No, we haven't solved the vent & pantry issue yet..it looks like another couple of days *sigh* The pantry I currently have in my layout is a corner pantry w/drywalled walls & a 2' pantry door. It's small, but I think it will work for me. I do have an overflow pantry in the basement. So-called "Final" Design...changes being made due to measuring errors (left doorway is to DR, right doorway is to FR, bottom doorway is to Foyer): * Sink wall shifted 3/4" to left * Changed the 36" drawer base to the left of the sink to a 33" drawer base * 3" filler b/w the pantry & the wall ovens will be reduced to 1/2" (KD says it will be just enough) * Pantry size will change...not sure of new dimensions yet. --- Exterior (north) wall will be much less than the 46-1/4" shown in the layout --- B/c of north pantry wall reduction, the east pantry wall b/w the FR & Kitchen will be longer to accommodate a 2' door...which will make the doorway b/w the FR & Kitchen smaller...but I don't want anything less than 48"...54" would be better! (In the layout, it's 48" + 14-3/4" = 62-3/4")

mountainbasketmaker, you linked us to the main photobucket page, not your individual page, I think. Go to your photos, copy that URL and paste it into your link. You might also have to do something to make your pictures public, too. gardenwebber, you could look into rope lighting. I love the idea of putting the light switch on the door latch so it comes on when you open it. The rope light is low wattage and you could run it vertically down the wall in front of the shelves. Maybe you could put a piece of molding in front of the rope light so that it does not shine in your eyes, but is shielded so you do not look into the light as you look at the pantry contents. It would light up one side of each open shelf area and give you fewer shadows than a single light at the top of the pantry. My pantry was here when we bought the house. It is 30" wide and 40" deep. That is not a very usable space! It is too wide for retrofitting those sliding tray-shelves that would make best use of the depth. We cannot do as Youngdeb did and have perimeter shelves because the pantry is in a space above the basement stairs. The bottom of the pantry floor slopes - you cannot step into the pantry! So I have three 30" x 40" MDF shelves (the plywood in there when we bought the house had bowed significantly). I use a lot of little wire shelves I had in a previous house to make layers of storage on each level. Using bins for categories of foods (dog treats, rices, nutrition bars, pastas) means I can pull out a whole bin, rifle though it, and replace it. The neatness of the bins means I can easily shuffle them around to get to everything even if it is very deep on the shelves. Our first winter here we had mice, and I made sure everything got sealed into bins so the mice would not be attracted to the pantry and it worked, none ever got into the food. Speaking of pantry pests, here is some advice: never bring birdseed into the house. Some of it has webworms (moth larvae) and those darn things can infest your pantry if you let them in. I had moths from birdseed go crazy in an attached garage. They got into the house when we used the door from the garage to the house and we'd see them flying in the evening. Somehow, I kept them out of the kitchen!

The first option sounds like it would be interesting visually. when deciding how deep to make the upper cabinets which will sit on the counter, consider how much counter you will have/need. For exampple 13" deep gives you about 12" of counter (don't forget counters are usually about 25" deep although your lower cabinets are 24" deep because of overhang) and 15" deep gives you 10" of counter. The counter will never be truly usable because would need to be kept clear in order to open the upper cabinets. What would you then put in the space of #2 if you did #1? If you're going to be there for that length of time do what is sensible/interesting/fun for your family.

One more question - I am a little concerned about dish storage. I am thinking that the cabinet above the dishwasher needs to be glasses, because they are harder to carry, and the dish storage would be across the way in the wall cabinets by the fridge. Is that too far to have to go with the dishes? With the dishwasher open it is probably only a few steps, but it is a few steps. I don't see another way to do it but am a little concerned it might feel like trekking across the kitchen to put dishes away.