Sunday, September 14, 2008

I Heart A Pantry - Look Book For A Future Project

I love a pantry. And I don't have one. We have a big kitchen, but it doesn't have enough food storage. We have a staircase in the kitchen, and I have been thinking about building a pantry in the wasted space underneath the stairs. Right now, boxes of Gotta Tango books are stored under there.So I asked the hubs one of those what do you think honey if we (meaning he) built a pantry under the stairs. He's very good a building things, and he actually enjoys doing it.
He asked me to make him a drawing of what I have in mind. I really don't know what I have in mind, so I thought I'd put together a look book for the both of us, a collection of under the stairs storage, and pretty pictures to inspire.
This book looks pretty cute, and I might just pick it up and add it to my collection HERE
This is the design that really appeals to me, because the space is deep under the stairs, and I like that these are kind of like big shelves on wheels. I book marked the plans that you can download.
Here's another version of the big drawer with shelves idea. It's kind of cool because you can get into it from both sides.
This is very pretty, and I guess a set of shelves could be built at the back of the space, with doors to close it off.

This is just eye candy, a pretty pantry from a pretty nice blog called My French Kitchen
But you can see why I like it, because I have some of the same things in my kitchen. The wooden beam on the left side of the photo is the under part of the stairway. The buffet is now on the floor, the table from Pierre Deux is now being used as my desk in another room. All the platters are now inside the buffet, and I would like to leave it the space it now occupies. So the pantry would be built to the left of the beam.
Here's another pretty photo from My French Kitchen - it's so cute!
I have so many white platters and white ironstone pitchers, but right now they all have homes. What we really need is space to store foodstuffs. I just like this photo for the obvious reasons.
I took the white Formica cabinet doors of our top cupboards. They go up to the ceiling, which is ten feet tall, so I couldn't use the cabinets on regular basis - they're too high. I needed space for a white ironstone collection, and this has worked out great. The cabinets below hold a collection of plates and glassware. We just have two cabinets for food, and one is entirely filled up with spice jars and bottles. This is a wonderful antique food larder. It could fit under the stairs. It's really beautiful, but not very practical.
Which brings me back to the idea I first liked: The giant shelves on casters.
I also like and use baskets for storage, and could be happy with something like this nice storage system.
I don't feel like making a drawing, so maybe this one will give the hubs a look into my brain. But I don't want him to take this idea literally, if you know what I mean.
Here's another step-in kind of pantry, really just shelving units and doors. It looks easy to organize.
I also love these slide out baskets.
So if any of you have built under the stair storage, please tell me all about it. The hubs is anxious to get started on this, so maybe it will be done in time to stock the pantry for the holidays.

3 comments:

  1. Oh, some of these are phenomenal. We have been on the lookout for a historical home with both a pantry and a butler's pantry - my dinner service collection long ago outgrew the space assigned to such things - those old, hard to find closet details are still fabulous.
    So much so, I will build them if I have to, glad to know there is a book on my quest... If only more thought of legitimate pantry space!

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  2. Dear Blushing,
    First thanks for reading.
    Second, I really like a gal who uses the words dinner service, and who has a large one in need of a pantry!
    Let me know what you think of the book. I just ordered it too.
    Best regards...

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  3. Thank you for the link and for enjoying my pantry. I think the space under your stairs can work wonderful as a pantry and can be very different en exciting. good luck!
    Ronell

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