The value of a walk-in pantry is its uses, and it’s a feature. For many households, a walk-in pantry is a luxury. For others, it’s a necessity. But primarily, the size of a kitchen (and even a house) will determine whether you have a walk-in pantry.
Walk-in pantries do add value to a home. A walk-in pantry can function as a larder. Like a larder, a walk-in pantry is traditional in manor houses. These are functional and fashionable in smaller homes too. The value of a pantry ranges from decluttering a kitchen to storing non-perishables.
The value of a walk-in pantry is directly related to how and what its use is. A pantry extends the kitchen, and these spaces work interdependently. The pantry needs to be nearby. Whether the pantry is for storage, convenience, or doing away with clutter in the kitchen, the value of a walk-in pantry in a home is worth considering.
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A Walk In Pantry Helps Organize A Kitchen
How we use a space like a walk-in pantry will determine its value. And, knowing that domestic (or residential) kitchen design is relatively recent, ways to get the best from kitchens involve looking at what value a pantry can add to the management of the house.
The earliest writing on how to best use kitchens (and this includes the kinds of pantries you’d need) is that of Catharine Beecher’s A Treatise on Domestic Economy (1843) and also Harriet Beecher Stowe’s The American Woman’s Home (1869). These works found that storage is as necessary as there’s a need for a workspace.
Curiously, Christine Frederick’s articles on “New Household Management” (1913) also look at the kitchen as a space in which efficiency mattered. She mentioned the idea of a kitchen work triangle for efficiency in which the value of a walk-in pantry fits. Undeniably, the pantry adds to efficiency.
According to the work triangle principles of how the kitchen functions, these principles involve storage, preparation, and cooking. None of these activities must interfere with one another.
Of course, the storage aspects (the pantry) must be close. The work triangle was the refrigerator, the sink, and the stove. Here, the fridge is the walk-in pantry, as today’s cooking largely depends on stored non-perishables.
The pantry is an ancillary space to the kitchen, and its value is as an organized space. A walk-in pantry’s value is not as a storeroom or a receptor for decluttering from the kitchen. It’s a functional space that can read and know what happens in the kitchen from looking inside.
How To Use A Walk In Pantry For Storage
The fact that the pantry is a walk-in suggests space move-in. Moving into a pantry and getting to what’s needed is part of its value and functionality.
Besides being big enough to move in, the size of a walk-in pantry will determine whether there’s space for a refrigerator and if there’s space to store fresh produce. A pantry is ideal for storing grains, rice, legumes, and other dry ingredients on shelves: so too olive oils, olives, kinds of pasta, and canned tomatoes.
Often, a corner in the walk-in pantry can store modern-day gadgets that usually would be on kitchen counters. These are infrequently used, like pasta machines, ice cream makers, popcorn or bread machines, a toaster, coffee grinders, slow cookers, and deep fryers. With fewer of these in the kitchen, the counters remain uncluttered.
Some no-no items in a pantry store are toxic products like household cleaners or poisons. But what can be stored safely in a pantry are wines, coffees, teas, preserves, nuts, and olives (see also above canned and dried foods).
How To Get Value From A Walk-In Pantry
In the most traditional sense, the pantry is a functional space and is often compared to being closest to the heart of the house, the kitchen. As seen above, the value of a walk-in pantry is as specific storage space and making the kitchen a well-functioning area.
Besides the marketability of a walk-in pantry from a selling point or having market value (not always discernible though at a glance), a walk-in pantry has practical uses.
The key to having a walk-in pantry is the size of the pantry that allows for bulk non-perishable foods’ buying. The shelving, well organized, makes meal preparations simpler. The ability to stock a variety of goods makes meal planning easier. A well-stocked walk-in pantry means fewer shopping trips and more family and friend times.
So whether you’re designing and building a home from scratch or redesigning your kitchen, a walk-in pantry is your best friend. The floor-to-ceiling shelves are big enough to store dry and canned ingredients, even cookbooks and medium to large cooking appliances.
As a walk-in pantry is large, it allows for creativity in the way items or even appliances are stored. These can be done shelf by shelf, in food groups, or organized for specific baking, brewing, or other crafts in the kitchen.
For some, a walk-in pantry with plenty of shelves might mean more work, such as dusting and cleaning. The value of a walk-in pantry lies in the organization of this space, and you can do this with a weekly checklist and regular decluttering.
A Walk In Pantry Is One Of A Home’s Best Aspects
The walk-in pantry is one of the best aspects of a home. What is most valued is that goods or items on shelves are immediately visible and at eye level! It’s easy to take stock of what you have before grocery shopping. And, on your return, the shelves’ sorting and packing are a breeze.
Arguably, the benefits of having a walk-in pantry outweigh that of a smaller kitchen footprint should you have to take off space for a pantry—the ease of managing and organizing the kitchen with less stress. It is also easier to work in a kitchen with less clutter.
Feng Sui – The Art & Discipline Of A Walk In Pantry
The value of a walk-in pantry could even contribute to your good personal fortune. Feng Sui practitioners say that having enough space in your kitchen to store items is good. There’s more storage space with a walk-in closet, which will stop you from turning kitchen counters into storage spaces. The clutter creates poison arrows – an obstruction to your health.
Expanding the kitchen space, specifically with a walk-in pantry, will lessen the clutter on the kitchen countertops.
But remember, decluttering the kitchen into the pantry is not the answer either. Keep the pantry from bursting at its’ seams. Feng Sui rules matter here, too, and organizing your pantry is quickly done by grouping the same items and using storage containers. Keep the walk-in pantry clean and clutter-free too.
Remember not to store dented or outdated foods or even those you don’t intend to eat (old preserves, chutneys, et cetera).
Related: How Big Is A Corner Walk-In Pantry
Conclusion
The value of a walk-in pantry is its capacity to store, and a well-organized walk-in pantry, according to the rules of Feng Sui, brings health and good luck. As a functional space, a walk-in pantry allows for less time wasted on continuous tidying and decluttering in a kitchen and more time for your welfare and health.