For me personally, it would depend on how far away the pantry is from the sink and the fridge. My family uses lots of ice for beverages, water, and smoothies, so proximity to the fridge and sink is much more convenient. If necessary to separate them by more than a few steps, I'd install an undercounter freezer or ice maker near the fridge and sink for convenience, or have a combo fridge/freezer in the kitchen. If your family doesn't use lots of ice, the freezer is used predominantly for frozen food storage, and your pantry is well vented with ac/heat airflow, then the pantry is a logical place.

In our last kitchen remodel (6 years ago now) we split the location of the fridge and freezer columns such that they are on opposite sides of the kitchen. The fridge is more in the active work area, while the freezer is in more of a storage portion of the kitchen (eg next to two full height pull out pantries). In the kitchen we are currently remodeling (in a new home) we again split them, but put the freezer in a walk-in/butler's pantry. The drywall is just going up, so I can't comment on how well it works, but I fully suspect that it will be just fine, given our experience in our current kitchen.

I have had a remote freezer for nearly 19 years and love it. We are starting a remodel and will have a freezer drawer and ice maker in the kitchen and keep the main freezer in the garage. That works for us. These are some of the things I considered (plus a few that don't affect me):

Pros:

• Eliminates that larger freezer box from the kithen
• More space for larger refrigerator only unit = more refrigerator storage in a smaller space than you would need for a refrigerator/freezer combo.
• Able to locate ice maker in most convenient spot out of work triangle
• Able to keep large freezer out of main work triangle (it's not generally part of my work flow)
• Locate small freezer drawer in the most convenient place for your work flow
• Big ugly freezers that go in the garage (or wherever) are dirt cheap compared to something pretty and built in.

Cons:

• Ventilation could present a problem in a pantry (not in in the garage, though)
• If you get stuff out of the freezer a lot, a remote location would get old fast.
• There are times when you want to quickly grab something out of the freezer, e.g. chilled glasses, a frozen dessert, lemon zest, vodka - solved by having a freezer drawer, see Pros.
• Can you afford to sacrifice the storage space elsewhere? Pantry, garage, etc.

Lefty Lou...your presentation makes a lot of sense and may work for me.

What did you end up doing with your refrigerator/freezer? I am considering the exact same set-up, but concerned about whether the freezer will be awkward in the pantry, and also if I have cabinets built for a 32 inch refrigerator in the kitchen, will always need to replace refrigerator with a unit that is not traditionally sized.