Wire will save a bunch of money, I would expect, but small items don't sit right and will lean or fall over. Unless you put plexiglass over the wire shelves. I would think 1/2 or 3/4" particle board for shelves would be good enough, but if real wood is in your budget, I'd say go for that.

We used laminated plywood in all of our closets. MBR and pantry are stained. Everything else is painted. 6 years, no warping. Our trim carpenter built out the pantry according to my specs.. and working around the HVAC return (far wall, bottom right)

Here is a link that might be useful: my pantry - last 2 pictures

I wouldn't pay the extra cost for solid wood for inside a pantry. Odds are you will just be covering either the plywood/MDF or the bare wood with contact paper or the like to protect it anyway, so may as well save a few bucks on this one. It will just be covered up.
If you don't use a protective layer,what would you do? If you paint the wood, it will just get dinged from cans and such, so...

Thank you so much, everyone! Maybe I should see this stuff in person. I was looking in the wrong section before, he'd cut it himself. I will cover it with Contact plastic (it's made by the Contact paper people, but it's solid plastic drawer liners, no holes and is thick.) I just want good shelves that won't flake or have issues down the line. I'm positive I don't want particle board or wire.

Spent a good amount of extra money to get no particle board kitchen cabinets too. I will see what there is at the store, thank you. :)

Another vote for laminated plywood. Stain it instead of painting it.

Ok, I will look into it, do you have to stain it, if you're adding drawer liner plastic sheets over it? Do the edges look ok? thanks.

While at the store, I saw the Rubbermaid wire shelving that's called "tight mesh". It's about 2x the amount of wires so less things fall through. Of course for tiny items I'd use a container. But I bought a piece and tested it with my cookbooks and I think it'd work. Advantages: it's cheaper, don't have to paint/ worry about warping/ don't have to dust as much / don't have to buy shelf liner which I know I would.

Any votes for tight mesh shelving? I am still thinking of all my options, but this looks good. The 'wall end brackets' look good as there aren't giant brackets underneath your shelves, just small brackets at each side of the wall.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rubbermaid wall end brackets

I am really surprised by the anti wire shelving sentiments. We have wire shelving, anything small gets stored in larger containers or baskets. In my opinion, wire seems to keep things cleaner, the dust and dirt fall through to the floor. Regardless, a pantry is one of life's pleasures. Enjoy!

I've never ever owned a pantry so this will be excellent no matter what we choose. We're just on our 10,000th choice during this remodel and it's becoming overwhelming.

I'm pretty sure we'll go with the tight meshed wire, I think it'll be nice and solid and right, any tiny packets of oatmeal or taco seasoning etc goes in a little bin. ;)

We had wire in our old pantry and I hated it! Not only do small things fall through or lean, but if you spill something it falls down and down and down ... until it reaches the floor...getting on everything in it's path!

Yes, you can cover w/plexiglass to prevent that, but, personally, I think wood, laminated particle board, MDF, and similar look so much nicer! Here's our pantry. We used shelving from Lowes (MDF, I think, but I'm not sure right now). There's also a pantry thread in the Gallery that might be helpful, it's linked below.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread: Pantry photos/ pics of pantries

We splurged and went with a furniture grade plywood. Love it. The guys using hanging standards because of the long spans and deep shelves. They routed out the shape of the standards so that the shelves go right up to the wall. Its heaven. I secretly hang out in there. There is a ton of food, the water cooler, and the bathroom is right next door. :)

I make pantry shelves using 3/8 plywood with a hardwood edge to prevent sag.

the last one used ash strips 1 inch high by 1/2 inch thick with a small rabbet for the plywood to sit on.

The strips are on the bottom of the shelf edges.

This hides the raw plywood edges.

Stain and brushing lacquer (Deft Clear wood in gloss) seal the shelves and provide an easy to clean surface (how often does anything wet spill in a pantry anyway?).

Wire shelves are just a PITA to stand things up on, and putting them in another container just makes it harder to find things.

The lights go on when the door is opened making it easy to find things.

Buehl - thanks for the photos! I love it! And I love how you used shelf risers to take advantage of the space, brillant. I use them too.

Our remodel is over and the newly built and drywall'ed pantry is done! We realized that even tight mesh wire shelves would proove annoying and I really didn't want anything to annoy me in the new remodel. We went with white coated MDF. It turned out just fine!

The pantry shelves measure 35" wide by 16" deep. I don't know how I lived without one. I previously used stand alone pieces of furniture that were not meant for the abuse a pantry can get. With the bi-fold door and all the trim, it looks like it's been there forever. Previously it was just a dead nook behind our kitchen.

We may need a lighting solution for that area, we have an outlet at the bottom, just trying to figure out where to place the lights without blocking them!

Here is a link that might be useful:

My parents have had plywood in there pantry for 20 years with no problem. I can not answer about my own house because I don't have one till we get into our new build. The one thing I can say about their pantry is that deep shelves and extra tall shelve below is great for storing soup pots, large turkey roasters and tall counter appliances. I will be doing plywood in my new house.

We used white melamine for our laundry room shelves and find it to be strong and easy to clean. It is the best of both worlds. No need to stain, paint or line it.

I just lined the baking shelf b/c molasses and other liquids like oil can drip, other than that I'm not lining it. Very strong and doesn't warp like real wood, the installer said.

Just looking for maybe a lighting solution to light up the pantry, but food would block the lights, so I am not sure what to do.

Yesterday our GC asked my husband if he wanted extra support for the pantry shelves. My husband said yes and this is what the workers did. Is this normal? I haven't seen this done before.

Oops! I accidentally added this to this thread. I'll create a new thread.