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When designing a house, there are a number of things you have to look at. Start with numbers; the square yards of covered area, the number of people who will be living here, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms required, the number of floors you want, living and kitchen areas, and most importantly, storage area. Storage is as important in a house as is the kitchen. You can’t live without either of these. While most people prefer to have a big storage space, on one floor of the house, you can divide it up into two for either floor. By working smartly and using spaces efficiently, there’s a lot more than you can achieve. Especially for the kitchen, you need cabinets and organizers to organize all the various tools and ingredients that are used to make food. If you have the space in your kitchen floor plan, you need to add a dedicated area for the kitchen pantry.
Why Is A Kitchen Pantry Important?
A kitchen pantry is often most overlooked when designing a house. However, most people start looking for ‘extra space’ to put away their things (ingredients, canned foods, appliances, etc.) a few months after moving in. To avoid this, you need to incorporate a dedicated pantry area when you’re designing your house. If you are buying a fully-constructed house, you can always pick one that has extra space attached to the kitchen. If it isn’t and you are pretty set on buying this particular house, then you can always build an add-on space in the open side of the house or your backyard. Needless to say, a kitchen without a pantry can be a nightmare.
For people who like to buy canned foods, store ingredients in advance, have sophisticated kitchen appliances that have to be stored properly, a kitchen pantry can do wonders. With this, you will no longer have to pile things on top of one another, or go into a detailed organization process each time you take something out.
For most chefs that you can find on BBC Food, a pantry area is where they keep their exotic ingredients. Most of the time these ingredients are from the places they have traveled to and would not be found where they live. If you are someone who enjoys cooking exotic cuisines, then the extra space to store these ingredients is all you need.
In most South Asian homes, big feasts around religious holidays and weddings is something that people look forward to, with food almost always being the centerpiece. To prepare these foods, you need big pots and pans, barbecue grills, and an extra set of portable stoves in most cases. These are of course not used throughout the year but are reserved only for special occasions, and therefore, have to be stored away while also being within your reach. Wrap them up and store them away in your pantry. While the pantry helps organize your kitchen, a dirty kitchen will help organize your cooking process.
Now that we have established the importance of kitchen pantry, let’s look at the many ways it can be added in your kitchen.
Where to Build A Kitchen Pantry
Your kitchen pantry should be an extension of your kitchen, of course. There’s no need to design a pantry that will take a few more steps to access. Linking it next to the kitchen also adds to the overall space your kitchen occupies. If you keep your pantry open, next to the kitchen, it will give your cooking and presentation space an open feel and make it easier to maintain it as well. If you are designing your house from scratch, there’s a lot more for you to choose from. If you are renovating your kitchen, then check out this guide on the most important things you should consider.
However, most houses are not so big and if you are one of those people who have smaller space that can be allocated for a pantry, you need not worry. A simple closet can serve the purpose quite well as well. For this, you need organizers; get baskets for fresh produce that has to be stored at room temperature, shelves for ingredients and/or cutlery. Install bigger cabinets for your appliances and racks for any drinks you want to store. Find out all about kitchen cabinet options in this blog. Store your spices in smaller jars and other materials on containers depending on quantities.
Baking nowadays requires a bit of extra sophistication. For this, you can add drawers to store away these small pieces like the piping gun nozzle which gets lost more often than any other thing. For those big pans accustomed to South Asian cooking, add deeper shelves at the bottom and store them away.
Be sure to keep your ingredients on the higher to medium shelves, not at the bottom. This is especially important for houses with toddlers, and also generally to keep your ingredients safe from getting infested with any kind of insects.
If you have a kitchen pantry, and you want to tell us more about its importance and where it should be built, write to us at blog@zameen.com. Also, keep checking Zameen Blog, Pakistan’s biggest real estate blog, for more updates on properties and the latest trends in home decor.
