canned goods on their sides, so it's easy to see the label, and spacing the shelves so that the cans *just barely* clear the shelf above.

another thought:

There's abracket you can buy that lets you combine drawer slides with adjustable shelf standards, so you can move the drawers up or down by 1/2-inch intervals, without a screwdriver.

Were I installing, this is what I'd want.

Ask one of those custom places if they'd use the Accuride slides that work w/ those brackets.

If you are a member of Costco they have custom pull out shelves you can order online. Seems like a great price. I am going to order them for my bathroom vanity and then for the kitchen when it is finally installed for a few cabs where we couldn't get drawers like under the sink.

I'm trying to picture how pull out shelves will be usable in upper cabinets. The pull outs are like shallow drawers but inside the cabinets, right? If it is above eye level, you still can't see all contents.

I'm more a visual person... if I don't see it, I'll forget about it. I will have 24" and 27" deep pantry in my new kitchen. I've seen pantries that are 12 in or less wide that when you pull out the door, all shelves are revealed and you have to look at it from the side to get to the contents (picture filler spice cabinets that go next to your cooktop, except from floor to ceiling and wider). That's what I thought I wanted.

However, my cabinet maker has a pretty good solution (I think). He will put 12" deep shelves in the pantry that will be movable and movable shelves (wire baskets?) on the doors. The shelves below eye level (or waist level) will be pullouts and the upper ones will be shelves. I like it because everything is adjustable.

I think the hardware that he showed me is the one like the link that Talley_sue provided. Although I heard the supplier Rockler tends to run more expensive.

Our cabinets are being made right now and won't be in our kitchen until May (fingers crossed) or else I would post a picture. Anyway, this is a long winded way of saying maybe you might want to consider doing half shelves and movable shelves on the door. And if it is "cavernous", maybe you can put in a small light inside the cabinet.

HTH

Wow, so many great suggestions!

I'm thinking perhaps pull out shelves but only up to the point that I can see into them. (love the idea of laying cans on their sides).

Above those shelves? Well I can see I have a lot of options to explore.

Thanks once again!

I have seen wooden pull out shelves a bit like the ones pictured, but they have a wooden dowel handle across the front to make the pulling easier and keep stuff from sliding around. They were from somewhere very fancy, like Chalon or something.

I'm not having any, but I thought that would be a nice feature for lower shelves, so there's less bending.

If you can pull an upper shelf out, you can reach into it from the sides. This means you can actually *use* the back of that cabinet. Because you only have to reach as high up as the edge of the shelf.

My vote for upper shelves: shelves spaced much more widely, and big, light things.

You know--potato chips, jumbo cereal boxes, cracker boxes, extra paper towels, extra paper napkins.

In fact, I would HAVE to have pullouts on the upper shelves.

re: the dowel handle to keep stuff from sliding: many of the companies we linked to have several styles (many of them basically drawer boxes), and ALL the shelves have a lip of *some* size.

Good point, talley sue.

It sounds as though you've given kitchen storage lots of thought! C'mon over!