By Jenny Sneller of Sneller Custom Homes & Remodeling
Open kitchen designs are not new, and if you’re considering a kitchen remodel, chances are you’re planning to do this very thing. Understandably this type of kitchen is popular for its ability to bring people together, give good traffic flow for large groups, and provide sight lines for whoever might be busy in the kitchen preparing food.
But for some, this design has created a problem. Items that could once be placed around the corner or tucked behind a wall or bar are now out in the open, cluttering up an otherwise beautiful home. Those unsightly items that need to sit out for daily convenience–small appliances, the loaf of bread, bowl of fruit, and stand mixer just to name a few–have become a burden with nowhere to hide.
Even a moderately sized pantry isn’t typically able to house these items, and regardless of the cabinet storage, there often isn’t room to accommodate these extras on a daily basis. Designers soon began prescribing what we now affectionately call the super pantry. A super pantry (also called a butler’s pantry or caterer’s kitchen) is a space behind or adjacent to the kitchen, much larger than a traditional pantry, that holds space for pantry food staples and small appliances, sometimes even large enough to serve as a secondary prep kitchen. The larger versions are fully functional kitchen spaces with full size appliances, while others are scaled down to simply hold smaller appliances such as the microwave, stand mixer, and coffee maker.
These versatile, hardworking spaces can be customized to the needs of each homeowner. Big coffee drinkers can set up a coffee bar with all the accessories; home bakers can create a baking station with all their ingredients and tools; and large-scale entertainers can get the prep area needed to cook or cater for friends and family without dirtying the main kitchen. A super pantry doesn’t need a lot of square footage, so homes of all sizes can creatively steal a little square footage here and there to make it fit in most kitchen designs. However you design it, big or small, the super pantry is the best accessory for any open kitchen design, fueling whatever you love to do in the kitchen and keeping the mess behind closed doors.
This article was provided by Jenny Sneller of Sneller Custom Homes & Remodeling, a member of the Remodelers Council of the Greater Houston Builders Association. The Remodelers Council is dedicated to promoting professionalism and public awareness of the remodeling profession through education, certification and service to the Houston community. To find a professional remodeler in your area, please visit the GHBA Remodelers Council directory.