Pantry - where to position pull out shelving

15 years ago

(1st post, so be gentle)

I have had a new kitchen installed (photo's to follow) and the cabinet maker left me to decide where to place the Blum mounted full extention pull outs in my pantry.

The pantry is a single door 25" wide 52" high. I have a seperate area for the vegggies (potatoes onions garlic)and spices.

With this configuration where would you recommend the shelf elevation for typically shorter canned goods, the taller cereal boxes etc (no wine storage since the pantry is beside the dishwasher and below the microwave)

What kind of rule of thumb should I consider (ie: lighter good on the bottom or less used good on the bottom??)

Thank in advance and for all the help while I was lurking for the last 6 months.

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Comments (11)

abejadulce_z9b
15 years ago
I always put lighter items overhead - if I have an "oops" I'd rather have a cereal box falling on my head than a 28oz can of crushed tomatoes! Your placement of items really depends on how you use things, though. We don't use many canned goods at all. My big priority is keeping things visible so that they don't get lost.

I think that I'd like a pull out on the bottom regardless of what I was planning to put there.
tbugera
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks - the lighter item could go on a shelf above the pantry

A couple of things I did not mention is I have six pull outs to work with that could be installed(although they don't have to all be installed). Also the pantry is at floor level.
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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.
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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.
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I agree with you- I think pullout shelves are better. Though, unfortunately I can't tell you from personal experience, as my carpenter is telling me that they will be delivered tomorrow morning first thing- (if I had a dime for every time he's promised delivery- been waiting since February!) Anyhow, I do have the pantry pullout on one side of my floor to ceiling cupboards (have 18" cabinets on either side of fridge). I had to get that as I wanted space to hang brooms, mops, vacuum attachments, etc, and I could get a side mount pullout attached to one side, leaving room on the other side. The problem is access, even though it is full extension, you have the shelf above hampering your reach. I guess it's not a problem if you have lots of space between shelves, but then what's the point in that? My pullout shelves will be about 4" deep, with a half circle cutout in front- if they do arrive tomorrow, I can take pics- I am SO looking forward to having them installed- been using 16" deep shelves in a 24" deep cupboard, pain in the butt to reach to the back to access items. As you can see, shelves made just a little too wide!!!
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abejadulce_z9b
15 years ago
If I had the option, I'd have all pull outs and no fixed shelves. You can use a pullout like you use a fixed shelf, but you can't use a fixed shelf the same way a pullout functions.
talley_sue_nyc
15 years ago
High up is where big things should go--tall things, that you can take off the shelf by holding on to the BOTTOM of the thing. And yes, lightweight things.

I think that high-up shelves SHOULD be pullouts. Then, you can reach the stuff in the back more easily--because you will actually access them from the SIDES.

Ditto for the bottom-most shelves. I don't want to have to dig way in the back, AND low down. The two lower shelves SHOULD be pullouts.

And I haven't done it, but I fantasize about having at least 1 more shelf (all fo them pullouts) than most people think you should have, so that I have them pretty closely spaced, w/ no wasted headroom.

In fact, probably I'd have TWO more pullout shelves.

If I couldln't have *more* than 6 shelves (I'd probably want 8), then the middle shelves would be the fixed ones. (And I'd have them made a bit shorter than the others, bcs then I'd put back-of-the-door baskets to use up the space in the front of the pantry, and to keep the fixed shelf from being so deep that stuff gets lost in the back.)

And I'd lay my canned goods on their sides, so I can see the labels. And, because then the cans would not be very tall, and I could put another pullout very close above it.
abejadulce_z9b
15 years ago
ditto what Talley Sue says - if I have to have fixed shelves, I'd like those between my neck and my waist for ease i seeing them and to minimize having to dig or stretch for things. If I have to reach or bend I'd like those to be pullout.
tbugera
Original Author
15 years ago
ALL MY SHELVES are PULL OUTS (6 of them)

Talley sue - great advice, but if you lay your cans on the side won't they roll around and bang into each other or is there a special insert for that sort of thing?
gshop
15 years ago
I only have one small pantry, but I have 5 pullouts in my bottom pantry:

I was able to tell my custom cabinet guy to put the rollouts at the following heights capabilities to fit within the 56" bottom height:

top pullout: 14 1/2" (for cereal boxes and dog food containers)
next pullout : 5" (for cans)
next pullout: 11/14" (for dry box containers/pasta)
next pullout: 10" (for misc. containers)
bottom pullout: 10" (for baking stuff)

It is working out great for the adjusted heights, otherwise he would have just put them at even heights and I wouldn't have been able to fit everything. Think it through what is right for you. Good Luck!
bob_cville
15 years ago
My pantry sides were drilled with a bunch of holes about 1 1/4" apart as is normally done for mounting adjustable shelves. Into these holes special plastic mounting blocks are screwed, and the rails for the pullouts are then attached to these blocks.

This allows you to adjust the spacing of the shelves (without too much work) at a later date when you find you need more storage of one height.
tbugera
Original Author
15 years ago
ngng - the total height of my pantry is 52", I did the math and your dimessions total 51". Is there any of your pull outs that you would change if given the opportunity.

Other wise I will just go with what you have used on yours.
gshop
15 years ago
No I wouldn't change anything, but I had specific requirements with the dog food bin. The dimensions are the minimum height requirements that I gave to the cabinet guy, he actually went a little bigger in a few spaces. I dug all of my pantry food items out of their temporary boxes and grouped them, then measured the largest item in each group. Good Luck!
paul_ma
15 years ago
I have two pantry cabinets - one 24" wide, one 21". For both, the bottom part is 65" floor to top.

In each of these I have five pullouts in the bottom and one in the top. I've got an extra pullout for one of them, (long story) but I doubt I will use it. I thought about putting two in the top, but can't think of stuff I would put up there where that would work well.

I could conceivably put a 6th in the bottom. But that doesn't seem to work with the stuff I have to store. But that will depend greatly on what you are storing. Pullouts that are storing cans can be quite close together.

I had to order extra pullouts to get to this state. Default was four in the bottom and none in the top. But I wanted to get most effective use of the space. I think non-pullout shelves are a waste of space in a pantry.

Pantry - where to position pull out shelving

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