Good question! There are SO many things to think about, that really by the end sometimes I think many of us end up aware of so many details...way more than the average person, even your average contractor...etc. I just measured my pullouts. As cyycdm stated, my drawers are only 22" long, but DH installed them (we did most of the kitchen DIY), and he placed them further back (than you see in her photo). They are full extension, so you can still access every square inch, but being a bit further back allows for extra stuffing overflow of bags, etc on shelves! LOL My frameless doors don't completely clear the sides of the cabinet frame, so the carpenter had to supply 1" bumpers for the side where the door is attached, so the drawer can clear the door, I'm sure you need the same thing, only in framed, you will need those bumpers on both sides, so a loss of 2" there. My slides only take up 1/4", so there is a total of 1 1/2" wasted space, my pullouts are 15 1/2" wide for an 18" pantry. Believe it or not these had to be built 3 times before they fit...no wonder my kitchen company went bankrupt (the day my new granite was to be installed, BTW) I would question why so much space needs to be lost, that seems wasteful to me.

The thing about a pullout pantry is that there's restricted access to the middle. I think 12"-15" is ideal, though 18" isn't out of the question. It might mean moving this or that to get the other thing, but can be done. That's assuming that you can access the pantry from both sides. 18" is definitely the limit if you can only get in from one side. Looked at the other way, 18" is about the narrowest cabinet that's comfortable to get into with your arm extended to the back. If you go with the pullout, it might make sense to do a full height one, or a pullout on top as well as bottom. Roll out trays are much easier to use, especially for lowers, than pullouts because you can get into them from above rather than only from the side. What they have better than drawers for a pantry is the ability to see in over short sides, and the ability to see all the trays in the cupboard at once rather than having to remember which one has what in it. If I were in your situation, I'd check to see if there were any difference in the size of the tray between the pullout and roll out. I have a feeling (which I'm assuming was created by something I learned along the way) that there might be more tray space in the pullout. If not, then it's not a matter of how much you can store but how easily you can get at it. So, if you have roll out trays, where does the door go? Do you have a 90" hinge? Most Euro style hinges are 90 degrees. Which means that the door is blocking on side of the trays. Perhaps you even have a wall there? I have 170 degree hinges, but those are big and can also can interfere with what's inside, which could be a problem in a narrow pantry. But even with a 90 degree door, you can get in from the top. Plus, it's easier to get into the pantry to retrieve something that slipped over the side. With the pullout pantry, you might want to get a trigger gripper, which can be helpful. Just remembered what might tilt it decisively to the rollouts: You can put more roll out shelves in a pantry than you can trays on a pullout. Because all the trays on a pullout come out at once, you need air space between them to get stuff in and out. With roll outs, you can have trays that are one can high, or one box of X high, and have only an inch margin to the next tray up. In that way, you can fit a lot more in the same cupboard.

Blum has new full extension/ soft close drawer hardware. Old Runners: Blum 562 series - 75 lbs dynamic/100 lbs static Blum 568 H series - 110lb dynamic/125 lbs static - heavy duty New Runners: Blum 563 series - 90 lbs dynamic/100 lbs static Blum 569 H series - 135 lbs dynamic/150!lbs static My cabinet manufacturer was still carrying the old runners when my cabinets were ordered, Feb., 2013. I had the hardware for four 36" drawers switched to the heavy duty 568H series in March, 2014. The soft close on my dish drawer stopped working & through GW I figured out it was a weight issue. With the 568H runners installed, my drawers feel stable & the soft close works, although I do wish I had upgraded to the even heavier 569H series. My experience with my KD was overall very good but the company she works for didn't know Blum heavy duty drawer runners even existed. She contacted her rep at Woodmode/Brookhaven, who was also clueless. I had to provide them with part numbers. It seems to me that if you are going to sell 36" or wider drawers, you should advise your customer to purchase heavy duty hardware. I've attached a link with all the Blum info about part numbers, weight limits, etc. Here is a link that might be useful: New Blum Tandem Plus Blumotion Drawer Runners

I have five ROTS in the bottom sections (to about chest high) and adjustable shelves in the upper sections, up to the ceiling. The sides are low in the front to see and higher along most of the sides and back to keep thinks contained. The location of my ROTS was partially determined by where the hinges are. The bottom two hold tall things like water and juice bottles. The top holds smaller bottles (condiments). The two middle shelves are one can high, and hold jars and cans, grains and pasta, and nuts and dried fruit. It seems to be working great, though I could use another single can depth one or two. Since I have extra space so far on the deeper shelves, I haven't added any. I love the ROTS. Even though, because I'm lucky enough to have a big pantry, there are four parts and I have to open and close section by section if I don't remember where something is, I have things pretty well organized, and I love being able to see everything with the doors open on all the ROTS, then pull out the one(s) I want and see it from above, etc. I'd be doing a lot more opening and closing and opening and closing if it were drawers, and I'd loose some of the vertical storage space, unless they were made like ROTS with drawer panels screwed on. I'm doing well if I get the right section every time, even though it is organized. Plus ROTS can be moved if necessary, and you never know what you might want to store in the future. My pantry cabinets aren't quite as "good" as a walk in and be dazzled kind of a pantry, but they "waste" a lot less space than my old, awful, walk-in pantry did. Throwing open all the doors and gazing really is almost as good as confronting open shelves. I'm thrilled.