The Well-Stocked Pantry

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To hold everything we wanted to put into it, our pantry had to be 15' long and 4 1/2' wide. We used 11 1/2"-deep shelving along three walls. On one of the short walls, we put up 4 1/2" shelving to hold flavorings, spices, and seeds for sprouting. We were left with a 31" aisle. Now, we're sorry we didn't make the aisle six inches wider. As it is, space is a little tight and I'm always afraid I'll knock a jar off a shelf trying to turn around with my arms full.

We put the pantry in the northwest corner of our basement, which has a concrete floor and therefore stays dry. We would have preferred the cooler northeast corner, but that space was already claimed by our water system. Relocating the pressure tank, pump, and water heater would have made the project prohibitively expensive.

Although the existing basement provided two walls, we framed all four pantry walls with 2 x 4s, added insulation all around—including in the ceiling—and sealed the walls with a moisture barrier. We covered the inside walls with 1/2" drywall, taped and painted them with primer, then applied two coats of semigloss paint.

For shelving, we used 1' x 12" pine. The second shelf is 14 1/2" above the first shelf, which rests on a 3 1/2"-high baseboard—perfect for holding gallon and half-gallon jars. The next three shelves are 9 3/4" apart (good for quart canning jars) and the upper shelves are 6 3/4" apart (for pint jars and standard cans).

To keep the shelves from sagging under the weight of our heavy canned goods, we made them no more than 52" long between uprights, and then added PVC pipe supports every 26". In one area we left out the baseboard to provide room for bulk items such as buckets of sugar or flour and jerricans of water.

For easy cleaning, we made all of the shelves removable and painted them with primer and two coats of oil-based paint, sanding lightly between each coat. If we were building the pantry today, we would use vinyl-coated wire shelves, now available at building-supply stores for the same cost as lumber.

To ensure an even, year-round temperature, our pantry has no windows. It does have a bathroom-type exhaust fan, though, to circulate the air and help keep things cool during the summer. A timer switches the fan on at 2:00 A.m. and off again at 6:00 A.M. to bring in cool air during the summer. (It doesn't run in the winter because the canned goods would freeze.) A light fixture and an entry door in one corner complete the setup.

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