BUT, I know from shopping experiences that I am completely and totally incapable of pulling a shirt out of a stack without destroying the whole stack. I solved this for my DD by rolling shirts and then standing them on end, so they're always visible and nothing's on the bottom. I know I get dust on the shoulders of the seldom-worn stuff in my closet--but I also leave the closet door open a lot, which makes it a little bit worse. I think I'd go for the combination of open cubbyholes and drawers: -underwear, socks, small stuff in drawers; -open cubbies for the frequently worn T-shirts & sweaters; -drawers for seldom-worn specialty stuff that I don't need to see to remember to wear--stuff like the three knock-around T-shirts I've got, or the two sweatshirts I own for chilly days, or the one pair of sweatpants. -Maybe even specialty stuff like evening gowns (I own 1 of them, but wear it to weddings) can go in a drawer, if I move the other stuff out to make room. Hmmm..this is an interesting idea... It helps a lot, w/ dust, not to own too many things! And I agree that cubbies would be a good way to keep stuff from sliding or falling over. You'd still have the "bottom of the stack" problem, though you could roll shirts, etc. Or, I find that most of the stuff ont he hangers is stuff I seldom wear--so if it could go in a drawer, I could hang all my T-shirts, probably....Hmmm..

I think you are thinking this through well. I would put the deeper shelves in the middle (easier to see and get to). Measure what you want to store in the pantry and make the shelves deep and tall enough for that. I stored lots of can goods in my last pantry (in the boxes they were sold in) that fit on an 11 in deep shelf. My newer pantry had shelves tall enough to use a canned goods storage container that works better. I had shorter shelves for foil and plastic wrap and sandwich bags. I store paper towels on the floor along with grocery bags. We used quality shelving in our pantry and it held up really well.

I've been wondering about a layout and didn't have time to try it until today's naptime :-) Did you explore with your architect placing the laundry and powder room between the kitchen and the garage? I realized I was looking at the kitchen and living room as totally separate rooms, but if they are open to each other, I don't see reason why the walk-behind space at the island seating can't be in the living room. The beige stripe is just how I started the drawing by lining up the pantry door/wall with the dining room doorway. I apologize the drawings aren't more clearly communicated. I'm just using Ikea and paint. I didn't mess with upper cabinets or pantry cabs. Benefits of this layout... You don't require the mudroom bump out into the garage; maybe you can have more garage storage or more space to walk around cars This pantry looks like it could be beautiful with the window and your dream pantry door. Room for 36" cooktop and double oven, microwave might go in pantry? Shorter distance from cooktop and oven to butler's pantry/dining room for staging meals. Laundry room and bathroom are located privately and noises are far from TV viewing and eating areas. Toilet near back door is a plus if you have little kids. Bigger mudroom? Counter seating for six if you wanted. Seems a bit much to me, so I might put a 15" deep drawer base on the refrigerator end. Negatives of this layout: Walk thru powder to get to laundry--my best friends house is set up like this and I assure you its not a problem. She's a working mom and when home their house is crawling with middle school boys. Farther walk from stairs to laundry room for hauling laundry. Patio door is a bit crowded.

I was messing around in Sketchup can came up with this layout using hanging towers. The middle rod would hold dresses and unused dressy clothing for both of us. I'd skip putting in the bottom rods to see how it works with just the top first. If the bottom rods aren't needed, then the laundry basket and perhaps a shoe system would go there. The towers have adjustable shelves using pegs. Top shelf would be 12in from ceiling, and with a 72" hanging tower, that would give about 12" off the floor. Currently we just keep a carry on bag on our top shelf. Thoughts?