Larger Pantry vs. Wall Oven
Deciding between..
A. Putting a wall oven/microwave combo in the previous pantry space with 2 large (30" deep) drawers below for pantry food items and a cabinet above.
B. Putting a built-in microwave with 4 pantry drawers below and a cabinet above. And keeping a slide in range/oven along the back kitchen wall.
We like the look of a range and no oven along the kitchen wall but worried about food storage. If we chose option (A), one 36" section of drawers (we have 9 ft along the back wall) below the counter would be designated for food.
If it were you which option would you choose and why?
Note: there is an island across from the oven that will house the dishwasher, trash, sink and wine fridge and on the other side it will have 48" of cabinets and then seating. We also have a walk in utility closet under the stairs (to the left of the fridge in the pic) that we did consider changing into a pantry however I think a utility closet makes better use of the space (coats, shoes, misc. storage).
Comments (17)
PRORL Relocation LLC
6 years agoI know some people will disagree with me but my kitchen back wall is very similar to this (this is the week we moved in so don't mind the emptiness). I love my 6 burner range but absolutely hate the wall oven. the only thing I like is not bending down.
1. its too close to the wall, so you are always coming from an angle
2. the storage above is useless (there are 2 drawers below consumed by pans)
3. I have since put in another piece of furniture for storage. Storage is life in a kitchen.
Most help needed. Yes the fan will change and the table. Round, oval, rectangle? · More InfoCarrie Mulcahy thanked RL Relocation LLCRelated Discussions
Opinions - Wall Oven vs. range vs. cooktop & single oven...
Comments (21)I currently have double Viking wall ovens and cooktop and I love them. However, I do love the look of the commercial ranges. I find that both of my double ovens are not really at good heights for me though. I'm 5'4". The bottom oven is a little low and the top one (the one I use the most) is a little high and I usually have to get my son or husband to help me with getting heavy items out. So, while planning a kitchen renovation on a new house, I chose the Thermador 48" range with the steam oven and warming drawer. I realize I might not like going back to bending to get things out of the oven, but I know I can reach them myself. I also was able to free up a lot of wall cabinet space so I can put in a nice pantry cabinet which I need in the design. My kitchen design is all on one long wall really with a 16' island in front of it. I am getting a Miele speed oven and putting that in the island and it functions as a convection oven/microwave. I'm guessing it will be the oven I use most when cooking only for my husband and myself. I've agonized over this for months now (range vs. cooktop and wall ovens) but in the end cabinet space and "the look" of a commercial range won out! And, honestly, the only time I use both my wall ovens now is at Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is a big waste of cabinet space 363 days out of the year :) I hope this helps and good luck!!...See MoreSmall closet pantry VS cupboard style pantry?
Comments (9)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... :)...See MoreWall Ovens vs. Range with Oven
Comments (59)Worth checking the insulation on wall ovens. A big difference between ovens. Higher end wall ovens are very, very insulated and ‘hot knees’ not an issue when mounted below the cooktop even here in the subtropics. I’m now 14 years into the same induction cooktop (Neff). Superb to cook on and still looking fabulous (it , not me!). Ditto the oven below the countertop. No crumb catching space between a range and countertop. And if one bit conks out, you aren’t replacing a two in one appliance....See Moredouble wall ovens vs. large double oven/stove combination- preference?
Comments (17)I use my steam oven for almost everything. It is much better at reheating food than a microwave or regular oven. For example, I had some leftover chinese food yesterday - microwaved rice is usually kind of hard. I put everything in the convection steam oven in the plastic and waxed paper takeout containers, set the oven to 220 degrees at 50% steam for 15 minutes - when it comes out, everything tastes great like it is fresh. If you keep the oven temperature below 220 or so, you can use plastic containers or your regular dining plates because they won’t melt - it’s the same temperature as putting them in the dishwasher. I could reheat the same food more quickly (in about 10 min) if I put it in an oven-safe container and turned up the heat. The food stays moist because of the steam. They’re really good for roasting chicken or broiling fish because the outside gets crispy, but the inside doesn’t dry out. Anything that you’d cook in boiling water on the stove can also be cooked in it - pasta, rice, quinoa, oatmeal, etc. You can stick an egg in there and make a hard boiled egg in 6-7 min. You can steam veggies, fish, lobster. and lots of people use it to get a chewy crust on bread. many people get rid of their microwaves when they have a steam oven, but I still like having a microwave for my kids’ food or some frozen meals. My oven has preprogrammed recipes - for example, you can tell it that you want to cook salmon, broccoli, and rice, and have everything ready by 6pm. It will then tell you what time to put everything in so that it is all ready at the same time - the flavors don’t mix in a steam oven so you can cook fish and broccoli in the same oven without a problem. You can also use it for sous vide cooking because it has very low precise temperatures. So basically it can be used as a regular oven without stream, a pure steamer, a sous vide cooker, or a combination for anything that you want to bake/heat but keep moist. The Miele oven that I have has a plumbed water line so I don’t have to refill the tank. I’ve also used it as an extra warming spot when my warming drawer gets full because you can turn the temperature on very low....See MoreCarrie Mulcahy
6 years ago
gotgoatmilk
6 years agoI was going to do the same thing in my remodel - turn my pantry into double ovens. Until I realized that I'd really rather have the pantry space. So instead I put in a 36" range and mw drawer in the island.
The mw drawer is really easy to clean. I bought some silicone covers - I always keep one in the mw and my family knows to put it over anything they heat. The bottom wipes easily and I just run a damp rag over the top on occasion. No harder to clean than a regular mw. They are however, much more expensive... I used to have a small simple mw in my pantry - that's always an option as well.
I love my pantry now. Pull out shelves on the top half and large drawers on the bottom half. My pantry had been on the open end of the kitchen so I turned it sideways, making it it shallower (24") and wider (42"). The pictures are from right when it was finished. Its a bit fuller and messier now, but I still love how it functions!
Carrie Mulcahy thanked gotgoatmilk- PRO
RL Relocation LLC
6 years ago Carrie Mulcahy
6 years ago
sherri1058