Definitely! The pantry in our old kitchen was a washer/dryer alcove-converted-to-pantry and was too deep (things got lost all the time) and also had that shelf that was lined up w/the top of the door opening.

We gutted it along w/the rest of the kitchen and the put in a corner pantry. It's smaller than the old one, but it's much much easier to use! (I just wish I didn't have to store my small appliances in it...I lost my super susan/appliance garage to the dogs!)

Old...behind the bifold doors on the left (I just realized I never took a before pic of the pantry while it was open!):

New:

I took out a small walk-in pantry that was totally non-functional in favor of cabinets opening to three sides, two of which are floor to ceiling pantries. Much better. It looks like your pantry is the whole space beween the walls we see and the walls with the doors in them. If that's so, I'd tear out the whole thing and use the floorspace in planning the new kitchen. The new pantry might end up there, because of the doors, but free it up and see what comes of it.

One thing that might work if it ends up in that space is something I've seen that looks almost like Col. Mustard's secret passage bookcase or something. There's shallow cupboards on the outside that pivot and show deep cupboards behind. Very tricky and cool. If it's done right you can pivot any weight with a finger touch.

Just a thought...

If your remodel is only six - 12 months away I'd do the least possible in the cheapest way. I'm guessing that anything you do now you don't want to be tied to for the remodel so make sure not to trap yourself by spending much money on it now!

To clarify - this is something we're considering doing when we remodel (not in advance).

I hate bifold doors, for all the reasons you mentioned. I would at least get a fully opening door, even if you don't do anything else it would be a huge improvement. I am a big fan of pullouts and would definitely recommend that if you have the budget and are willing to do the necessary construction.

tear the entire corner out and i bet you can fit a pantry plus some other cool cabinet

AHHH. Then yep, I'd yank the whole thing out.

We opted for a pocket door on our walk-in pantry. It's out of the way when open (most of the time) & it's easy to close/open.

Personally, I still like walk-in or step-in pantries instead of cabinets as I think you get a better use of the space. For one thing, you can use the entire space...floor to ceiling including the floor space in front of the shelves if needed...w/o losing space to cabinet walls, crown molding, toekick, etc. You can also see everything better (I think) in a pantry. They're also more versatile...you can mix pantry w/utility, etc. in the one space and you can make your shelves varying depths to accommodate your needs and, if you put in adjustable shelves, the shelves can be any height (or, if not adjustable, plan carefully).

Then there's the cost...generally, the cost of a walk-in or step-in pantry is less than that of pantry cabinets (unless you go "fancy" like I did w/bead board & corbels!)

But, there are some people here who swear by & love their pantry cabinets...whether tall pullouts, shelves & drawers, or swing out. I would go and see some pantry cabinets installed & even talk to people who have them to see how they like them.

Good luck!

I think part of your problem is that the doors are not the same width as the pantry and it is too deep if it goes the length of that wall with the broom. If you made U shaped shelves--narrower on the sides and deeper on the back, you could walk right inside. Even the top shelf would be accessable as well as that hard to get at space on the ends. I would however get a light in there even if it were one of those battery operated touch ones

You might be happier with double doors with dummy knobs instead of the bifold doors. They will give you full access to the inside but the doors won't take up much space when open. We used them in a hallway leading from the garage to the backyard where we have misc. storage and a laundry tub. We used 8 ft doors with a 9 1/2' ceiling which allows us to easily reach storage at the very top.

Depends how you use the space, how big of family, etc. We had a huge walk-in pantry in our last house, great while our son was home, one of his friends would just stand and stare. For just the two of us, we are doing a cabinet with pull out shelves in our current build.

I have seen corner units and they have doors with glass with the word "pantry." For now, you might want to consider removing the doors.

Have your seen tiskers' neat "two sided" pantry? Her thread is back on page one and if you scroll down she has pix. It's a great idea and might be an interesting one for you to try and adapt to your space.

Eliz

I had a walk in pantry and just had it ripped out (we're putting a soapstone fireplace in it's place). I did like that you could fit an obscene amount of stuff in it on the shelves and floor. But it got very messy and disorganized. We'd reorganize it, but it would get trashed quick. I'm looking forward to life after walk in pantry.

Try googling pantry organization and read up on this before you do any remodeling. I found lots of good tips out there on organization and more. One of them is that in a fixed shelf system such as yours, that narrow shelfs are much better than wide ones and that it is really important to set up some sort of organization system to keep it organized. I think you would be amazed at what a difference just designating certain spots for certain foods or items and sticking to that will make. I have been doing that and am amazed at how easy it is to find things on our very deep shelves.

Could you give us the exact length and width of the pantry, the depth of the existing shelves, the width of the door opening, and possibly a picture of the pantry with the door open? Are the shelves on 3 walls in a U-shape?

Anne

Tear it Out!!! Below is our after picture (well sort of--it isn't quite finished...) We had a 4' wide pantry with those pesky bi-fold doors that were never closed. I could never find anything. We decided to tear it out, put in a 48" ss fridge flanked by two 18" pantry cabinets with deluxe roll out shelves. It was truly a great improvement over what we had. I love being able to find what we need and most importantly--the doors are always shut!

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