Soshh, the counters are Formica laminate, Basalt Slate in a honed finish with the Futura edge (just a basic curved top and bottom with the center part straight) for a simple look. I really like soapstone, but couldn't justify the price right now. I've always had formica in the 33 years since I've been married. Mom always had it and the kitchen in this house came with the original white formica with little gold specks in it! It was still stuck down tight and in good condition after many, many years. A couple years ago I got really tired of the gold specks, so I decided to do a dark faux finish on the top to see if I'd actually like the contrast, and I had lots of complements on it. I liked it so much I wasn't in a hurry to put in new ones (I hate making decisions!). Well, it was time, so I had to make those tough decisions and decided to just go for it. I really wanted to keep the kitchen and butler's pantry in line with the age of the house. We have original pine floors in most rooms and the original tin roof (now painted barn red), so I couldn't do anything too fancy. Here is a photo of the original counters Here is the faux finish I did to hold us over till now. Note: I WILL NOT be keeping this green wall paint. It was a wrong color choice and hurts my eyes when the lights are on (similar to how ears hurt from fingernails on blackboards :) Close up of faux finish. I like the color the green looks when the overhead lights are off, but I can't use my kitchen with the lights off :) Hey, I should tell DH that and we can just eat out! So now we have to figure out how to do the Basalt Slate Formica in the kitchen. We are keeping the old farmhouse sink, stains and all (still trying to figure out about reglazing or not). The counters are shorter and less deep than todays countertops. I definately want to keep the original cabinets, but raise the tops and make them a little deeper. I've seen this done by putting a "filler) on the top of the cabinets (they need to come up about 2 inches) then putting on a deeper counter top (ours will be about 2-3 inches deeper than original and placing a strip of crown molding underneath the new counter top to the cabinet fronts. That is how we plan to do it, but we have to figure out the sink area. We will probably have to build out a box under the window, extending the window sill a couple inches and mount the sink on the front of the box. I'll probably use white tile around that area. If anyone has any ideas on that, please chime in! Terry Terry

Late to this thread but your BPantry shares a lot in common with what we're contemplating. Can you share dimensions of: 1. width of floor 2. width (i.e., depth) of each countertops 3. width (ie, depth) of cabinets? And do you recommend any changes to those for a de novo project? We're considering: 40-42" for the floor width - do not want it too wide or there is lost efficiency of movement; but of course do not want to be confined when a drawer is opened; 18" deep countertops - this is, after all not the kitchen, but is a clean-up and storage area. But if we do not place the d/w at the nether dead-end of this long room (we may or may not), then at least one counter will of course need be the requisite 24 for the d/w 15" & 18" deep cabinets. Thanks for your and any others' advice...perhaps we will begin a thread of its own.

I don't have a walk-in but I love having a spot on the wall in my pantry (a plug) to hang my little dyson stick vac. The rest of my cleaning items (steamer, vacuum, brooms etc) are in a place a little more remote but it's handy having the vac hanging on the charger since that's the one I use at least every day. I would also keep a convenient spot for my step ladder, even though I'm not exactly short, it's still handy to have near the kitchen. My current house is an old farm house [it completely lacks storage] so the few little closets I do have end up storing lots of random stuff so I have drawer for batteries, flashlights, extension cords, tape, random household tools/nails (so I don't have to go out to the detached garage to hang a picture or change the batteries in a kid's toy.) Not saying that is ideal persay, but depending on your situation and floorplan just something to consider. Oldbat's pantry is gorgeous, but I think I'd go insane when nothing was ever put back in it's proper spot! LOL perhaps it's just easier on my anxiety to just have it a free for all to begin with!

There will be shelves and/or cabinets along the wall opposite the pantry sink and on the wall to the right that is out of view and along the wall opposite the w/d wall. The oversized hutch that will go on the bare wall is mostly storage. It’s actually a large antique pantry cabinet. And another pantry cabinet to the right of the frig which will be mostly drawers. I put a pocket door in on purpose to kind of make the pantry an extension of the kitchen. It will be open most of the time I’m sure. Presently, we have our drop in range in our island. We hate the range itself, but we really like it there, but I didn’t want the stove in the island this time. I wanted to keep the island top clear of obstruction. So the oven in it will be what we’re used to. The oven in the pantry idea came up because a lot of our cook ware can be stored in the pantry and I started to see others doing it. One of my favorite kitchens on Houzz has the oven in the pantry. As far as shrinking the pantry and utility, not really if you are referring to the bare “hutch” wall. It’s a modular and that wall cannot be moved. I could move the wall opposite the pantry sink, but we want a large utility room. Ours is big now and I wouldn’t want it any smaller. We have a lot of pets. Our utility/laundry room is packed with pet supplies and litter pans. We’re hoping to put the litter pans in the basement in the new house however, hoping the old gang will catch on.