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Pantry Closet Door - open to laundry or kitchen?

9 years ago

The kitchen I'm remodeling has an old refrigerator niche (too small for a new 36 refrigerator) that I am closing in for a pantry closet (32x33). My kitchen flows into a laundry area/mudroom. The niche is placed such that, when I close it in, I could put the door either in the laundry area or the kitchen area. I can see that it would look "cleaner" to have the door in the laundry area and a blank wall in the kitchen area instead of "all cabinets and doors". It's not as though opening the door in the laundry would be further away from anything. I'm looking for other opinions here...would you have the door in the kitchen area or the laundry area?

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Comments (7)

lolauren
9 years ago
Will you post a photo, please?
Laura Ready
Original Author
9 years ago
Please be kind with your critiques - we found an older chalet home with fantastic views and are remodeling the entire first floor, and the demo has begun :) You can see the refrigerator there, and the area with the door at the back is the laundry. The half-wall on the left and the new wall will be even with each other.
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There will be some moisture accumulate in the laundry closet while the washer runs ... moisture is present anywhere there's water. The question is whether there's sufficient ventilation for it to dissipate. Warm or hot water will reasonably generate slightly more moisture than cold ... but don't take that as an excuse to avoid warm or hot washing when needed. Washing all loads in cold water is b-a-d for the machine, smutz from laundry soils accumulates in the outer tub and other hidden areas. Presumably the dryer is always run after a washer load, which effectively ventilates the laundry closet being that the dryer pulls air in (through the laundry closet and the opening from the clothes closet) and blows it out the exhaust (unless it's a condenser/non-vented dryer). Is there an HVAC register in the clothes closet? You didn't say if the washer is a frontloader or toploader. Either way, I would leave the washer lid (toploader) open or door ajar (frontloader) whenever the machine is not in use so moisture of it inside can dissipate (that goes a LONG way to avoiding mold and long-term rusting of the machine). I doubt there's enough moisture getting into the clothes closet to be of concern ... but that's impossible to say without first-hand examination.
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itsallaboutthefood
9 years ago
Personally I would prefer to have the door in the kitchen since it looks like if the door is in the laundry room, it could block the walkway from the outside door through the kitchen when open.
lolauren
9 years ago
Will you have a door that closes off the laundry area? Where will the fridge be? Where do you expect to do prep? (If you prep at that counter next to the fridge, it might be marginally easier to grab stuff out of the pantry and immediately place there.)
Laura Ready
Original Author
9 years ago
Itsallaboutthefood, it would. We'd do a barn door/slider if we place it in the laundry area.
Loloauren, We are back and forth on the door to the laundry area. We'd have a 36 inch door that would open towards the laundry room wall (on the right side of above pic). If we do that, the door will be in the kitchen by default. I was originally going to do a pantry cabinet there, but my budget did not allow it.The fridge will be to the left of the sink, which is under the window. I have three feet of counter there for that kind of prep.
This is our empty-nest/retirement home, so it will be just the two of us most of the time.
lolauren
9 years ago
You didn't ask, but I would opt for a (preferably pocket) door to close off the laundry area for noise reasons.

I think you can't go too-wrong with either choice you have. Having the pantry door in the kitchen might make the most sense for unloading and grabbing groceries, but not by much. Something to consider is that my pantry door is hardly ever closed. The door doesn't block anything, but it isn't a good look. :) If it were in the laundry area, at least it wouldn't be visible.

This post was edited by lolauren on Fri, Jan 2, 15 at 13:17
Laura Ready
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks, lolauren, that is definitely an idea...I had not thought of a pocket door for the laundry area. I initially wanted a barn door that could slide to alternate between closing the laundry or the pantry, but wasn't sure I could deal with having the pantry open when I was doing laundry. I think we'd have room for a pocket door to the laundry room, and then be able put the pantry door in the laundry area.

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