I love it! Well placed and inconspicuous. Please proceed!

How many inches is avail for the new pantry. If you have some width avail I would insert some counter with cabinet or cubby hole below ( void door) because I don't see a place to set anything. the assembly w hooks and low bench is nice but behind that is a good spot for an added function. It boils down to how much pantry space you really need and can that be determined? You also have 4 ft 10 in to left of patio door . That can be quite a few things behind doors unless you have plans for it.

@herbflavor We're kind of limited with the space inside the current pantry since the back of it is the staircase. We were thinking of turning the existing bump out into the bench seat. The *new* pantry across from this mud room/drop zone will be 3' wide by 6' tall. But I agree, we need somewhere to set things down and there's a lot of empty space between the proposed bench seat and the hooks in the picture.

Use tru pullout pantries you will be surprised how much stuff you can store and access it all really easily

I love this mud room/drop zone idea! If you still need a place to set things down, what about lowering the hooks 9-12" and placing a shelf above? You could even have the hooks connected to the bottom of the shelf. See pictures below!