A pantry remodel - storage that leaves the working kitchen

What is pantry remodel?

A pantry remodel converts existing space - a closet, a cupboard, an under-stairs void or a section of an adjoining room - into dedicated food and equipment storage, or reworks a pantry that is not being used well. The decision that governs the whole job is depth: storage deeper than you can reach into stops being storage and becomes a place where things go to be forgotten.

Signs you need pantry remodel

• Tinned and dry goods are stored in three different rooms because there is nowhere central for them
• You buy duplicates of things you already own because you cannot see what is in the back
• Small appliances live permanently on the worktop because there is nowhere to put them away
• The existing pantry is a deep cupboard with fixed shelves and everything behind the front row is invisible
• A hallway closet or an under-stairs void adjoins the kitchen and holds coats and clutter rather than anything useful
• The kitchen has good wall runs but they are all being used for storage that could live somewhere less valuable

Seeing something not on this list? Browse kitchen remodeling problems by symptom →

How pantry remodel actually works

1. 1

   Identify the space worth converting

   A pantry rarely needs new floor area. The candidates are a shallow closet backing onto the kitchen, an under-stairs void, a redundant cupboard, or the far end of an adjoining utility. The best candidate is often the one with the shortest route from where you unpack shopping.

   Watch forChoosing the space that is most available rather than the one that is closest. A pantry two rooms away from the kitchen gets used for the things you rarely need, which is not what you were trying to solve.

2. 2

   Audit what is actually being stored

   Counting what needs to live in a pantry - tall bottles, cases of tins, bulky boxes, small appliances - determines shelf spacing and depth before any joinery is drawn. It is the step that turns a cupboard into usable storage.

   Watch forEvenly spaced shelves at a single depth. It looks orderly in a photograph and wastes a large proportion of the volume in practice.

3. 3

   Resolve depth and reach

   Shallow shelving where everything is visible at once beats deep shelving with three rows front to back. Where depth is unavoidable, it gets handled with pull-out drawers or baskets so the back can be brought to the front.

   Watch forA deep, fixed-shelf pantry sold as maximum capacity. Capacity you cannot see is capacity you do not use, and it is the single most common pantry complaint.

4. 4

   Structural and building work

   Forming or widening an opening, removing a partition, or building out under stairs involves the same checks as any alteration: whether the wall carries load, what services are inside it, and whether the opening affects fire separation or escape routes in a hallway.

   Watch forAn under-stairs conversion that compromises the protection of an escape route. Where the stairs are the means of escape, what you can do to the space beneath them is constrained, and it is a legitimate reason a design gets refused.

5. 5

   Lighting, power and ventilation

   A pantry needs light you do not have to reach past - usually a fitting that comes on with the door. Power is worth adding if small appliances will be used or charged inside. Some ventilation matters where the space is unheated or backs onto an external wall.

   Watch forA converted closet with no light. It is the omission that quietly makes the whole conversion less useful, and adding a circuit afterwards means cutting into finished work.

6. 6

   Fit-out, door and finishing

   Shelving, pull-outs and any worktop section go in, and the door is chosen: a standard door needs swing clearance in the kitchen, a pocket or sliding door does not, and a walk-in with no door needs the interior to look presentable.

   Watch forA pantry door that swings into the working area and fouls an appliance or another door. In a busy kitchen this is a daily irritation and it is easy to design out at the drawing stage.

What does pantry remodel cost?

A wide range, because "pantry" covers a set of pull-outs in an existing cabinet at one end and a converted room with structural work, lighting and joinery at the other. The main drivers are whether any building work is needed, whether power and light are being run, and whether the fit-out is bespoke.

See the full pantry remodel cost guide - by material, size and region →

If the number is the problem, here are the ways people pay for it →

Kitchen planning tools → Work out whether the storage problem needs building work.