I’ve been enjoying Fine Homebuilding for some time but am new to this site. I’m remodeling the kitchen and have a 53″ wide by 24 ” deep area I want to turn into a pantry. My starting position is to build a cabinet with approximately those dimensions and put adjustable shelves inside. My wife is thinking about 12″ adjustable shelves along the back and two sides so you can open the doors and step in. My question is what type of a shelving system to use that would be both strong and adjustable? Thanks.
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Well, first off, welcome to BT.
To answer your question better, some questions. What do you want to store in the "pantry"? The answer may seem obvious, but it isn't--I can't think of two pantries laid out the same.
So, if you need sack storage for bulk flour or rice or the like, that will be a bit different than just for can goods. Will there want to be a space for a broom & mop? Trash can? Trash bags? Pet food? Litter box(es)?
So, you may need casework and door-over-shelving. If you have some scrap boards, it can be handy to mock up what, and where, you'd store the stuff you have now (and you might find out that there's stuff you didn't know went into the "pantry" too . . . and some stuff that's never to be in there; depending on what sort of S.O. you have)
Now, I'm a fan of open wire shelving (which will sometimes reflexively make some folks go "NOOOOOO!"). Some of that is my restaurant experience, I'll admit. Shopping carefully for wire shelving can un-"no" that "no," too. Having shelves which let light in can be handy (not collecting dust, old can lables, insect corpses, etc. is also good in my book).
I'm also a fan of using the backs of the doors for stuff. A battery center (and a flashlight) is worth the effort to fit it in. The way your kitchen operates may dictate whether a foil/wrap rack, towel bars, apron hooks, etc. are better or worse on the door backs too.
Get a light in there, no matter how you build it--light in the pantry almost never is a waste.
24" is too deep for just shelves, specially if you are storing lots of canned, boxed, and packaged items. They will get lost in the back.
You might want to include pull out shelves or drawers.
And for the packaged items there are pull out racks with smaller shelfs.