This topic has been beaten to death, actually.
Why open a door to pull out a narrower drawer? Just get the drawers.

Well, pantries don't always come with drawers. Many times you're choosing between stationary shelves and pull-outs. I have two 86" tall x 24"w and deep pantries with five lower pull out drawers and two upper shelves and I love love love them. They make my relatively deep cabinets useable.

I think I misspoke.
Why open a door to pull out a narrower flat thing with stuff on it when you can just pull out a drawer?

Pull-outs are better than drawers in the upper part of a pantry because you can see in from the front and sides. Bottom part, I agree, drawers if possible. I definitely wouldn't just get stationary shelves unless the shelves were Jo more than 12" deep.

CEF, me too. It's late. I meant to say I have five pull-out shelves (not drawers) and two stationary shelves.

You can make your own version of a pantry by buying a drawer base and adding 24" deep uppers, but that's not really a pantry.

I think pull out shelves are essential in a tall pantry.

The pantry we are putting in has 3 drawers in the bottom, 2 pullout shelves in the middle and stationary shelves in the uppermost part (which I can't reach anyway.)

Never having used drawers in a pantry before, how do you store foods so you can clearly see what is in there? I like to put all my dry foods in glass jars but right now I have visions of only seeing lids as I look down in those drawers. Am I over thinking this?

In my last home, I had tall pantry doors that looked better than drawers since they were so tall, it would have looked very odd to have drawers at eye level and a little above hence the doors and pullouts. I loved them and would highly recommend them. You can stagger the heights such as you can have one or two tall enough to handle tall bottles of olive oil or storage for vases that type of thing and then you can have them closer together for spices and in the end it all works out to the same amount. Why worry about the lost space if the space that is left is not easy to get at and frustrating to access? Just in my humble opinion, I'd rather have space that is easy to use and looks the way I prefer than tons of space that aggravates me and doesn't quite look the way I had hoped. In the end I have too much stuff anyway, lol. It makes me edit down. But to the question, yes, I highly recommend pullouts for those areas that it just makes more sense to have doors instead of drawers. : )
Good luck with your new kitchen!

I had a pantry with a door, and deep wire shelves. It took up 42" of wall space, i replaced with a 36" wide tall cabinet pantry, four roll-outs on the bottom, two shelves above. I am neither thrilled nor deeply disappointed with the change. I do think the cabinet looks better than my old drywall pantry, I dont think it holds as much, but what it does hold I can see pretty easily. I do worry about taller things tipping over with the movement, but so far that hasnt happened at all. I dont know that I would have used drawers here, that does limit your sight to top down, but I agree with why open two doors and pull out a shelf! (With mine being 36" wide, it is two doors to open.) I switched most of my other lowers to drawers. My GC thought I would love the change, but I'm just meh about it functionally, I do prefer it asthetically.

One thing I sort of miss, my old pantry held the dog food tub sitting (on the floor), no place for it in my new kitchen so its out in the garage. But the kids feed the dogs so it is more of an inconvenience for them than me.

I've never seen drawers on tall pantries. I thought only options were pullouts or stationary shelves?

EAM44, OOTM, and any others, do you have photos?

Is this what everyone is picturing when they say pullout?

[Traditional Entry[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-entryway-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_741~s_2107) by New York Interior Designers & Decorators Cory Connor Designs

Versus pullout and stationairy, wire version:

[Contemporary Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2103) by Ocala Closet & Home Storage Designers ClosetMaid

I think about this daily as I have not chosen what I want yet, but will likely only have the option to do a style of door like the top one. Such an important room!

JK, mine is like the one on top, although it looks wider than mine. I have 2@24". It works much better than the closet I had before.

I'm in mid-reno and did both the drawer stack and tall pantry. It's a small kitchen without much storage space, so the reno design focused on a more efficient layout and storage. I think I tried to get the best of all worlds with versatile storage.

At this point, I really don't plan on using drawer stack for dry goods/foods. I'm still not sure if I should have done stationary shelves at top since pantry is soo tall (10 ft ceilings), but it is what it is for now.

I think if you're doing a skinny, deep pantry, pull-outs, as much as I find them annoying, are logical.

If you've to 21" cabinets (and we don't know if they're base, or tall here) I think drawers are more logical.

The pantry mentioned above with drawer below, pull-outs mid, and fixed shelves upper is a great design, I think. I laugh at some of these lingerie chests because who can see into a drawer that's 5-6' off the ground? Kitchen -- the same.

scpalmetto, simply write the contents on the lids of the jars.

Cool factor - pull out pantry. My DH loves to show ours off and was the best choice for our kitchen. We could have done a side access door but would have been awkward.
My DH loves his own shelves for his sports supplements as he could never find in the pantry closet (we still have the closet)

Functionality- I think shelves hold more but we still love our pullout.
It would be nice if a couple inches wider but not sure about weight limits.

Someone had one that had one side solid and open on the other which held more items.

I prefer having my dry goods in a pantry with multi-roll outs. I like having the ability to identify by sight what I need for a dish and pull them quickly from multiple shelves. Or, I like "shopping" my pantry for ideas on what to make. And, I like to have the most frequently used items on the upper shelves. I love my drawers, but not this purpose.

I don't buy the door opening issue, as it applies to this function. I would bet if everything was in drawers, I would spend more time labeling every single can and end up opening more than one drawer because I would not know exactly where I put something, even if everything was grouped by type.

I added a single pullout to the bottom of my pantry. Everything else is a stationary shelf to maximize width. I had planned on two pantries but had to nix one due to other budget choices.

We dispensed with the whole "pantry" idea and just put in drawers. Amazing how much food can fit into tall thin stack of drawers! The bottom two were our onion and potato storage, also extremely handy.

I like my ROTS (roll out tray shelves) inside doors lower pantry. It's floor to ceiling, so there's a break at shoulder level since cupboard doors don't come that tall. The upper part is just shelves, which is great, because it's easier to see what's on them while craning one's neck to see where to put the ladder.

The lower part is better because of the ROTS. Unlike with a drawer, once can see the labels of stuff that's standing up, which I prefer to stored flat on their backs for jars, cans and boxes. I also had them located at custom heights, which is probably why they're so great. They wouldn't be nearly as good if I had to make my stuff fit the size rather than vice versa.

Some are single can/short canister height. Some are tall bottle height. Some are in between. I stack stuff if I have to. It works. I don't put glass on top. :) Just don't get too rambunctious pulling them out. They do have soft closers, which probably helps. There are certain often used things where only one door needs to be opened and the ROTS doesn't need to be pulled out. Just like a regular shelf. I'm really glad I got them instead of drawers. I want to see every thing rather than opening closing opening closing opening closing.

Drawers makes sense, too. As do the old fashioned, U shaped shelves with the tall space in the middle for tall stuff.

Imagine your own self and family and future family. Build it out of cardboard. Consider the options and do what works best for you.

I love mine. It doesn't bug me at all to open the door first before I pull out the pull-outs.The benefit of the door and pull-out combo vs. drawers only on the tall pantry is that you can open the door and see all the shelves at once, rather than having to open each drawer individually when looking for something. If you are super-organized and always put everything in its given spot, that might not be an issue for you. I'm not that organized. Plus, I like the look of the door on a tall pantry.

Our pantry is very similar to the first picture in jkliveng's post. We have lots of drawers elsewhere but a pantry with pullouts works very well. You may lose a very small amount of space vs. stationary shelves, but you gain the ability to easily access everything in each pullout.

I love my pantries with rollouts. They each have three stationary shelves on top and four rollouts. They are 27" deep and 24" wide. There is a lot of dead space in the back which my DH uses for his beer making supplies and bulk stuff. One of my pantries is for food; the other is for appliances and platters.

Thanks everyone!! For all that love their pullouts if you had (2) 21" TALL pantries would you still put pullouts in both or just one?

both!

Ditto. Both.

The advantage of pull out shelves over drawers in a pantry is that you can change the heights of the sections as your needs change. With drawers you can't (or it is expensive).

You can avoid needing to stack things in the pull-outs while still using space pretty efficiently by getting some extra pull out shelves. For 24" deep, I'd rather be able to pull the shelf out than have to unload it to get to something in the back.

Since the rollout sides usually don't go all the way up, you can put the most used items at the front and take them out without pulling out the shelf. That's what I do with our most used oils in the pull out next to our rangetop.

I'd only do fixed shelves if I had some long not too heavy things that took up most of the cabinet. For example, there is no reason to put our cookie sheets and cooling racks on a roll out since they take pretty much the whole depth of the cabinet. Or perhaps a shelf where you stuff in the large packages of paper towels and tissues from the warehouse store.

I have two pantries, one with pullouts and one with fixed shelves but doors on 2 sides. I prefer the pantry with pullouts. It's much easier to see things in the back. I haven't really had a problem with things falling out or over. I do keep my cans and glass jars on the fixed shelves though, since I'm not sure how the heavier items might work in the pullouts.

Both, definitely!!

Both.

I've never had a client complain about rollout, as noted they are adjustable. When full nothing falls over but if kept partially empty a few ros can be done with higher sides.
Drawers are not adjustable, hold less, and there is no visual clue as to which one has what in in it.
The pricier alternative is a full pull out, convenience of a drawer but you see everything.

Have seen tons of just shelf pantries in kitchen being redone, every single person I've met so far wanted it changed. Only do shelves on low budget or when including brooms and such.

I'd do both in rollouts.

You may want to make a 'fill in the cabs' step by finding a home/placement for everything you are going to want to store in the new kitchen. That way you may feel more comfortable that you'll have a home for everything. I did that before placing cab order and it was actually fun!

Those of you with pullouts: are the slides full-extension ball bearing or the old fashioned roller slides? I'm going to be retrofitting our fixed shelf pantry with DIY pullouts. The ball bearing slides are probably the better option, but they're much more expensive and a lot fussier to work with. I looked at Home Depot yesterday, and the display cabinets all had roller slides.

I have full extension, and I wouldn't want anything else. Since they're fussy to work with, it's probably worthwhile making a test box, and installing a few times until you get the hang of it, before you go to work on your cabinets. I think it's worth the effort.

NYrGirl, If the pantries are side by side, it's also worth getting one 42" pantry. :) You gain at least 4" in useable width. :)

We weren't going to have a pantry in our new kitchen plan, but DH brilliantly solved several issues by suggesting one, so I haven't given this a lot of thought. We currently have a cavernous 30" with no pull out anything an shelves don't adjust. Horrible! That's what made me NOT want a pantry.

I think we're going to end up with a 21" pantry. I'd like to go drawers on the bottom, but I'm waiting to hear from GC on a gas line issue (masonry walls, not sure how it's getting from where it's behind the dryer to where it will be for the new range). I don't like the styling on the tall doors, so doing drawers at the bottom would also avoid that.
(sorry for the slight tangent/hijack)

I'm wondering if I get drawers at the bottom and shelves on top, can I install ROTS later? OR if I go all ROTS with a regular, full height pantry, you say they're adjustable? Can someone speak more to that. I've only lived in homes with kitchens from the 50's/60's/70's.