Not Your Grandma’s Pantry Cabinet
The memories of people whose Grandma actually did have a pantry cabinet are probably warm ones. Here were stored her breads, her preserves and jams, her cakes and cookies. The smell was irresistible. But those jams and preserves were not just there to delight grandchildren. In the days before fridges and freezers, they were necessary for the family when the harvest was done and times grew lean. When their purpose was diminished, so was the idea of pantries.
Pantry Cabinet Styles: Style Options
A while ago, pantries were separate closets or even separate rooms. Now, they can be built into the kitchen, or there can be a space near the kitchen that can be converted into a pantry. But like every other space in the house, they have to be planned out to save time, money and energy. Some kitchens are built with pantries, but if a homeowner doesn’t have room in their kitchen and decides they want one, they might do well to have their kitchen remodeled, or to set up a pantry in the basement. These pantries can be made of nothing fancier than steel shelves that can hold cans, boxes, mason jars and kitchen supplies.
Pantry Cabinet Styles: Materials
Any sort of material can be used to make the cabinet. They can be made out of wood, plywood, steel, or an enamel coated metal. The prettiest and most familiar ones seem to be made out of wood like birch or other sort of hardwood and attractively stained.
Pantry Cabinet Styles: Custom vs. Stock Options
Some pantry cabinets are ingeniously built, though stock pantries nowadays are built into the kitchen wall, with deep, plain and durable shelves hidden behind plain and durable cabinet doors with nice hardware. Some pantries are custom made to fit into the smallest possible space in the kitchen. They can be wall high but only a few inches wide, and they surprise by actually being slide out drawers within which are arranged canned and boxed goods stored one deep. Other pantries are walk in, with folding doors with inside shelves, rather like a refrigerator. Others can be folded up and wheeled around on tracks. Others have space saving, slide-out shelves and drawers, turntables, baskets and pegboards. In some, a light automatically goes on when the doors are opened so the cook can see what’s there.
Pantry Cabinet Styles: How to Organize
The pantry should be organized according to the needs of the person who uses it the most. For example, much used items shouldn’t be on a high shelf if the person who uses them is short. Some cooks like to see everything they need laid out before them, while others prefer a cabinet with folding doors that can be pushed out of the way when not in use. The cook should have a sort of filing system so they can find what they need quickly. Perhaps the spices can go on the right side of the pantry and the cans of soup can go on the turntable and the baking items like flour and baking soda and sugar can go in another area.
The cook might also want to keep an area for guests. These shelves might be filled with snack foods, or foods that are ready to go into the microwave, or can be prepared quickly, like ramen noodles. It also helps to have a little blackboard near the shelves so the cook can jot down what needs to be replaced. The pantry cabinet should be evaluated regularly to see what is and isn’t used. Spices don’t last long, generally. Those that haven’t been used for years should be tossed and spices that are used every day, like black pepper, might be bought in bulk.
