Are you talking about a pantry cabinet with doors or a reach in/walk in pantry area? My walk in pantry has 16” deep shelving and I don’t have a need for roll outs. I do use bakets that sit on the shelves for loose items or items that ”clutter”.

If you are talking walk-in pantry, then you can use something like the ELFA system from The Container Store and do drawers and shelves.

Pantry cabinet with doors.

I have a 24" deep pantry cabinet in my kitchen (+ I'm adding a second one as part of my renovation - it will hold small appliances + baking pans/supplies). I have rollouts in my current pantry. They work well - however, I'd rather have some drawers on the bottom as Chispa has suggested. My new pantry cabinets will have a combination of rollouts + drawers.

Also, my rollouts can be spaced however I want/need them - 2 3/4" increments. I've seen pantries that have set rollouts and it's much more convenient to be able to change them when needed.

Also, the back of the rollout will be a little bit taller for the new pantries - I've had items knocked down before (not by me - by daughters when they were younger + by my SO).

Thank you. I’m just wondering at which depth simple shelving becomes impractical for a reach in terms of ergonomics or visually. Ours will be about 15”.

With 20 years of remodeling experience, I'd definitely consider adding roll-out shelves now that you have 15–17 inches of depth. Standard shelves work well in shallow pantries, but once you go deeper, items tend to get pushed to the back and forgotten. Full-extension roll-outs make it much easier to see and access everything, especially canned goods, small appliances, and pantry staples. If the budget allows, I'd install roll-outs on the lower shelves and keep the upper shelves fixed for taller items. It's one of those upgrades homeowners appreciate every single day.

15" should be fine for regular upper shelves without the need for a rollout. A rollout will cut down on the amount of space as well. If you live with people who don't look past the first few things in the front, drawers or rollouts would be better. But if you don't mind moving things around to find the stuff in the back, regular shelves are fine.

My pantry is 36" wide and 24" deep and we have 4 rollouts. 2 shelves on top, because obviously you can't have rollouts above about 4'--you'd have to be like 7' tall to be able to use them!

Thank you! Does anyone have shelves closer to 15” without roll outs who can give me a review? We’d save interior space and money by not using them.

I have a 16” deep (including door) upper cabinet above my appliance garage (that houses mixer and food processor). I use the cabinet to store baking supplies. It holds perfectly 2 rectangular canisters so I just have to take one out to get to the second. Since yours is a full height pantry cabinet I would consider a pull out on the bottom shelf. Put some thing taller on your bottom shelf. Roll outs can always be added later if you need more. Baskets would work well with a 15” depth and will give you more width. Roll outs as noted do reduce your storage width particularly if your cabinets are frame construction.

I also have two end cap cabinets 4’ wide on my island that are 14” deep with door. They are used for dinner plates/bowls/serving bowls and work great for that. Since I am short I actually appreciate the lower storage.

Thanks so much Kim, that’s super helpful. I’m leaning towards pull outs on bottom shelf, adjustable fixed shelves above.

It all depends on what you will be storing there. The use will dictate the solution.

I'm going to respectfully disagree about not having rollout tray shelves (ROTS) in the top half of a pantry cabinet. We have ROTS in the entirety of all our pantry cabinets. I find it's much easier to see/access the items in them than having stationary shelves (which they had until I retro-fitted them with ROTS).

Sure, most people (including me) cannot reach the items without a stool, but I can at least pull them out and see what's there and decide if I need to get to any of the items. Accessing is easy when the ROTS is fully open b/c you don't have to reach deep inside to get to the items - they're right out in front of you.

Fortunately, my 6'5" DH can reach things in them for me, but I also have a folding stool if he's not around.

Note: We have 24"D x 18" and 21" wide pantry cabinets that we "inherited" when we bought the house.

No, for 15-17", I can't see going to the expense of building in roll-out shelves. Roll-outs or drawers are a very significant cost increase over basic shelves, and this just isn't all that deep a space. In 15-17" you're not going to "lose things" at the back.

I would, however, add raised shelves to "tier things", lazy susans for bottles, and baskets to corral like-with-like.

Thank you Mrs. Pete. I’m thinking I could also add later if we feel the need.

I agree with Mrs. Pete that you don't need roll-outs for a 15" deep cabinet.

And retrofitting them is easy and doable. We have 2 lower cabinets with shelves and recently added roll-outs to them and it was a game-changer. So much more practical--easy to see what's there and store small items that you could never access without the roll-out.

This exact situation came up in a few videos by "grace in my space" on youtube about her kitchen remodel. it shows up as one of her regrets going from 15-20" and not adding roll outs. she was fine with 15" but hates not having them at 20"

If shelves are too shallow, then you're right, ROTS will waste more space than they would save. (Hardware, drawer box, etc., take up a not-insignificant amount of space.)

15" to 18" depth is a bit of a problem. They're too deep for visible storage and too shallow for ROTS or drawers. 15" isn't too bad, but 17" is definitely too deep and things will get lost in them. I'd stick with 15"D shelves. (We had 18" in our old Kitchen and things got lost/forgotten all the time!)

Also, put in solid shelves. Wire shelves are not very useful in pantries. Things don't sit well and, more importantly, if something spills, whatever spilled will travel down all the shelves to the floor! Adding plexiglass or similar "boards" to the wire shelves helps the first issue, but not the second if there's any movement of the "boards".

FYI...When attempting to retrofit some upper cabinets a few years ago, I found that lazy susans, stepped shelves, etc., take up too much space and limit the storage options to be worth it. But maybe your experience will be different.

Thank you Amanda and Buehl. The interior will be 14”, so hopefully that will be a sweet spot without needing rollouts. They’ll be normal
Cupboards adjustable height shelves.