Mandy, believe it or not, I have a pantry the exact same size as the one on your floor plan. Mine doesn't have a window in it, but other than that, it is laid out exactly like yours. My shelves are 16" deep and my Kitchenaid mixer fits beautifully! (I keep that and my food processor, and big bowls on the shelves on the side wall farthest from the door. My inclination would be to remove the window and add the "wood shutter thing". It will balance with the one on the other side of the entry, and a window in the pantry would just be one that you'd be keeping covered all the time so that the contents of your pantry are visible to everyone. I would however, recommend adding another can light in the ceiling and spacing them evenly. I would also suggest that if you haven't already, that you check out some of the storage ideas in the kitchen section of this site. I can tell you, the corners of my pantry are pretty deep and things do tend to get lost back there. Maybe a couple of lazy susans would work for you. I hope that helps! Congratulations and good luck with your construction!

maybe if it really is too big for your needs - you could extend the wine cellar instead - and half the pantry size ?!

Lyn reeves, Thank you so much! Is there anyway you could send me a pic of your pantry? I would also love for you to take a look at the rest of my plans and give suggestions if you don't mind! Do you have an email address I could sent them to? Thanks again! Amanda

One plan, that "wine cellar". Is actually a guest closet. Not sure why it says wine cellar. He's still working on finalizing plans. Thanks for the suggestion!

Is there a better spot for the pantry ? seems like it is taking up valuable window spaces in the house.

Amanda, Here are a couple of pix of my (admittedly messy!) pantry. At least I hope that I'm attaching the pix. The ceiling in there is only 6'6" high because it's under the staircase landing, so that's why it looks so short. As you can see, I use every inch of the pantry and the size is both a blessing and a curse. Because it's so big, I can keep all of the food products in there, leaving my cabinets free for glasses, dishes, and the cookware and appliances that I use regularly. The appliances and other things that only get used occasionally live in the pantry. But, because it IS so big, I also tend to throw stuff in there just to get it out of the way and I have to periodically purge it so that I can see what has gotten buried. I also would highly recommend (again) that you look into a better use of the corner spaces than what I have. (I was not involved in its design!) I would be happy to look at your house plans. Looking at plans is one of my favorite past times! My husband and I are currently building a house in SC, (scheduled to be finished in Dec!) so looking at plans and making suggestions is pretty much what I've been doing with my life for the last 6-9 months! You can email them to Lreeves@comcast.net if you'd like. I'll be happy to give you my 2 cents worth! :)

Hope you still have a wine cellar somewhere ?! If not ... Use up some pantry space for a secret vino collection !!! Tee hee !!

Good thinking, OnePlan! They should be sure that there are electric sockets in the pantry so they can at least put a wine fridge or a EuroCave in the pantry! I like the way you think! :)

Hire a closet company to help you. I like to create a deeper surface in pantries for setting items on as well as place rollouts for smaller items. I usually make shelves 12-16 inches deep depending on needs. The window is lovely - it provides the opportunity to create a pretty room with natural light and not just a storage space. Your house is beautiful!

Also, you will be able to build shallow shelves (5-6 inches deep) on the door wall for cans, spices, etc. the deeper the shelves the harder it is to see what is at the back of the shelves.

Thank you Amy!!!

my pantry is 9x9. no windows- now just being finished. we have not started on what to do with shelves so this thread is very interesting to me!

On the wall with the window - go with 16 - 18 inches deep up to counter height for storing Mixers, crockpots, big stock pots and all those other things that are handy to have in the pantry. Then, go with shelves above that are only about 8" deep for actual food items (I hate shelves that are too deep in pantries for food....you can never see what you actually have. On the two short walls, go with narrower shelves all the way (at least on the one where the entry door is (or, depending on what other storage you have, this could be good place to hang some cleaning items, store cookbooks, etc. or set up the inevitable 'catch all' area that always happens in a kitchen. KEEP THE WINDOW!

Mandy, so how did your pantry come out?? I'm about to build one that is the same. The only place I could get this much room was with the window. I'm currious how your's came out.

Why put a window in a pantry?

the window is more for the elevation. it also will add light.