Other People's Pantries #156

From Christine, in Sterling, Connecticut:

First, I need to thank you all for your pantries, because the first thing my husband and I did when we designed ours was to turn to "other peoples pantries". We drooled our way through the archives. Our pantry is a little complicated in that it reflects our projects and well-entrenched idiosyncracies.

Idiosyncracies aside (way too complicated), projects include: making beer, wine, cheese, canning, drying, preserving, or just packaging up eggs for our customers. Then there is the "where did I leave it last?" and "I need it now!" items like the measuring tape, scissors, and masking tape that I particularly needed to jettison from a cluttered drawer in the kitchen.

So our pantry contains a little bit of everything — arranged so that the most used items are up front, less frequent in the back. What we reach for the most are the spices, so my husband made a rack for the back of the pantry door that when closed keeps the room cool and dark.

Thanks to the clever buyers at the container store we have easy-access large and small bins and click clack containers that hold a wide variety of wonderful stuff at the shelf level we most need it to be. Our own and friends' canned goods we use lovingly and sparingly so they are out of immediate reach (we have to think about it).

We made sure we had to walk an extra few steps to the kegerator for that second beer.

And a fave — the homage to Julia pegboard for all those out-of sight out-of-mind items that plague the over-60 crowd. I mean at our age, untangling a whisk from the beaters causes agita!

Thanks for the inspiration!

On Saturdays, for more than three years, we've been peeking into Other People's Pantries all around the world.

*There are three more pantries to share. If you'd like this feature to continue -- if you've been meaning to send your photos but haven't gotten around to it -- please send in your pantry photos. Here's how.

And, please put your camera to work on Market to Pantry, alternating on Saturdays with Other People's Pantries.

*There are two more markets to share. Show us your favorite supermarket, farmers' market, ethnic market, big box store or roadside stand. We'd love to see where you shop for food.  Here's how.

Comments

I want that pantry. That is all! :)

First I wanted the kitchen. Then I wanted every single detail in the pantry. But when I saw the beer kegerator tucked in the corner, I was totally in love! Perfect.

drool

Beautiful pantry, a dream for many of us who live in appartments. My sincere thanks to Lydia for putting up this pantry. I loved it

So incredibly organized! And inviting. My-oh-my.

Wow this is amazing.

I'm trying to figure out how to do a kitchen like that one in my double-wide!!! Love it all. :)

That is one phenomenal pantry--wow! Very nicely done! I especially like the chalkboard with the "woof" and "meow" talk bubbles. :)

ditto ALL the sentiments already posted.

Wow, that's pantry heaven!

Holy cow - I am sitting here, wiping drool from my chin, coveting your pantry. FABULOUS!!!!!

I loved that pantry and that life. I rather hope your are over 60 so there is still hope for me and my husband currently emeshed in helping three people grow up well. Enjoy enjoy enjoy. Thank you for that wonderful treat! How fun it must be to create there.

I really really want, no NEED this pantry. Oh! green with envy here.

I want to live in that pantry and kitchen!!

Wow! You've got a dream pantry. Would you be able to tell us what brand of spice jars you used and where you got them?

OMG - I am in love! That spice rack..... I seriously need to find a way to get that into my kitchen! And the peg board... genius!

Another admirer dreaming of jettisoning that last kid from his room so I can convert *it* into *this* for ME!
Love *love* LOVE!!

omg....I aspire to have that pantry. I love the spice rack!

Why don't I have a pegboard in my pantry? Even just a narrow strip would be a good use of a small area I have open.

Thanks everyone for your comments! We bought the jars from. www.sks-bottle.com/340c/fin6g.html. Number 4059-08. I bought oval labels from staples and printed out labels for top and front. And Marriane...keep the pantry faith! Not that you want to create a pantry and kitchen in the method in which we had to (our house burned down!), but when the opportunity presented itself we were talking about a pantry not 10 minutes after the smoke cleared because we always knew it was the one thing missing from the old house.

I want it I want it I want it! Drool drool drool! If I only had some space I'd hire you to do one for me!
You've given me a great idea. As I'm reorganizing my kitchen I'll look at all the OPPs for ideas.
Thanks so much for your inspirations, and enjoy that wondrous kitchen and pantry!

To see that you rose from the ashes into beauty and function is an important lesson.

WOW!I just love it!Just wondering what is the size of your pantry?We're trying to include one in our new build and this is it!This is what I want!!

:::::::thud::::::::

Pantry LUST!!!!!!!!

Dreaming of owning one of these pantries...hehe...such a great post! Living in Manhattan I only WISH I had this amazing space.
Enjoy your weekend. Love your blog. So fabulous and fresh n' perfect! So happy to have discovered your amazing posts and can't wait to keep reading your future posts!

Okay, I can die now, I have seen perfection.

pea green with envy!

Susan...Pantry is 5' x 8' with a 2' 6" deep x 2' 2" wide recess for the kegerator. Shelves are 11" deep. I wish I had made the width of the shelves the width of the white scoop-front containers but I ran out of budget (would have ended up with another 2 verticals). What isn't installed yet is a pull out undermount shelf to put the beer tray on as you fill glasses, and a shelf with spindles on it for rolls of string we use regularly. Happy planning!!

As you know I have a pretty good pantry and kitchen, but WOW. What a wonderfully well-planned kitchen and pantry this is.

Amazing!

I want this pantry, this kitchen and them as my grandparents - Amazing and wonderful all around.

beautiful and inspiring

Wow! Gorgeous and so beautifully utilitarian. Bravo!

I am moving in. Air mattress on the floor and all. Lock me in - I am in love!

I have to agree with all the comments! This is jaw-dropping and drool-producing! Is there any way, in an "I'll love you forever" fashion, to ask if your husband could produce a tutorial for how he built that spice rack? If I could reproduce that, it would change my world! Thanks so much for letting us take a peek inside your pantry! (Haha! When I first typed pantry, I typed 'panty'. That would have been akward! :)

What can I say! Excellent! Amazing ways of organizing a pantry! I am in awe! I am jealous! I only wish I have a walk in pantry closed like that! Excellent job!

Lovely pantry!!!! Could someone tell me how big the spice jars are? I'm thinking about doing the same for my pantry door.

Sheila, I've forwarded your question to the owner of this pantry.

Actually this would never work for very long. I had the same thing from Container Store on my pantry door. the weight of all the jars together slowly pulled the door off the hinges over a year! Now we have a cracked door frame and a broken pantry door:-( DO NOT TRY!

Kirsten, I've visited this pantry many times; the spice rack has been on the door for several years.

I love this! We have so many spices and I try to keep them alphabetized but they never stay that way. Would you be interested in sharing with me how your husband built the rack for the door? It could clear up so much space in my pantry.

Untangling the whisk from anything gives me agita! Love your system...

What are the diminsions of this pantry? Love the whole thing.