A huge pantry is just as important to me as the kitchen, so here's what I'd do:

- I'd go catty-cornered across that corner, giving a triangle-shaped pantry. This would mean adding a short wall beside the refrigerator, but I don't see that as much of a problem.
- This would give you two sets of shelves in a V shape.
- I'd use large lazy susans in the corner to avoid having a "dead space".
- I'd have large bins on the floor for the recycling; you'd have plenty of space for your daughter's separate bin.
- I'd go with the split French doors, just as you've pictured.

This would give you a good bit of storage space, which is cheaper than storing things in expensive cabinets.

The one negative: It gives you a window in the pantry. Light is not a friend to stored food. However, since you have it, I'd put a small shelf under the window and use it as a "landing area" for bags of groceries as you unload them. It'd also give you a place to let a crock pot stew, to let bread rise, or to hide dessert (or, in my case, the dirty dishes) away before you serve it.

I don't think I saw how wide the pantry would be - but from blocks on LO would think about 4'?

That should be a good sized pantry. 4' wide and 30" deep. You could have 4' across the back of deeper shelves and put shallower ones on either side. Or on 1 side with room to hang things on the other side - broom, dust mop - or oven racks, fry pans.

I like the doors in your pic. I have those in my 'door' folder too!

2 others -

I'd probably opt for sliders over the shelves.

I'd likely move the micro to the area beside the ref and plunk it on a micro shelf. I might tuck it into an oven cabinet with a pull out shelf underneath to take care of providing a landing space for the micro - the advantage being able to site it at counter height for shorties. The other potential position for a micro would be a drawer micro under counter next to the ref - the advantage to that being that I could use simple uppers.

I'm not a big fan of bifolds. I don't mind those sort of stacking sliders where there are more than two sliding sliding doors. Or something like having 15" of wall on the sides and 12" of shelf depth across the back - then use a pair of 18" doors that each slide out to the side - leaving about a 36" opening in the center. It uses up around 60-64" of width leaving 20" to 24" for decorative shelving or a drop zone or a family communications area.

Any measurements above are just sorta-kinda widths or depths. Framing can take up any amount of space from 6" of depth down to just about an 1" if you use plywood to make something close to a built-in-place cabinet. Also, you'd need to choose between shelves supported on adjustable brackets on the back wall or shelves that are run between uprights with at least one extra upright.

They do make doors that both slide and swing open, I do not know what they are called. That way you could slide them for quick access but when you needed them out of the way you could open them.