I was thinking of removing the fridge and adding a small prep sink?

Remove the fridge/freezer if you wouldn't use it, absolutely.

I would be very hesitant to put a prep sink in this space, without a very good reason... What's the logic behind it, for you?

Do you think it’s too small? It’s approximately 8x8’.

My current pantry is 3x4, and it is definitely too small. (My husband and I have 7 kidlets.) I would looooove 8x8.

Also, cabinets on bottom with open shelving on top?

Since it appears y'all have a window planned for the pantry, I would keep everything enclosed in cabinetry. Unless you plan to store things on the open shelves (like seasonal decor/dinnerware, paper products, etc.) that are not sensitive to heat/sunlight.

10’ ceilings.

I can't personally speak to having a ceiling this high in a pantry; mine is 9' and it's way too tall for my not-quite-5'2"-self. lol If you're 6'6", maybe...? (You very well might be, lol!)

Not what you asked about, but where you really need a prep sink is on your island. That gives you a good work triangle with the fridge and range.

On the pantry, mostly agree with One Devoted Dame. Personally I would keep a fridge, or at least a freezer, unless you have another garage or basement space for cold storage. As a general rule, I would think a household that needs an 8'x8' pantry also needs a second fridge and/or deep freeze. But you have a better sense of your family's storage needs.

What will you be storing in the pantry? All food? Dishes? Appliances? Less-used items? Things you use every day, maybe more than once a day? Only kitchen items?

How do you plan on using the pantry?

Get rid of the barn doors and angled walls.

How does the bump out of the pantry look from the outside of the house?

My kitchen pantry is a bit smaller, and I like it fine. I use mine as a food pantry, it's fully enclosed. If you don't already have other freezer space planned or as an option, I would keep the freezer in there. Having a prep sink in there would depend on a big thing for me- if my garden is on the other side of that window. If it is, I would probably plan that window as a pass-through from the garden harvests. Then a bit of a produce wash or prep sink in the pantry might be right handy but not necessary.

Because it has a window there (my larder has windows), I would plan for some cabinets for light sensitive things. If you plan on using it for a butlers and also storing non-food items, those are more preference on if you like shelves or cabinets. If you have pets, a dedicated under-counter space of bins or cabinet for their supplies is nice.

8'x8' isn't small for a pantry!!

Here is a recent discussion on a similar sized pantry. If you search on the forums, Building and Kitchens, you'll get even more discussions.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6245777/pantry-and-closet-design

A couple things:

1) I agree that 8'x8' pantry isn't really that small. You can store a ton of stuff in that space.

2) I always am a little nervous about heat building up in spaces like this that house a fridge/freezer. Make sure there is adequate ventilation.

3) There is a window. Make sure that stored items don't need to be in a dark environment.

4) I'm not sure what I'd do with a prep sink in the pantry. I'd much rather have one on your large kitchen island.

Pantry...

First, I would move the freezer into the Mudroom to get it out of the Pantry. Why? I assume your pantry is to be used for dry food storage. This type of storage should be dark, cool, and dry. Freezers and refrigerators put out quite a bit of heat, so they will be warming up your pantry, which is bad for food storage. If you have a wide-open pantry (i.e., no door) with very good ventilation, it might be OK. However, as mentioned by others, the current location will not work since you will not be able to open the freezer door all the way for access or cleaning.

Second, as to a prep sink, I don't think it would be particularly useful there. Plus, now you're adding moisture to the pantry.

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Kitchen...

As also mentioned above, where you really NEED a prep sink is the island in the Kitchen. Why?

Right now it's a major hike to get to the range from the cleanup sink and that hike crosses what will most likely be a busy aisle -- from the Mudroom to the rest of the home.

In addition, since you only have one sink in the Kitchen, your Prep Zone will end up being on the non-DW side of the sink (direct water access is KEY to a functional Prep Zone) -- which is also in the middle of that busy aisle and has the DW in the way as well. So, dodging traffic, dodging an open DW door, running around the island, etc., to get to the range.

The island is verging on being a "barrier island" between the Prep Zone (non-DW side of the sink) and the Cooking Zone (where the range is). It's not fully a barrier island, but it's close. The island is slightly in the way of the path from the Prep Zone to the Cooking Zone.

You have to cross the Cleanup Zone to get to the refrigerator or the Cooking Zone from the Prep Zone.

I like your separation of the Cleanup Zone from the Cooking Zone, but you also need to make the Prep Zone work by adding a water source. With a 10' island, you have plenty of space for a very nice Prep Zone!

KEY factors in a functional Prep Zone:

• A direct water source
• A minimum of 36" of counterspace next to the water source, with 42" to 48" much better
• Next to or directly across from the Cooking Zone (range/cooktop)
• Little to no zone-crossing to go between the: refrigerator & Prep Zone, Prep Zone & refrigerator, and Prep Zone & Cooking Zone.

Note that the Cooking Zone and Prep Zones should be the most protected work zones in the Kitchen, with the most important being the Cooking Zone. Your Cooking Zone is well-protected, but your Prep Zone is not.

That one simple change -- adding a prep sink to the island -- will make a world of difference!

More about the pantry...

Since they should be cool & dark, I do not recommend putting a window in the pantry. In fact, ideally, a pantry should be on the inside of the home with no exterior walls (unless you live in a year-round cold climate). The sun will heat up the exterior wall as well as all exterior walls heat up if you have hot weather, even with a covered porch in front of the window/wall. (The other reason for no window? Why waste a window on a pantry?)

To Anj_p's point, In general, I would not put cabinets in the pantry either. If you need landing space, maybe one small area, but not the entire area. That looks like what you've done, so I think you're OK there.

Stick with shelves no deeper than 12" as that's the "sweet spot" for pantry storage. Just about everything fits on 12" deep shelves -- small appliances, cereal boxes, pantry-style containers, cans 3 or 4 deep, etc. Any deeper and things will get lost. If you have any oversize small appliances, store them in a drawer in the one run of cabinets. Again, it looks like your shelves are only 12" deep. so you're also good there.

You can probably reduce the size of the pantry, if you'd like (you don't need that much aisle space between the pantry walls).

• Remove the freezer from the pantry,
• Reduce the pantry by a foot or two and add it to the Mudroom,
• Put the freezer in the Mudroom using that "extra" space just added.

If you reduce the depth as well, so the pantry wall that's shared with the Mudroom is no deeper than the depth of the freezer box (box, not doors), then you won't need anything between the wall and the freezer. The doors will need to stick out past the wall. Otherwise, you will need something 9" to 12" deep between the wall and freezer. (Ditto in its current location.)

(I’m trying, really I am, to go along with master suites that guide me through the utility areas on my way to morning coffee and a muffin, as if I’m Hazel or Alice the housekeeper. But at least make it a nice view, not a left-open barn door to a pantry that may or may not be Kardashian-stocked.)

Got that out of my system. What if the freezer were about where it is, but in a niche and facing the hall? I suppose it depends on how you will use that freezer. Is it a manual-defrost that ;you will use for longer-term storage and stocking up? Or is it for the frozen vegetables and chicken broth that you add to meals, sauces, etc?

And when you have time, do let us know how you plan to use the rest of the pantry, and how all your kitchen storage needs are being addressed?

I get the impression that you want your kitchen for show and your pantry for work. If that's the case, you'd be better off with a closed kitchen instead of the open concept one you have. Then you could prep, cook, mess about in peace without worrying about having to look at the mess while you and your guests enjoy the meal.

I've seen a lot of threads lately with about butlers pantries, "dirty" kitchens and sculleries. These seem to be a response to the near-requirement for an open, showcase kitchen. To my mind, adding more is usually the wrong way to fix a problem. Instead of having a showpiece kitchen and a working "pantry", it might be better to have a showcase snacks and drinks space and a working enclosed kitchen. (not to say that the enclosed kitchen can't be gorgeous)

Is this a custom home or a tract home?

Wow! Thank you for all the feedback- good and bad. I have celiac so I have many solely devoted kitchen prep items just for my personal use. The ceiling will be 10’ as that is the ceiling height of the whole home. It is a custom plan. I intend on utilizing the pantry for many things such as small appliance storage, coffee bar, dry goods and food, as well as not frequently used dishes. I also would like cabinets with plugins for toasters, crock pots, and air fryer use - this keeps them off off my kitchen counters. I like to stock up in bulk on kitchen supplies such as paper products, trash bags, etc. I would like a prep sink somewhere as our family needs it, but wanted to keep the island sink-free. We need a place to wash veggies and fill coffee pot, etc. as we hand wash many of our dishes. I did not think of the sunlight degrading the food- so thank you for that. The window is on a side with a 10’ porch overhang so no direct sunlight. I also live in the northern Midwest- it’s only hot here 8 weeks of the year and this window is west facing. The bump outs give a lot of dimensional interest to the front view. My mudroom has ample extra space, so I think I’ve decided to move the extra fridge into there. I do appreciate the opinions and will think about placing doors to protect the food. Thank you all for the feedback! So very helpful!

My personal preference and my professional recommendation is to use a pantry for the storage of items, and use the kitchen area for preparation of food and cleaning of dishes. Barn doors take up wall space. Angled walls make for inefficient space.

Sounds like you need a prep sink, and totally understand the wish to keep it off the island. But the pantry seems like a terrible place to prep vegetables that will then be carried to the cooktop area. Could you move your wall ovens up to the very "top" of the room, and then put a prep sink where you currently have the ovens? That would give you a sink near the cooktop, some prep countertop between the sink and the cooktop (plus additional prep space on the island), and some landing-zone countertop between the oven and sink.

Wow! Thank you for all the feedback- good and bad. I have celiac so I have many solely devoted kitchen prep items just for my personal use. The ceiling will be 10’ as that is the ceiling height of the whole home. It is a custom plan. I intend on utilizing the pantry for many things such as small appliance storage, coffee bar, dry goods and food, as well as not frequently used dishes. I also would like cabinets with plugins for toasters, crock pots, and air fryer use - this keeps them off off my kitchen counters. I like to stock up in bulk on kitchen supplies such as paper products, trash bags, etc. I would like a prep sink somewhere as our family needs it, but wanted to keep the island sink-free. I did not think of the sunlight degrading the food- so thank you for that. The window is on a side with a 10’ porch overhang so no direct sunlight. I also live in the northern Midwest- it’s only hot here 8 weeks of the year and this window is west facing. The bump outs give a lot of dimensional interest to the front view. My mudroom has ample extra space, so I think I’ve decided to move the extra fridge into there.

Can you explain “angled” walls?

You could drop the ceiling in the pantry.

If you keep a freezer in the pantry, you can have the handle near the wall side instead of the hinge on the wall side and then you can open it from the doorway rather than having to walk into the pantry to open it

The advice on the Pantry has been good. It may help you to get fresh sets of eyes on the rest of your plan though. You may have caught hints by commenters, like the bumpout, it's size, the windows, a prep sink, that an entire plan review may help the Pantry along with the rest of the house.

From this snippet of the plan I see a very complicated structure with many girder trusses. There is a fake dormer, presumably lined up over this Pantry bumpout. There are parallel gable roofs in the Master and Covered Deck. There are scissor trusses over a flat ceiling of the Mudroom. There is a tub in the bath that doesn't seem to have a Guest Room nearby. There is a convergence of vaulted to flat ceilings and where those hit on walls that is odd. A possible hood exhaust pipe in a vault is slightly off-center, and the discharge route is questionable. Just some things I noticed that might be fine or may not be optimal.

Rest of plan 3onthetree! Critique away!

I too have an architect as a friend who did the 3D renderings for us. This so what the “bump outs” would look like from the front view. Let me know if you think they look horrible. Thanks for the feedback

Your pantry bump out doesn't add interest to the façade--it's pretty much invisible under the porch roof. What it does do is make your porch pretty much unusable. Also, why is your porch wearing a hat?

Leaving aside the bump outs, why does your garage have an unnecessary cross gable? It adds prominence to an already large element that should be minimized.

I agree, This 3D rendering is not entirely finished in appearance. It does not have the end gables filled in and is missing the windows in them. It will be finished and won’t look like a hat. It’s farmhouse style- not country style facade. We added the cross gables with windows because I didn’t want a flat roof across the entire thing. Thus matching gables on the garage roof. The front porch in my opinion is far from “unusable.” The small bump outs provide space inside for my kitchen sink and pantry and are only 4’ and is still “invisible” under the porch roof. Did you notice the rest of the porch is 10’ deep? This may provide space for different paired seatings or a porch swing.

Maybe this helps? Maybe you will still feel the same…

Sorry, I still feel the same about the hat gables. To add "interest" to your roof profile while remaining architecturally honest, I'd just make the garage walls shorter than the house walls (e.g. 8' ceiling in garage, 10' ceiling in house', same pitch roof on both)

Regarding the porch-- you've divided into 2 small "rooms" with your bump-out. Given the 10' depth, that's less of an issue than I originally thought, but it still reduces the utility of the space significantly.

Thank you Jennifer. I do see your point. I hope our porch works out ok?! As far as the garage… We drive 4x4 trucks and also plan on parking a tractor in the 3rd stall for snow removal. So, just lowering the walls for aesthetic reasons is not practical. We designed the garage with increased height and width to accommodate our lifestyle and vehicle needs, which may have compromised the aesthetics? Do you have any other ideas to make it look more eye appealing?

If you have enough space, rotate the garage to be square with the house and have its gable end face forward. Depending on how you positioned it, you could put the garage doors on the right side of the house instead of facing in towards the middle which would also help the house be more prominent than the garage.