Person who loves to cook here. I’ve only had an official pantry once, in an apartment built in 1880. I loved, loved it. The kitchen itself hardly had any storage space. But the pantry was a great way to have easy access to my cooking paraphernalia as well as cooking ingredients. The bad part was that the building had cockroaches so we kept the actual food to a minimum and everything had to be sealed until use.
My current apartment has some small pantry shelves which I’ve stuffed to the gills with goodies. It’s not enough space.
We had a BIG pantry in our house in Portland. I used the upper stationary shelf section for electric appliances and the lower five pull-out shelves for food storage. We have a much smaller one here, but it’s put to good use for food storage. Appliances and such are on shelving units that I installed.
Most of the many homes I’ve lived in have had a pantry, and I appreciate it/use it for all the reasons given above. My current pantry stores, in designated areas: pet food and supplies; a few large platters atop a drawer full of small kitchen gadgets; a small supply of frequently used canned goods (beans, tomato paste, corn); snack foods (nuts, popcorn, crackers); frequently used cleaning supplies; candles/batteries/hurricane lamps & oil; and foil/parchment paper/paper bags/cling wrap.
It’s not mandatory; if I didn’t have a pantry I’d simply store those items somewhere else. But it’s nice to have them conveniently at hand.
Sure, I could make the kitchen bigger - but I’d still need a pantry. Because a pantry doesn’t have to be a separate room - it can be a closet or a free standing or built in cabinet. In your link, the gray kitchen has a cabinet that I’d bet is a pantry and the wood toned tall cabinet next to the refrigerator in the next one is probably a pantry.
Anyway, it’s not just for canned food. It’s for any food that doesn’t need refrigeration. I have some canned goods in my pantry - but also oils, vinegars, flour and other baking supplies, pasta, sauces , cereal. The big advantage to a pantry cabinet , I think, is that it’s one continuous cabinet rather than a top and bottom with a counter in between. Because I can store the heavier/more commonly used items at a comfortable height.
If you move from a two-room apartment to a twelve-room Victorian with full basement, full attic, two large barns and a carriage house: you will probably fill the space within five years.
If you like gardening, you’ll love canning. Even just a few Ball or Mason jars are interesting, as one can see the food inside. A pressure canner also makes short-er work of things like beans, and is great for making soup stocks from bone broth. I found some old canning jars of my parents in their attic, one of them dates to the 1930s based on the font style. To my eyes, a pantry shelf full of preserves and vegetables is really nice.
What I can’t figure out is how people kept canned or “canned” stuff from freezing before central heating and air generally. The only way? was a “root cellar”, or keep it below the frost zone in the soil. A cabin or home without heat would be asking for trouble I’d think.
I mostly store those items in drawers below the counter. It would probably be easier to have them at a more comfortable height, but it’s not a big hassle. Some things are stored on the counter, in jars. Like rice, cereal etc.
I was thinking about the walk-in pantries when I made the thread. I have lived in some houses were we had a floor to ceiling (or close to) cabinet, but I really didn’t think those were that much different than the cabinets above the counter.
I store a kitchen machine in a cabinet above the counter. It also contains a few other appliances, but I don’t have that many.
It would be nice to have some of those items at a better height, but if you have a walk-in pantry you also have to walk farther.
Some of the other things listed I store in a closet that is not connected to the kitchen, like cleaning supplies.
Small century home, small kitchen with a 5’ x 9’ walk in pantry off of it. Holds everything and then some! Recycling bins, drink stores, canned goods, baking supplies, appliances etc, etc.
And yes, it’s full and we are only two small people, yikes. One advantage is mine is also a cold room. In winter, no need to refrigerate pop or beer! At holidays it’s brilliant for storing prepped food, like a giant walk in fridge.
Only downside is hubs has no restraint when he sees a bargain. I swear he has no concept of ‘limited space’.
I absolutely love our house. We have a small pantry in our kitchen, as well as a larger closet for equipment (blender, air fryer, rice maker, etc).
Then downstairs in our finished basement we have a huge shelved closet area with a commercial wine rack and shelving for pantry backup (big roll of garbage bags from Sam’s, case quantities of canned goods).
If we couldn’t leave the house for two months we could still eat well daily.
Stored them somewhere in the house that didn’t freeze; including, yes, often in a root cellar. Even in a quite cold climate a root cellar won’t freeze easily, especially if there’s any heat at all in the house above it. I expect if the situation was known to be borderline the canned goods could be packed in straw for insulation.
A home without heat in a climate cold enough for things to freeze in a root cellar would be trouble on its own; any people in the house would be more worried about freezing to death than about whether their full canning jars were breaking. I expect that if a house or cabin were going to be left empty for weeks or even multiple days people didn’t leave canned goods there.
