I had a small, step in pantry that I hated, and got rid of it for a lot more storage in cabinet pantries instead. The thing is, a closet style pantry is a lot cheaper to build. That's the main reason people opt for them.

You can do a hybrid if it will work better in your space but putting roll out tray shelves in the bottom, and pretty double doors on the front. You can also put restrictors on your upper shelves to keep things only in the front.

For function, either way would work the same, though with the cabinets you'd have a slight ledge to set things down on, which would be useful, or a counter if you use actual uppers, rather than having them down to the top of the lowers.

I don't use a lot of bulk items, other than paper goods like napkins and paper towels which are better and easier to buy rarely but by the case. I only buy 10 lbs. of flour at a time, but have many kinds of flour. The flour canisters are in two drawers in my baking area, and extra flour is on a roll out shelf in the pantry. Similarly, I don't use a lot of oil, and have several kinds. The open bottles are in my cooking area, and the replacements are in the pantry. Pasta, rice, beans, etc., are in the pantry. The paper goods are on the upper shelves because they're easy to get down and out of the way. My pantry is two 30"x18" floor to ceiling cabinets, roll out shelves in the lowers, which are about 5' high. Most of the foodstuffs, as well as beverages, are in the lower part. Housewares and general household stuff are in the uppers, as well as some canisters that have nowhere else to go, and wines/spirits. There would be plenty of room in one 30" wide pantry for most everything without the papergoods. The extra depth you want to get rid of would be quite useful for the paper, though... :)

I love my walk-in closet pantry. It's small, only 5' X 3', and is much smaller than the pantry in our previous house, but it really works. I worked with the carpenters to build the shelves at just the right height for various items and I can hang things on the wall like the step stool. Like Rhome, I have several bins on the floor under the bottom shelf where I keep grocery bags, large bags of snacks, etc. I also keep large bottles of vinegar and oil on the floor. My DD has one of those pantries where the interior shelves swing out with little cubbies for everything. She loves it, I absolutely hate it!!

My niece has a 24dx30w floor-ceiling cabinet with 6 heavy duty roll out shelves on the lower 2/3 of the cab and shelves on the top 1/3 for paper towels, chips, lightweight stuff. She has her large bottles of oil, larger containers, etc on the bottom roll out, and the other shelves are spaced the height for 1 layer canned or boxed items. Since you can roll out the shelves, you can find everything, it works pretty well.

Everyone has their own favorite type of storage. In the old kitchen I had the same swing out type as joyce's DD and I absolutely hated that thing. I thought it wasted space. A must for me in the new kitchen was a step in pantry and I absolutely love it. If I had room for an 8x10 pantry I would be in kitchen heaven.

I prefer a walk-in, step-in, or reach-in pantry b/c they offer more space...you can utilize the entire height, floor-to-ceiling for storage. As RHome410 & others mentioned, they are also more flexible and less expensive than pantry cabinets.

Have you seen the pantry thread in the Gallery? It may give you some ideas.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread: Pantry photos/ pics of pantries

I faced the same situation when we built our house. I really wanted a generous walk in pantry but in the end I gave up that space for a larger laundry room. I opted instead for a cupboard that could be accessed from two sides. It won't work for a lot of floor plans but it has been an OK arrangement for us. I just don't keep all my food items in one location. I keep my oils, etc in base pull outs on either side of my stove and I have a baking center next to the fridge where I keep my flour, sugar, and other baking staples. The pantry cabinet we installed has a combination of shallow shelves, deep shelves,and roll out trays so I have space for small items and larger items in the same unit. I decided if I just couldn't manage with the existing arrangement I would buy either shelves for our laundry room or invest in a nice looking free standing cupboard to supplement what I currently have, since I have an empty corner in my kitchen that would work for that. I've also considered adding shelf space in our lower level store room for items like pop and paper towels that we might want to buy in large quantities. So far we just haven't needed the space. I tend to buy mostly fresh and frozen stuff. The pantry is used for pasta , cereal and things I stock up on just before holiday gatherings.

This is the best picture I could find on hand of my pantry. I could take another picture if you want more detail.

I prefer Small closet pantry, It's small.

Here is a link that might be useful: kitchen pantry cabinet

Mine is similar to cjc. It's 24" deep and 33" wide with all pull out drawers. The shelves are adjustable/removeable. The cabinet above has a shallow fixed shelxes and can be used for bigger/taller items like vases and ice cream maker.

I had a small pantry closet in our previous home, It was always a mess and I couldn't find anything in there.

A large walk in pantry is ideal, but if I had to choose between a closet and cabinet for that size I'd do a cabinet with pull outs. It is more expensive, but I also think it looks nicer.