It doesn't really matter exactly who they are. They fall into the category of pantry pests. You said "anything that's not in a can or jar is in a ziploc bag." Sorry, but that's inadequate protection. All foods should be in tight containers. Something like the heavy plastic Rubbermaid or Sterilite containers, or in glass jars which have a "rubber" gasket. The really bad news is that this requires a full scale cleaning of the pantry, possible other stored "foods" among them dog/cat/bird foods. Everything comes out, is checked for critters, the pantry/cupboards are cleaned with soapy water, and perishable foods stored in clean rigid containers.

OK, I'm very relieved to read your encouraging responses! First of all, my apologies to anyone I erroneously cited as having condemned CPs in the Other Thread. (It was late, I was taking it all in one huge gulp....) Thank you all for taking my question so seriously, too. I almost hesitated to ask anything that might risk flinging gas on the embers. So this is what I've got planned: My new kitchen will be in a rectangular room with the main functional work counters along the long walls. Range wall on exterior wall because of vent fan access and the sink/clean-up zone on the opposite, interior wall. (BTW, don't get worked up over the lack-of-window-over-kitchen-sink thing. For many reasons it is not possible with my other layout/building contraints and in any case, sink windows are not a big attraction to me.) In between these two work counters is a narrow island (w prep sink), not intended for dining/seating, just standing and working at. I have 42" clear aisles between all the counter edges, and that works fine for me. I have two, long, largely independent, isoceles triangles rather than an equilateral or right triangle work zone. In other words food storage lies at the top of my kitchen and the food will, depending on needs, flow down either the sink counter aisle or down the range counter aisle to emerge at the end of the central island, prepped, cooked and plated, ready to be served in the dining room which opens off the bottom of the plan. (Reversed flow on return, of course; with perhaps more emphasis on the clean-up zone triangle at that stage.) So in short, my c.p. will block nothing as both aisles between the island and main work counters will have free access to fridge (and the adjacent c.p.) in my particular layout. One short end of the room is largely open (pair of french doors) to the dining room. The other short end houses the fridge and in one corner, the proposed corner pantry. I really prefer a separate, room-style pantry space to the other option of a bank of pull-out pantry cabs. And I found that the geometry of a corner of a corner pantry was better than the geometry of a straight pantry room. (By geometry I mean more running feet of shelving for the same interior floor space because the two adjacent, 90 degree shelf runs can use the same open space.) I still have an orginal pantry-entrance door and its frame which was taken out and stored in a barn many years ago, so that will solve Palimpsest's builder-grade issue, nicely. The old pantry door is exactly the same as the other mid-19th c doors throughout the house: heavy, old-growth pine, six panels with a morticed lock set and brown-swirly Bennington handles. Underneath more-recent coats of paint is highly stylized pre-Civil War grain painting, a decorative treatment which I happen to loathe, but will protect as I add a smooth paint coating. As it happens my layout contains no corner cab issues at all since each of my counter runs occupy only a single wall. That's something I worked hard on, but it is less any design skill than the fact that the room has four doors (including one exterior and one double-leaf interior f.d.)and two windows which strongly limited my choices. Still too many doors in my opinion, but considering the room presently has six doors and two windows - all in a roughly 13' X 17' space, I feel I'm making an improvement! (Fewer doors would also significantly impact the overall comfort and warmth of this house which has no central heat. There are only two wood-fueled stoves which rely on very generous open-door air flows to reach all the rooms.) I am actually hoping the eccentricity of a diagonal wall (the visible face of the c.p.) will add a welcome counterpoint to the otherwise very linear plan. My main regret is that the pantry must be at the intersection of two interior walls, not in an exterior corner. An exterior c.p, would be better from the point of view of using the considerable cool-th of my climate in a tradional pantry-esque way. I will have native bluestone shelves, at least on the lower ones so environmental cooling would work nicely if I can find a way to incorporate it. My stone shelves will be repurposed curbing that I've accumulated from a long life of attending farm auctions. For the present I've concocted a scheme to passively draw in cool exterior air and let it travel through the pantry as it warms; it's the best I've come up with to date. My vision of the pantry is strictly as a larder for food stuffs. I have toyed with other plans that incorporated a still-room function but have decided that simpler plans are better for my space. In my cellar I have the usual, enormous, 19th-c farmhouse (and still used) root cellars and cold rooms, so my larder will be mostly for dry, bulk and packaged goods storage. I have a niche in a nearby back hall for an upright freezer, and of course, have additional freezers in the cellar where the bulk of our stored-food lives. A small advantage I have over others' projects is that this room use is new and I can afford the time to build a actual-sized mock-up in situ. As soon as this room is cleared (it's presently a book storage room filled with boxes of books on shelves). I'll get busy and create the c.p. mock-up and bring my photos back for comments. No way I'll be accused of doing a drive-by reveal - you'll be seeing this kitchen so early that you'll see it when it is just cut-up and spray painted refrigerator boxes stapled to 2X4s. Many thanks for all the comments and to those who have taken the trouble to post pics and plans. I was quite crestfallen last night because in my mind the c.p. is something really cool that I saw first here on the forum and shamelessly co-opted from the wonderful ones here and on the FKB. L.

frmsdghtr, I know you said you have a tiny budget. I agree that a galley kitchen is the way to go. You would have so much extra storage space and prep space. This kitchen space looks very similar to many homes I saw growing up, although the wall to the basement stairs was always enclosed. I would sincerely encourage you enclose the wall space by the basement stairs. Having it dry walled would allow you to have wall cabinets. I think it would be dangerous to have an opening to the basement stairs in the area above cabinets on the bottom (not just for items falling over the edge, but your kids, their playmates, your friends' kids...you know how they never go on the counters when you're not looking). You could also explore putting your fridge on that wall. A counter depth fridge would give it a more built in look. We did that in our kitchen in order to make placing the fridge in a different space work. They are a bit more pricey and have less storage space. We have our old fridge in the garage for overflow that doesn't fit in the kitchen and it's worked out fine. And if you don't have an extra fridge, there are plenty on Craigs List. Please let us know what you end up doing.

There is a way to get that reach-in pantry and save a LOT of $. Instead of having it built out of your cabinetry line, have that area sheetrocked in just the same as if a coat closet was being built there. Then put in adjustable shelves and put in sliding doors painted to match your walls. Or stain the sliding doors to match your cabinetry. Or, if the aisle is wide enough, you could just put on the same type of doors you're putting on your coat closet with the double-doors that open out. Although I don't think that's as convenient. With a slider, the doors could be left open while you're working without obstructing the aisle. Or you could get the type of hinges where you can recess the doors when they are open although these are likely a bit more expensive. I was thinking about the plan I gave you and wanted to mention something else. You could move the prep sink to the wall next to the fridge and then have a lot longer expanse of prep counter. And, of course, you could also prep on the island as you have tons of space there. Since your island is so large, I would definitely invest in a larger sink there. Probably 36". That way one person could be doing some clean-up while someone else uses the other side of that large sink to prep. Many of us will be envious that you have two expansive prep areas to choose from. I just want to emphasize that you have a good space to work with and there is no reason to crowd your space so I would definitely have at least 48" aisles. You might even consider making them a bit wider. Wide aisles make a space feel bigger and allow for more people working in the kitchen at the same time without crowding each other. Even a big kitchen can feel tiny if the aisles are too narrow for comfort. The NKBA suggests minimum of 48" aisles for multiple-worker kitchens. I'm an oddball who likes aisles wider than most. Mine will be more like 60". However, many people like around 50-52". The best way to know what suits you is to use boxes or whatever to mock up the island and place the boxes at various aisle widths. And then wrangle some family or friends to do pretend cooking in the space where someone is cooking, someone else is cleaning up, and someone else is prepping, or some-such other scenario. I realize this is a new build and you might not have that space available to do this in but you could do it anywhere. You're simply testing aisle widths. You could do it wherever you're living now by using furniture to stand-in for the perimeter counter and island.