I think 18" will be fine--especially if you won't have pullout shelves. Items easily get lost in 24" deep shelves and you have to hunt through and move stuff around to get to things in the back. As a matter of fact, if you browse the threads discussing non-pullout pantries, many people prefer 12" deep pantries...everything is out in the open.

From personal experience, we had fixed 18" wire shelves in our old pantry and they were too deep--I still had the problem of hunting through and moving stuff around. In our new pantry, I will have wood shelves with one wall of 18" deep shelves for my small appliances; the long wall will only be 12" or 15" deep...I haven't decided yet. (In my old kitchen I used the almost useless base cabinets for my appliances...and had to squat down and look for them as those cabs only had one 1/2 fixed shelf!)

HTH!

18". The items are more accessible, and you have other compelling reasons to get the 18" shelves.

We have mostly 12" deep shelves in our walk-in pantry, and they work very well. I use some bins that we can pull out like drawers to keep small items & packets corralled.

I have 12" deep panties:

I would urge you to go to a big box / kitchen center and experiment with reaching into the 24" d pantries. They just seem soooo deep. Before settling on our 1950 fixer, we looked at a lot of new construction. Most had a token pantry cabinet, usually 18" w and 24" d, which I just KNEW would be a pain. Our last house had a wall of 12" d, 30" w pantries and I loved loved loved the easy access. So glad we were able to fit in some pantries in our new kitchen. My vote then, is for the 18" pantries, which seem to offer both easy access and lots of useful storage.

I have 16" shelves in my utility room and things get lost in the back of that. The uppers in my hutch are 15" deep and those are plenty deep (four glasses, 3 on larger stems, so 4 cans deep?). I definitely would NOT do 24" without pullouts. So I vote 18" between those two, but agree that 12" or 15" might be even better.

Abbeycat, I'm sure you meant to say 'pantries'!! I'm sure there's some elementary school insult to be used here, but I can't think of it :-)

I have the same 12 inch cabinets as the picture above and I LOVE them. I might be able to cope with 18, but 24 would be like caves.

I had a 24" deep pantry in the kitchen we just took out...

I would never want such a deep pantry. I never knew what was in there. The stuff in the back was old and outdated by the time I got around to fishing back there. I ended up buying a lot of stuff that I already had because I didn't know I had it with such a deep cabinet.

I would go anywhere from 12" to 18" for your pantry.

i have 15 inch deep ones on one wall and 24 inch deep on the opposite wall

the 24 inch deep ones have pull out shelves without them they would be a nightmare of items lost in the dark depths

I'd never consider using them with out at least some sliding shelves

I have 24" deep pantry cabinets with both stationary and pullout shelves. Way too deep, like mamadadapaige I am always re-buying things I already have.

One of the main reasons I redid my kitchen was to get pullouts for the pantries, I now have one 24" and one 21" pantry with pullouts and I love them!!!

My two old pantry closets were about 36" deep with stationary shelves and each door was only 15" wide, I have pullout everything now, but would not do without the pantry pullouts. I think if you can't swing pullouts, you might seriously consider the 12" depth and go wider if you can...

Good luck!

I have an 18" pantry. The inside shelves are 13" deep plus we have 4"deep shelves on the doors. This makes for very convenient storage. Our older pantry was deeper with fewer shelves and I was always losing things and rebuying stuff that had gotten buried. Here's a look at how we designed ours. It's very easy to find things. Good luck.

{{!gwi}}

Mine is 24" and there are times when I wish we'd either sprung for the pull out shelves or gone with a shallower pantry. Still, I do like my pantry.

The one drawback to the pullout shelves is that some of them have a weight limit. We're even careful which shelves get the canned goods, and which ones get anything glass, as shelves held up by little plastic pins have a tendency to fall down.

One hint with deeper shelves is to practice good rotation and also plan well, where things go. For instance, things that could go bad or that harden (syrups, honey) go in a different cabinet than the really deep pantry.

Just some thoughts,

DonnaR/CA

so, I want 18" deep pantry cabinets, but cannot find them ANYwhere! My folks have two in their home that are 18" deep and 36" wide, but they were there when they bought the house and the previous owners are passed on. Any idea where to get them? I don't want "ready to assemble". I've done that too much in the past. thanks

Wow Gil, I love that pantry!

As a former professional kitchen designer, I feel that 18" is the great depth for a pantry. If you go 24", roll out shelving is a must. Even with roll out shelves, it is easy to forget items because they are not easy to see. I have both in my house and prefer the shallower version.