Thanks, all. Anglophilia, I hope we're not turning this into a second kitchen! I know many here have extra fridges, freezers, microwaves, toaster ovens, etc in their pantries and I have wondered the same thing. But no, this is a storage and secondary prep area. I am coming around to the idea of cabinet doors on the bottoms and putting in slides down the road. Annette, the image you posted is helpful; it makes me wonder if it's worth doing the bank of counters under the window after all. With the (even narrow) shelving along the left wall, the cupboard doors will be impeded, and of course there's the useless bottom corner, too. Is it worth the extra storage and countertop? I'll have to think about it.

My pantry is 58"x14' long with the door on the short end. I debated for a long time on shelves/cabinets and finally decided to go with 3 Ikea HAVSTA Storage units along the long wall and 24" butcher block countertop along the back short wall with a mini-wine cooler & a single HAVSTA base cabinet underneath (pulled forward to make up for the 6" depth difference). The base cabinet is 18" deep and the top shelves are around 12". They work great. The base cabinets are a nice depth for things like bulk paper towel storage and Sam's Club size snacks for kid's lunches. The upper shelves are a nice depth for can foods where nothing gets lost in the back. Unlike a lot of the ikea shelving units, these are made from pine so there are no issues with sagging shelves. (Some Pinterest photos I've seen of Ikea PAX used as pantry shelving were sagging.) I'll try to attach a link to a similar setup on the Ikea website. (As with most Ikea products, there are a bazillion configurations!) Ikea HAVSTA with solid doors Ikea HAVSTA upper/lower combo without doors Ikea HAVSTA Base unit Ikea HAVSTA triple setup I have something like this Ikea HAVSTA triple setup with doors on the base cabinets, but not on the uppers. My middle upper cabinet has doors, but after I bought them, I decided it would be more efficient without them. The upper units with doors have a back panel, so you can't access electrical outlets without cutting holes in it. The upper units without doors do not have backs, so I can access my electrical outlets. I got a matching paint color and painted the wall behind the units so it looks pretty and I don't think anyone has noticed two are painted and the 3rd has the back board.

Consider using the vertical drawers idea: Create a pair of storage units that fit in the center of the closet but roll out -- one with shelving for kitchen pantry items and one with both shelf and hanging for mops and brooms ( hanging over your mop bucket for cleaning items. Creating individual roll out storage for two different types of items for which you need storage space could keep those kinds of items separate but in the same closet -- and do so while eliminating the need to physically step into the closet to get the items on either of those rolling units -- thus, leaving more room for you to include any built in items you want on each side/end of the closet -- items that you can more easily reach with the two rolling units are out of the closet. You could create just one roll out cabinet for your cleaning items, enabling you to move your cleaning closet room to room with you for cleaning or to a garage otherwise out of the house as needed when you don't want those mop smells in the closet.

OK, spent some time with cabinet & ID. We created access to the pantry and modified based on the incredibly helpful feedback from everyone (especially @mama goose_gw zn6OH & @Buehl!). Attached here is the latest floor plan. Having access to the pantry is great, and having the dishwasher on the outside makes cleanup zone much improved, close proximity to dish cabinet, and trash seems better positioned. Still wondering if the primary prep zone is sufficient (about 38" on either side of the sink on island). Also, per your feedback @Buehl, wondering if we should change our potfiller to something like this: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2699429/prep-sink-next-to-range-how-close-is-perrrrfect, so that we have a secondary prep zone with access to water. Any other thoughts? I love the cleanup zone you had proposed @Buehl, but not sure how to get that while managing our window constraints & pantry access. One option maybe would be to shift from two windows to one? Not sure. Already feeling this is wildly improved, so very thankful to you all for your help!