I think it's too small for U shape. I'd go with pull out drawers. Choose your depths of each drawer carefully to maximize space for the things you want to store there. A spice rack mounted to the inside of the door seems like a nice idea, just be sure you get a nice sturdy one that won't be disturbed by door opening, and, if you are replacing the door, then I'd look for solid wood with nice sturdy hinges, to deal with the added weight of the large spice rack.

Personally, that is so small that I'd try to devote it to only food if it is possible to find alternate locations for the appliances.

I had a pantry closet about like that, and here's what I did: across the back, 8" and 12" shelves, and an 18" shelf at the bottom. A basket suspended from a shelf held onions. On the left side, a rack of skinny baskets. On the back of the door, a rack of skinny baskets. So it was kind of an L, not a U.

Since it's so narrow, we were always losing things in the dark recesses with the original shelving. Shallow shelves let us see everything and not have to move things aside to get to the back. The racks made up for the lost shelf space, and were also easy to access.

We used it only for food, too deep and narrow to multitask.

Do only one door. With two doors, you'd have to open both for access, but you will usually have things in one hand.

What kind of small appliances do you mean, like a hand-blender? Or more like a Foreman grill?

Mine has similar dimensions. Mine is 28" deep and 24" wide. I am planning to revamp it and add drawers at the bottom and shelves on the top half. I am going to do 12" deep shelves. I am considering putting 4" deep shelves on one wall as well, but I worry that stuff would be in the way. Maybe just a spice rack on a wall. I'm also considering a deep door rack that could hold things up to 6" deep. The link shows something similar to what I'm going to do, although this is a 36" wide pantry.

Here is a link that might be useful: [Pantry with drawers and shelves[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/kenilworth-ave-traditional-kitchen-chicago-phvw-vp~1860359)

what's the width of the actual doorway? possibly you could do the L with very narrow shelves on the one side. deeper shelves in the back - but not too deep. Hold it to about 12" deep on the back shelves so things don't disappear.

a lower shelf might be deeper like 15 -18" as a place for a few of those extra small appls. The floor is a good place if you buy in bulk or for soda, water jugs.

I have a very narrow shelf in my pantry with about 6" in hgt (I split the hgt of 1 shelf into 2). I use it for very small cans of blk olives, chilis, v-8 juice. My shelf is 3.5' long so after all the small canned items I had plenty of empty space for extra mugs and small dessert dishes I don't often use . Those things could be stored on a shallow side wall shelf.

Make note of the size of canned goods you use most often. Many don't need a shelf hgt space of 12" or more. My 6" high shelf cut the hgt of the shelf below it to about 7" which is fine for soup, beans, reg sized veggies.

I use a higher shelf for things not often used and extra paper towels - if a roll of pt falls on me I won't be hurt.

I use a lower shelf for my stand mixer, another appl and a container of utensils I seldom use plus beaters and parts for other appls (I have very few drawers in kit) and bottles of soda.

I use the few inches on the side in front of the shelves for a plastic bag holder and a bag to hold containers to return to my sister. You could put hooks up higher for larger grill utensils, the not so often used strainer, etc.

Thanks for all the helpful messages so far!
One thing that I am really unsure about is what to do with the top couple of feet of the pantry since it goes to 8ft?

With respect to question on the appliances I am considering putting the in pantry, it may include my blender, very small food processor, waffle maker and maybe my kitchen aid. It depends on whether I think there is room in the rest of the kitchen for these things. I thought maybe some of these could go on the very bottom of the panty. I do not use any of them very often.

thanks again and please keep the advice coming!!

Have you checked the Pantry thread on the Gallery? There is much discussion of the various options you have as well as many pictures.

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

I have an Ikea pantry, 88" high, 24" wide, 24" deep, with one door. I have roll out drawers. LOVE them! They hold a ton! I can pull them all the way out and see what I have.

The top cupboard has one shelf in it and I keep my toaster oven, vacuum sealer, "foreman" grill and rice cooker in there. I'm tall so I can reach those without too much difficulty.

Our pantry was like that in our last house. Originally the kitchen had a maid's room (don't know where she was, ha ha). As with any legal bedroom, it had a closet.

We used that original closet door for the pantry when we enlarged/remodeled. The pantry was about the size you describe.

We had shelving across the back that was deeper, probably about 12 inches. Adjustable, so we had boxes like crackers and 12 packs of sodas and such. Along one wall, we had shallower shelves, maybe 6 inches wide, for canned goods and salad dressing, etc. Had a lip on these shelves with trim so things stayed on the shelves easily.

On the other wall had hooks for broom, dustpan, swiffer.

Had a power outlet in it so we could plug in the rechargeable vac.

Had a $40 chrome 3 shelved cart from target that wheeled in and out through the door. Kept the mixer on it, with the baking stuff. This allowed the kids when younger to wheel the mixer over to the island and use it right on the cart.

Had a hook on the backside of the door for my stepladder.

And, best feature was the automatic light switch (like the refrigerator) that turned on the light if the door was opened, and turned off the light if the door was closed.

I think keeping just appliances in there is a great idea! You could have shallow baskets on one wall for little accessories, or food items you only use when you use those appliances, or for little appliances like an immersion blender.

Unless you plan to keep a step stool or folding stepladder against the wall, put the top shelf almost as high as you can reach. Put bulky, light stuff up there, like paper towels or a basket with extra foil/Saran rolls or baggies. You want to be able to grab it with a finger, at least, but not get hurt if you pull it onto your toes.

There's a GWer, darned if I can remember her name,with marvelous blue closet with pegboard on one side. The shop vac goes on the floor, broom etc,on the pegboard.

On the floor of my current 14x23" pantry, I keep oils and vinegars in the cardboard 6-packs you can get at the grocery store for wine. It makes it so easy to pull them out tidily, and they stay a little cooler on the floor I think.

The closet that bpathome was referring to was williamsem's. I know because I love that space! I am attaching a link to the post, hopefully that is okay. It is a great use of space.

Here is a link that might be useful: closet with pegboard

williamsem still posts, somewhat infrequently, but she you can email her via her GW page if you have any questions. As I recall, she and her dad built the pantry.

Overhead I would put horizontal brackets to hold the big cookie sheets, extra paper towels, etc.

Practigal, could you explain this idea further? I can't envision what you are describing.

Oh, and when planning the top shelf or two, their size and placement and what will go on them, consider the door frame; you don't want things up there that you can't get down easily because they'll bump into the door frame. Notice in williamsem's closet, the top shelf is not as deep as the bottom shelf, and holds kind of flat or flexible things that can be pulled downward as they come out. So perhaps cookie sheets stored vertically might not work on the very otop shelf, but on the shelf below it.

Thanks for remembering williamsem's post, hatethecold! That closet is chock full of storage, every inch used and accessible.

The Container Store has a brand Elfa. Look at their wall shelving system. It can go on a door or wall. The shelves to attach are great. Super sturdy. Lots of size choices.

I am a big believer that you can never have too much storage space, so I'd go ahead and put shelves all the way up. My top shelves are generally 18" below ceiling height, and then closer spacing below. Even in my reach-in bedroom closets, I put two shelves above the hanging rod. A 24-30" space above a shelf nearly always means only 12" worth of stuff sitting on the shelf and then 12-18" worth of wasted space above it. No wasted space in my closets!

For your closet, if doing fixed (non pullout) shelving, I'd do 15" deep shelves on the bottom 5' (probably, from floor, at 18"', 2'6", 3'6", 4'6") and then I'd put a 12" deep shelf at 5'6" and a final 12" deep shelf at 6'6". That very top shelf would be for rarely used items and/or "overflow" sale-shopped cereals, pastas, etc, and I'd use a step ladder to reach it as needed.

Then I'd wrap 6" deep shelves (at the same heights as the back wall shelves) and/or spice racks on one (or both) side wall(s) if permitted by the door framing.