Agreed, it's huge for most ordinary households. OTOH, it means you could store things less densely - assuming you are organized and disciplined. If you or family members tend to untidiness, overly large storage areas are an invitation to save or buy things that you shouldn't. When planning storage, I recommend starting by thinking about what is the reasonable amount you need based on the way you live, and size that way - no larger.

yes 1/2 that size is still large.

I would love to have an organized storage room in the garage. As above, the decision should depend on your storage needs.

Yes.

I was tempted to post a picture of my pantry at the farmhouse, which is about 70 sq ft. But all it would show is how over the years it's become about 25% actual pantry space and 75% storage closet ;-0.

Thank you everyone! I'm thinking the storage room in the garage would be the best option, that way we could store our outdoor things like tents, beach chairs, etc.

A large pantry next to the kitchen is very useful. Ours is 8’x15’

I think it is never too big. I had a townhome with a walk in pantry...maybe 8x 10? I have missed it thru new builds and especially in my civil war era home now. If you can put almost all the counter appliances and stuff as well as all the food you will be happy!

Depends on what you will be doing in there.

I live rurally, so I really don't want to head off to a supermarket every third day or something. I also plan on canning and dehydrating, and storing food for winter storms.

This really truly depends on your needs. If you live suburban, or urban: 6 x 14 is probably too big. (But.... how many kids or other family members do you have living there?) HOW do you want to live, prepare future meals, and/or stock up for winter?

Put in counters for appliances and prep

My pantry is 8X11 and I wouldn’t want it any smaller. I keep food, larger pans/pots, and the cookbooks that I don’t use quite as often. Plus, we live rurally so not having to drive to town everyday to go to the grocery store is a plus.

Well, that IS much bigger than a lot of NYC kitchens in their entirety! Only you know what needs to be stored in there. Do you live 150 miles from a grocery store and only shop once a month? Do you home can and have a huge collection of jars? Do you have a China addiction and have 15 12 place settings of Doulton? Is it a combo pantry and home office?

To analyze size needs, you have to analyze functional needs. And also what amount of resources you are willing to devote to those needs. Expense has to yield a return via that space getting heavily used, as it isn’t a primary living space.

Excellent answer. It's easy to say, "More storage is always good", but -- yes -- the question needs to be addressed in the context of the whole house's needs /not just the kitchen storage needs ... and the budget ... and the activities that'll happen in this space. Yes, some pantries also include a pocket office, while others are pantry /laundries ... and others are JUST pantries. We don't know what the OP is planning.

Agreed, it's huge for most ordinary households. OTOH, it means you could store things less densely - assuming you are organized and disciplined.

Good point. If this space would mean your plates can be stored in a single stack (instead of stacking plates -salad plates -bowls all in one big stack), it would be quite useful. On the other hand, if you'd use this space to hold onto excessive clutter that never gets used, it'd be a bad thing.

Consider, too, that you're going to have to clean this pantry out a couple times a year. More storage = more things to move /dust.

Thank you everyone! I'm thinking the storage room in the garage would be the best option, that way we could store our outdoor things like tents, beach chairs, etc.

Okay, you have an answer: large-but-not-excessive pantry for the kitchen AND large-but-not-excessive exterior storage for other items. Sensible.

Ours is 9.5.x12 but is a scullery rather than just pantry. It has base cabs on 3 walls plus uppers on two 12' long opposing walls with a sink & DW on the end opposite the door. It not only serves as storage but perhaps more important is where all dirty dishes can go when we're entertaining. It can also serve as an alternate prep area, storage of prepared trays, or whatever.

Something good about your long thin one is that you could do base + uppers along one wall and then shallow cabinets or shelves along the other. We have some shallow 4" deep cabinets that we love because EVERYTHING is at the front.

I don't know what just happened to that... and I have no idea how to erase a comment on the app. Oh well.
Just as my husband doesn't think a garage is ever too big, I feel similarly about pantries. Haha

FWIW, that’s twice as big as the walk in closet in my master bedroom.

Not necessarily too big. You could fit a spare refrigerator and a big freezer in there. So, it depends on what you want in there and how you're going to use it. If you garden, a sink for cleaning up fresh produce would be nice. Room to set up a dehydrator. I have to fetch the dehydrator & large Nesco roaster out of the basement when I want to use them. And the pressure canner, jars, etc. Would be great to have them close to the kitchen & on the same level.

It sounds like your pantry is morphed into more of a 'butlers pantry'? A space for dishes, seasonal linens etc. How do you live? Would one large catch all storage space suit your needs or are a few smaller dedicated spaces more your need/style? The comments about what you will store, collect are value statements IMHO. If you like your gadgets then you need more space and you are allowed to have all you want!! Only you can evaluate how much space you NEED. I think it is a fair thought to think now that you have a home with more space than an apartment you will find you have needs and wants that weren't a thing before.

Mine's L shaped, about 7 feet deep and about 7 feet long, with a good 3 x 4 foot area "removed" for the basement stairs that eventually go underneath it. I keep my upright freezer in there, (door is left open entering the pantry for ventilation except when I entertain). I keep canning supplies, dehydrator, KitchenAid, paper towels/extra foils and wraps in here - as well as grains/flours and canned goods. Just organize yours systematically, and don't lose track of what you've got.

Yes, mine is bigger than my walk in closet. But now that I'm rural, I'm happy with it.

If you don’t have a separate storage area outdoors (shed, etc) then having a space for bikes/tents/tools, etc will be good. It doesn’t have to be half, but done space for sure

I like making a pantry as wide as a shelf on both sides and a walkway down the center, and as deep as needed to store the things that need to be stored. I plug in numbers dependent upon the client.

My pantry, and the cheap cabinets in it, make my kitchen better and more functional, while still allowing more spending on it.

I prefer galley kitchens, as they fit my style of cooking. However, all the utensils, cookwear, gadgets, and appliances would leave little room for an efficient galley. Additionally, kitchen cabinets and counters are expensive, spending thousands on a home for a kettle I use 2 times per year makes less economic sense than just rebuying the kettle 2 times a year (I am really not advocating creating more waste).

A large working pantry allows reasonable storage for those items I only use a few times per month or less. Cheaper cabinetry and counters results in a net savings. It also serves as a prep area for me and a slow cooking space that limits the odors throughout the house.

So personally, I love them, but to each their own.

I dislike walk in pantries IMO they waste space and always end up being the catch all for stuff that was never meant to be in the pantry like cleaning stuff , 50 rolls of toilet paper. Pull out pantries provide more storage per sq. ft more organization and are handy in the actual work zone. I do however like the idea of storage in a garage for many things as you mentioned since those should never be in a pantry. If you have space for a butlers pantry that is a whole different thing used completely differently those I love.IMO that plan is 84 sq feet that IMO could be used much better. I would of course need to see a floor plan of your propsed kitchen too.

Well...if the pantry was, say, 1000 SF or so, you could live in it and skip the house.

Just an idea...

I dislike walk in pantries IMO they waste space and always end up being
the catch all for stuff that was never meant to be in the pantry like
cleaning stuff , 50 rolls of toilet paper.

Why shouldn't you plan a spot for cleaning stuff or bulk-purchased paper products in a pantry?

Because cleaning supplies and food should not be in the same space and a pantry IMO is not the place for all the bulk products you buy at Costco they need a different spot pantries are for things you eat or small appliances you use seldom.

none of these pictures gives me a sense of remorse for wasted space...

Collins Pantry · More Info

Custom Designed Pantry With Various Storage Areas · More Info

Wide Open Spaces · More Info

at 6 feet wide you can have a counter on one side, a 3-foot walking aisle, and 12in of shelves on the other. I love the idea of the counter for small appliances that may get used regularly, Etc. I would absolutely create that space in the garage, but don't let anyone bully you into thinking a large pantry is a problem. Pffffft. I come from a family that always had a lot of food in storage; I now have a family of 6 that I cook for constantly and I really enjoy baking. I buy flour and sugar and rice etc at Costco/Sam's. Bring on an amazing pantry. obviously not everyone shops or cooks the same, but a large pantry is most definitely on a great deal of people's wish lists.

Because cleaning supplies and food should not be in the same space and a pantry IMO is not the place for all the bulk products you buy at Costco they need a different spot pantries are for things you eat or small appliances you use seldom.

This is an opinion (you even said IMO), and it's a perfectly good one -- but it is not a fact. The Pantry Police don't exist, and you're allowed to plan your own pantry to incorporate whatever storage /functions you prefer.

at 6 feet wide you can have a counter on one side, a 3-foot walking aisle, and 12in of shelves on the other. I love the idea of the counter for small appliances that may get used regularly, Etc.

Jordyn, those are some lovely pantries. I'd be happy to own any of them (though I do kinda wonder who'd eat all those apples and potatoes before they'd go bad).

I have a walk-in pantry but would love it to be wider so that there could be lower drawers with a countertop, and deeper shelves so I could store larger things like the turkey roaster, bread machine, and other large things that are currently on my pantry floor in the back. But I do not store cleaning products in there bc I don't want cleaning products near food. I store a few things under the kitchen sink, but most of the cleaning supplies are in the laundry room which has good cabinetry and storage. I would really like the MW to be in the pantry bc it is not used very often and I hate the look of them in the kitchen. About the garage storage. We store our camping and beach supplies in very large boxes against the garage wall instead of in a cabinet or on shelves bc these items are only accessed a couple times a year. We do keep the ice chests and baseball gear readily accesible, with small ice chests in pantry and large ones on top of the camping boxes in garage bc those are used all year long. So carving out some of your pantry space for garage stuff? Hmmm, it's your house, and only you know how your family lives, but I would vote for pantry. It's such a luxury.

my pantry will be 6.5x12. Now I'm wondering if it's too small. LOL We plan on laying it out like Mrs. Pete suggests.

Yes. More than a few overweight Americans have found that they cannot live in some flats in Europe because they simply cannot fit in to some of the spaces like narrow Kitchens and bathrooms.

It's the tacos...

Pretty sure.

My biggest concern in this realm is headroom.

When the aisle square footage is bigger than the storage square footage, the pantry is too big.

When the aisle in it is longer than the main hall in the home, it’s too big.

When you can fit a queen sized bed in it. It’s too big.

When you start putting “cooking stations” inside it, it’s too big.

When you have a walk in pantry, scullery, butlers pantry, and larder, you live in Downton Abbey, and it’s not big enough, because you forgot the servant’s quarters for the 15 that will need to be there full time to take care of m’lady’s needs.

Hey Kadi,

You probably have to reflect on how you live and how you want to use the space. A ton of people will tell you that pantry is huge and what a waste yada yada. My wife and I are preparing to build a house and after much debate.... the walk through pantry is 16'x6.5'. This is its own special place in the house and we want it to be absolutely beautiful. You have a very similar size to ours. We will do full depth counters around the outside wall (Big L shape) and either 12" or 18" deep shelving or cabinets on the inside wall, which is about 10' in length. 3.5' walkway.

We plan using a library ladder so we can put shelves up to the ceiling, which is 10' high.

We'll also be roughing in a sink, but we may just put one in. Haters will hate, this is a huge pantry and would be a 3 sink kitchen for a 2 person house hold. We're not rich. We just love to cook and we love to cook together so we put serious thought into what we want our future work space to look like for years to come. Our kitchen/living space (open floor plan) is a serious priority for us in our design.

We have received all sorts of feedback about our pantry, a lot of it negative. Those people did give us hesitation at first, but maybe ask to see their kitchens/ pantries and talk about how they cook, as then you can most likely dismiss their advice. We realized that the majority of kitchens we went through belonged to people that store more "food" than ingredients.

My spreadsheet has 30 appliances on it that should either be on the counter, or easily accessible. Almost all of these things (microwave, toaster, coffee maker etc) go in the pantry as we do not want any counter clutter in the actual kitchen. When we have the space we generally have 5 types of flour, 5 types of sugar, a huge variety of chilies, nuts, beans, lentals, etc. We want everything to have its place and every ingredient to be easily accessible. We are minimizing over head cabinetry in the kitchen - I prefer the cleaner look and my wife is short and anything but the very first shelf is wasted space without a step ladder or her sous chef (me).

All of that said... Maybe you have too small of pantry? Maybe you need a sink in there for the coffee maker and quick wipe downs? Only you will know. :-)

Absolutely right. See my earlier post about living in your pantry and forgetting the rest of your house.

PS: Don't forget room for a bed.

(though I do kinda wonder who'd eat all those apples and potatoes before they'd go bad).

My youngest child, if I don't keep her out of them. She would insist that the potatoes be prepare in mashed format, however. Although it's not always a great idea to store apples around other produce, as they give off a gas that speeds ripening/rotting.

The answer to pantry size really, truly depends on what you intend to do with it. I have space in mine planned out, and I really wish it could be bigger. OTOH, it gives me more motivation to eventually build a root cellar, which is better for storing a lot of produce.

Regarding 6' x 7' as 'too large' is a particularly urban/daily shopper way to think about storage space. If you're further from those resources, or put up a lot of produce, it's fundamentally small. Even IF you move the linens, dishes, etc. to another area. Much the way buying a side of beef once a year requires more freezer space than buying a cut for dinner a couple times a week.

It's actually useful to go to an open house/parade home with a walk-in pantry, and measure one shelf (or area of shelf). Go home and cut out a piece of kraft paper or newspaper that size. Stack on it one layer of canned goods/cannister/etc. - whatever you intend to store in your pantry. Jot down notes on how much "stuff" this section accommodates. Now, figure out how much area YOUR pantry will have, in relation. Then calculate how much stuff can be stored at once. How does this related to how you prefer your pantry to BE stocked?

Other questions include, do you intend to tuck a spare 'fridge or freezer into your pantry? (I wish I had room for one of each).

Which appliances will you tuck in there, and do you want room to USE them in the pantry?

Would dishes/linens/etc be more likely to see use on your table if you put them in a built-in or movable hutch, closer to your table?

So many good responses here. It really depends on how you live, shop, and cook. How many people inhabit your house?

I’m right in the middle of designing and installing the pantry in our reno, which is being added to an existing laundry room off the kitchen. The previous owner just used it as a shoe closet and it was a lot of wasted space, but we have designed it to hold extraneous appliances, Costco paper goods (diapers, wipes, paper towels, toilet paper), hay for our bunnies, a can rack/dispenser, and then an assortment of dried ingredients and foodstuffs.

There are soon to be nine of us here, of course our pantry needs were different than one widower. And if you family tends to be larger or cook a lot, as ours does, planning needs to be done.

There is no reason a 6x14 pantry would be too large for someone like ME, but it could very well be a poor use of space for someone like YOU.

So my suggestion is that you map out, list style, everything you expect your pantry to hold. Then you need to mentally transpose that onto shelves, pullouts, counters, drawers, etc. That‘s the only way you’ll be able to tell if you have too much or too little space for what you need, and how best to utilize the space.

Going with that list to a kitchen designer is also a fantastic idea if you aren’t a DIYer. But you’re going to get the best use of your square footage if you design for your own real life needs and use, not just ask randos on the internet to make judgements based on imaginary parameters for you :)

My question would be - does this large pantry take away from anything else that could benefit from some sq ft? A powder room or garage storage or the kitchen itself?? Sometimes a pantry is a certain size because of how the rest of the home is laid out... check all spaces before giving a thumbs up!

Mine is about 8’x12’, and, while I recognize that it’s larger than most people have, I don’t feel like it’s crazy big. We do have a large family (6) and we live 20 minutes from a grocery store, so I definitely utilize it.

Along with all the food, it houses our daily-used Keurig and small, rarely used appliances, stores extra dishes and serving ware (I have a weakness for vintage!) and our backup paper goods and cleaning supplies.

Just a tip: one of my favorite things is that we installed a motion-activated light switch, so when I walk in with my arms full, the lights turn on automatically. It’s awesome.

I designed a pantry once that the shelves on one side of the pantry room was also accessible from the kitchen behind cabinet doors. So those shelves could be stocked from the pantry side and unloaded from the kitchen side. Great for rotating stock.

My pantry is about that size, but it is more of a "back kitchen". It has an L shaped counter top with a sink and dishwasher, and my ovens. I really love it. I keep all my small appliances back there, and that is where the kids snacks and stuff are. I store seasonal/extra dishes and platters elsewhere.

Mark Bischak,

I love stuff like that! I don't think we're going to be able to have a door from our master closet to the laundry room, but because it shares a wall I'm trying to come up with a nice way to pass laundry baskets through. If we have to walk around I'd at least like to not ever carry anything. :-)

How is anyone supposed to provide good advice on this matter without any additional information? We have no idea what your lifestyle is. Do you eat out 7 nights a week or cook for a family of 6? I don't have the superpower to see into your world and I am not sure anyone else on this forum does.

On the other hand, you are building a home. I assume you are living in a home now. How much room do you need? How many cupboards and drawers do you have? How many will the new home have. What size pantry do you have now? Does your stuff fit into your current space, do you have excess storage or not enough? Are you planning to expand your family? You own the information needed to make this decision.