With an elegantly organised space, you’ll never forget what you have again!
Originally published 16/06/2024 – Updated 27/04/2026
A walk-in pantry is a dedicated, room-sized food storage space adjacent to the kitchen, where shelving and worktop combine to take pressure off the main cabinetry. At Planet Furniture we typically design walk-in pantries between 1.2 and 2.5 metres wide, with shelving depths of 25 to 35 cm, a worktop at standard 90 cm height, motion-sensor LED lighting and considered ventilation. Done well, a walk-in pantry adds practical storage, keeps the surrounding kitchen calm and uncluttered, and feels like a small luxury you’ll use every day.
Walk-in pantries were once considered a luxury, but now they have become a sought-after element in modern homes, offering a storage solution and a touch of sophistication. They have taken the main pressure off the kitchen and elevated everyday living through their storage features.
The basic info of what a walk-in pantry is!
A walk-in pantry is a dedicated storage space, typically located near the kitchen, designed to store food items, kitchen supplies and other household essentials. It’s either a small room or a large space that you can physically walk into, offering additional storage capacity and better organisation options. It’s the most beautiful addition to your home and we love designing and building them!
How big does a walk-in pantry need to be?
The minimum useful footprint for a walk-in pantry is around 1.2 metres wide by 1.5 metres deep, which gives you shelving on one wall and just enough room to step inside and turn around comfortably. For shelving on both side walls plus a worktop on the back wall, you’ll want at least 1.5 metres wide by 2 metres deep. The most generous and practical size, and the one most of our clients ultimately request, is around 2 metres by 2 metres, which allows shelving on three walls, a worktop with space for small appliances such as a coffee machine or toaster, and an internal door that swings clear of the shelving.
A useful rule of thumb when designing the layout: leave at least 90 cm of clear floor space between opposing shelves, and never less than 75 cm. Anything tighter than 75 cm and the pantry stops feeling like a room and starts feeling like a corridor.
Benefits of a walk-in pantry
A walk-in pantry provides ample space to store dry goods, kitchen appliances, and other essentials. Your countertops in the kitchen remain clutter-free, allowing for a more streamlined and efficient cooking environment.
With so many dry goods to buy the designated area for spices, canned goods, and baking supplies all have a home. Organisation has never become so easy thanks to the shelving, drawers, and custom inserts that can be tailored to your specific needs.
You can even store a larger variety of ingredients, reducing the need for frequent trips to the store. By having a walk-in pantry, everything is within easy reach, saving you time during meal preparation.
Opting for a well-designed walk-in pantry can enhance the overall aesthetic of your kitchen. With thoughtful design elements from yourself and our experienced kitchen designers, it can seamlessly blend with the style of your home adding a touch of elegance and sophistication.
Walk-in pantry shelving: depths, heights and spacing
Shelving is the working heart of a walk-in pantry. Get the depths and heights right and everything you store will be visible at a glance; get them wrong and the pantry quickly becomes the same problem you were trying to solve. The dimensions below are the ones we use as a starting point on every Planet Furniture pantry, adjusted to suit each client’s typical shopping habits.
| What’s stored | Shelf depth | Shelf height (clear) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spices and small jars | 10 to 15 cm | 15 to 20 cm | Single-row depth, often on the inside of the door |
| Tins, packets and dried goods | 20 to 25 cm | 25 to 30 cm | Allow for two rows of standard tins front-to-back |
| Decanted jars and storage tubs | 25 to 30 cm | 30 to 35 cm | Standard Kilner and Le Parfait jar heights |
| Bottles, wine and oils | 30 to 35 cm | 35 to 40 cm | Bordeaux bottles need 32 cm of vertical clearance |
| Baking trays and serving platters | 35 to 45 cm | 10 to 15 cm | Vertical dividers work better than stacking |
| Small appliances | 40 to 50 cm | 40 to 50 cm | Worktop level, with sockets behind |
| Cookbooks | 25 to 30 cm | 30 to 40 cm | Often paired with display shelving |
For the upper shelves, we recommend keeping anything above 1.8 metres limited to lightweight or seasonal items. Heavy storage belongs between 80 cm and 150 cm above the floor, in the natural reach zone where you can pick up a tin of tomatoes without straining or stepping up.
Walk-in pantry vs pantry cupboard vs larder cupboard
Three storage solutions get used interchangeably in conversation but mean different things in practice. Choosing between them is usually a question of available floor space and how much you cook from scratch.
| Feature | Walk-in pantry | Pantry cupboard | Larder cupboard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Floor space required | 1.5 to 4 m² | 0.5 m² (cabinet footprint) | 0.4 m² (cabinet footprint) |
| Storage capacity | Very high | Medium to high | Medium |
| Worktop and prep space | Yes, typical | Optional, behind bi-fold doors | Rarely |
| Appliance integration | Yes (coffee machine, toaster, etc.) | Yes (limited) | No |
| Ventilation needs | Active (vent or grille) | Passive | Passive |
| Best for | Keen cooks, larger households | Mid-sized kitchens, breakfast stations | Smaller kitchens, classic styles |
The pantry cupboard, often referred to as a “breakfast pantry” or “bi-fold pantry”, is the middle option. It sits between cabinetry, opens with bi-fold doors, and conceals worktop, appliances and shelving behind a single closed face. The larder cupboard is the traditional tall, narrow cupboard with shelving and pull-out drawers, ideal for kitchens where every centimetre of floor is already accounted for.
Designing a walk-in pantry to suit you and your home
With thoughtful design elements, your walk-in pantry can seamlessly blend with the style of your home and beyond. Here are some design tips:
- Utilise the full height of your pantry by installing floor-to-ceiling shelving.
- Consider installing bright, energy-efficient LED lights that illuminate every corner.
- Incorporate adjustable shelving heights to accommodate items of various sizes.
- If there’s a pantry door, make use of it and add racks or pockets to the inside.
- Is your space big enough for a worktop? Add counter space for meal prep or as an area for grocery bags.
- Decant your goods into an airtight container for easy organisation.
- Keep items labelled, this helps you to find things as well as everything having a designated spot.
Lighting, ventilation and the details that make a pantry feel premium
Three details separate a beautiful walk-in pantry from one that ages quickly:
Lighting: motion-sensor LED strips on the underside of each shelf, switched on automatically when the door opens. The lighting on most of our pantries is integrated by default and runs on a low-voltage system that draws very little power. Avoid the temptation of a single overhead pendant: shadows from the shelving above will leave the lower shelves in gloom.
Ventilation: a passive grille high on the back wall, or a discreet extraction fan on a humidistat, prevents the buildup of warmth and damp that affects everything from cereal to chocolate. Ventilation matters more than people expect, particularly if the pantry shares a wall with an oven, dishwasher or hot water cylinder.
Materials: solid timber shelves, ideally oak or ash, painted to match the kitchen or left raw and oiled. Veneered or laminated MDF shelves perform less well over time when loaded with heavy jars and bottles, so we always specify solid timber on the lower shelves at minimum.
Door and handle: a single full-height door with a substantial handle and a soft-close hinge feels considered every time you open it. A bi-fold or pocket door is worth considering if floor space is tight, since neither swings into the room.
Walk-in pantry design ideas from our recent projects
The Walk-In Pantry at Planet Furniture’s Showroom – Our walk-in haven for all things baking and everything to do with cooking!
This is our response to how the landscape of a modern kitchen evolves with a sought-after feature known as the walk-in pantry. Our walk-in pantry showcased in the showroom is more than just a design; it’s a dedicated place for tailored organisation and blends versatility, sophistication and practicality all in one place.
We as kitchen designers understand the desire for functionality without compromising on aesthetic appeal, and our showroom example is the perfect illustration. It’s just how we would want our walk-in pantry to look and function.
By prioritising storage in the walk-in pantry, the adjoining kitchen remains orderly and clutter-free. We designed open shelving to play a prominent role in the pantry’s layout, displaying and organising the kitchen essentials. The shelving is our bespoke artisan shelves that bring durability and aesthetic appeal to the space all hand-painted in a rich green by one of our favoured paint companies. Fully optimising the available space, open corner shelving was installed, ensuring that every square inch was utilised efficiently. The shelves were extended to the ceiling, providing additional storage for occasionally used items and ingredients.
Design Details
We love adding basket storage as it brings a rustic charm to the pantry’s overall aesthetic. They can also be ideal for storing fresh produce, including onions and potatoes, as well as bakery items that require a cool and dry environment.
In this pantry design, we also introduced deep storage drawers, which are particularly beneficial to the storage of baking ingredients and grains hence the personalised engraving. They each have been designed with a soft-close feature and the drawers have been implemented to prevent overcrowding at the back of the cupboards.
Storing the spices, oils and other ingredients to add to the culinary delight are beautiful bespoke spice racks.
Separating the artisan pantry shelves and base cabinets, a beautiful quartz worktop brings an instant appeal. It serves as a practical surface for the home of small appliances and doubles as an efficient workspace. Of course, it had to be a white-based quartz with beautiful veining – one of our favourites and also adored by our clients.
To add both warmth and texture to the cabinetry, burnished brass handles were selected. These handles are not only functional but also enhance the overall aesthetic, introducing a tactile and inviting element to the pantry.
Lighting is essential in a walk-in pantry so we added LED lighting to the bottom shelf illuminating the work surface and every corner. These are installed on a motion sensor for an extra layer of convenience, automatically turning on when you enter.
Other details include tongue and groove panelling, solid oak serving trays and bespoke oak wine racks.
Our Letchworth Walk-In Pantry Design
A seamless extension of the kitchen is how this walk-in pantry adds a luxurious touch to the overall design. Designed in our Lay-On Shaker this butler’s pantry fulfils everyday life’s demands and meets cooking needs.
Dried foods were decanted into glass jars to organise the pantry to its best potential. We find heavy, bulky items are placed on lower levels, and the lighter ones are positioned within easy reach, midway or above.
Our designer designed open shelving to utilise all the pantry’s layout. It allows our client to display their dry goods and creates an illusion of more space.
Planning your walk-in pantry: a practical checklist
When clients first come to us about a walk-in pantry, the conversation usually starts not with shelving but with cooking habits. The right pantry is built around what you actually buy, store and use. Before your first design consultation, it helps to know:
- How often you cook from scratch, and roughly how many people you cook for
- Whether you tend to buy in bulk or top up weekly
- Which small appliances you’d like to keep out of sight in the pantry rather than on the kitchen worktop
- Whether you want a worktop for prep, a worktop for appliances, or both
- Whether you’d like wine and bottle storage included
- Your preferred door type (full-height single door, bi-fold, pocket or open archway)
When starting the journey for your walk-in pantry, it’s essential to envision its everyday practicality, functionality and the items it will store. First things first is to create a comprehensive list of elements to meet your today’s needs to your future needs. Your design will become versatile and an enduring space that complements your lifestyle.
Successful planning allows the walk-in pantry to seamlessly extend the functionality of your kitchen, incorporating a harmonious mix of shelving, drawers, and workspace. Additionally, consider ventilation and temperature control to ensure the longevity and freshness of your stored food items.
From there, our designers can work backwards from your habits to a layout, then to a finish, then to the cabinetry style that ties the pantry into the rest of the kitchen. Every Planet Furniture walk-in pantry is hand-built and hand-painted in our Hertfordshire workshop, so any combination of size, depth, finish and detail is possible.
Frequently asked questions
How big does a walk-in pantry need to be?
The smallest useful walk-in pantry is around 1.2 metres wide by 1.5 metres deep. A more comfortable size, with shelving on two walls plus a worktop, is 1.5 by 2 metres. The most generous practical size is 2 by 2 metres, which gives shelving on three walls and room for small appliances on a back-wall worktop.
What is the minimum width for a walk-in pantry?
1.2 metres is the minimum width that allows shelving on one wall and enough clear floor space to step inside and turn around. Below 1.2 metres a pantry cupboard with bi-fold doors will usually be a better solution than a walk-in.
Do you need ventilation in a walk-in pantry?
Yes. Walk-in pantries benefit from either a passive ventilation grille high on the back wall or a discreet humidistat-controlled extraction fan, particularly when the pantry shares a wall with an oven, dishwasher or hot water cylinder. Ventilation prevents the warmth and damp that shorten the life of dried goods and chocolate.
What is the difference between a walk-in pantry, a larder and a pantry cupboard?
A walk-in pantry is a dedicated room-sized space you step into, typically 1.5 to 4 m² in floor area. A pantry cupboard is a tall cabinet with bi-fold or pocket doors that conceals shelving, worktop and small appliances behind a single closed face. A larder cupboard is the traditional tall, narrow cabinet with shelves and pull-out drawers, ideal for smaller kitchens where floor space is limited.
How deep should pantry shelves be?
Pantry shelves should be between 25 and 35 cm deep for general dried-goods storage, with shallower 10 to 15 cm shelves for spices and small jars, and deeper 35 to 45 cm shelves for baking trays and small appliances. Going deeper than 45 cm tends to create a hidden second row at the back where ingredients are forgotten and wasted.
Where should the worktop go in a walk-in pantry?
The most useful worktop position is the back wall, opposite the door, at standard 90 cm height. This gives you a sightline straight into the pantry as you walk in, and lets you place small appliances such as a coffee machine, toaster or stand mixer with sockets concealed behind. A side-wall worktop is the alternative when the back wall is too narrow.
Designing your walk-in pantry with Planet Furniture
If you’d like to see how a bespoke walk-in pantry could work in your kitchen, our showroom in Hitchin includes a full working example with shelving, lighting, ventilation and finish details you can interact with. Visits are by appointment, with no obligation. Get in touch to book a consultation or arrange a showroom visit, and one of our designers will help you work through the layout, finishes and details that suit your home and the way you cook. Discover Planet Furniture’s walk-in pantry ideas at our showroom and across our portfolio. Create the pantry of your dreams today, our designers are ready to answer all your questions!
