Thursday, August 12, 2010

The Pantry Takes Shape

A pantry is a wonderful thing to have.  It's where you hide those awful plastic thermos jugs and the dogfood, plus the brooms, mops and the Swiffer.  Also it's a good place to stash liquor and the potato chips.  And, if you happen to have any- it's where you put the canned goods.

In our old house we had a walk-in pantry--what a luxury.  The previous owner said the reason she bought that house was the walk-in pantry--she had two boys, so I believed her.  Since we loved that pantry and knew it was a good selling point, we realized we had to include one in this house--not as big, but as roomy as possible.

Here is it, tucked into the corner next to the fridge.  Luckily we had a door we could reuse, complete with crystal door knob and hardware.


We labored over what to do for shelves--should we go with the wire racks from Lowe's or maybe build wooden shelves?
I thought something almost industrial or from a professional kitchen would go with the "look" we were after.

Here's some inspiration:

(McAlpine Tankersly Architecture)


(Briggs Shelving)


(Restoration Hardware)



(Restoration Hardware Baker's Rack)


And finally the "in the flesh" shelves from Ikea.
  I liked the "professional kitchen" style and thought it would go with the other parts of our kitchen.



Of course since nothing is easy these turned out to be 3 inches too long. But the style was right.
We found that Ikea sells wooden shelves for these units--and we could cut them down to fit.

I spent 3 long hot--very hot steamy sweaty--days priming and painting.
Here's what we wound up with:



There's a touch of the industrial with the adjustible metal hangers.
Not exactly a match for the inspiration, but we gave it a shot.


Next time I'll measure the shelves and then build the pantry.
Right.

Later,
Patti