We are designing a pantry in our old farmhouse. We are dairy farmers and live by the homesteading philosophy. Can anyone share their ideas? We appreciate any and all responses!!

-- (homefarm@webtv.net), October 11, 2001

Answers

Do you make your own butter etc.?? I ask this because I would love to have in my pantry nice deep shelves for churn, separator pieces, milk pails, pasturizer etc.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), October 11, 2001.

we are on our 3rd year of building a home without a mortgage, and this year added our kitchen/pantry/root cellar/storm shelter! granted, you probably want to stay within the walls of your home, but here's a few ideas (i should mention that we planned on everything to be useful and low maintenance): * have your pantry shelves be at least 2 feet deep and of varying heights. our bottom shelf is around 24 inches from the next one, so we can store canners and bulk food containers there. the next is about 15 inches, for paper towels, tall jars of veg oil, etc. the rest were all about 10 inches - tall enough for qt jars, or 2 pint jars stacked on top of each other. * we built a root cellar/pantry/storm shelter behind the back wall of our kitchen, out of poured concrete into the ground behind. the root cellar part is separated from the pantry part by a block wall and door for humidity adjustment. * i know this is in the kitchen, not pantry, but we decided against upper cabinets and instead put shelves up, so that our cookbooks, toaster, crockpot, canister, etc are all within easy reach. * if you put a sink in it, you might consider a deep stainless sink with a high gooseneck faucet. it's such a joy to be able to actually fit canners and tall stockpots under the sink without angling it and straining with it! we wash dishes by hand, and can get all our dishes (usually) in on one load. i know these are just basic ideas, and not for everyone, but maybe they'll spark some creative change for your place. Good Luck!!

-- leslie (whomestead@hotmail.com), October 11, 2001.

build it bigger than you think you need to

-- Rose (open_rose@hotmail.com), October 11, 2001.

Rose said it best....build it bigger! Layout a template in brown paper if you can! I didn't have a choice to the size, I took what I could get!

-- Kathy (catfish201@hotmail.com), October 11, 2001.

Hi homefarm..

I'm not sure what you mean by homesteading philosophy. I'm a newbie here and I know lots of folks/groups have different ideas as to what the word means.

My advice is similar to the other posters. Since you can design this space to your satisfaction, I'd measure all the things that you want in there and build shelves, etc. to fit them. If you do large bins of things like grains, I'd build roll out platforms/or drawer type units for them. Remember to make room for lighter things up high and heavier things below. Paper products take up a lot of space but are relatively lightweight. Large corner shelves built up high can be a great, usually unused, space for things like that. If your pantry is going to be big enough, don't overlook the overhead joists. You can get inexpensive coated screw in hooks in all sizes at the hardware store. These can take a lot of weight..I've stored bikes, skis and kayaks that way. They would be good for large heavy only sometimes used things..freeing up the shelving at eye level.

I want to second Leslie's opinion about sinks [OT: not about pantries]. In my last house I did that. Double bowl, extra deep, gooseneck faucet, sprayer. I will do that here too. When I redo the kitchen.

My .02

-- pc (pcha@ludl.tds.net), October 11, 2001.

Greetings homefarm,

We found that even with lightbulbs, the pantry area was dark. So, we added a small skylight and that really made a difference.

-- Charleen in WNY (harperhill@eznet.net), October 12, 2001.

I have a 6x8 foot pantry with shelves from waist high to the top on all 3 sides, bottom is left shelf free for trash bins, canning supplies and large items. I originally had planned to have a door on it, but never put one on because I'm in and out of there sooooo many times a day it would be forever swinging. I do have an electric outlet close to the door on a counter level shelf for my can opener, rock tumbler, coffee grinder, etc. The only thing I have left to add is hooks from the lowest shelf and from the ceiling for my baskets. This pantry made my main bathroom smaller by this amount of space, but has saved so much clutter in my kitchen it's been worth it.

-- Rose Marie Wild (wintersongfarm@yahoo.com), October 12, 2001.

When we built our home, we put in 9 foot ceilings. Older farm houses probably have that too. We found the extra hieght perfect for those applicance type boxes (pressure canner, etc) that take up a lot of room. Make sure your shelving system is flexible. Narrow heights for smallest items, larger for bigger cans, jars, etc. Our pantry was kind of a on second thought idea, but it sure comes in handy. It gets most of the raves during the 50 cent tour from our city friends.

God Bless America! Rickstir

-- Rickstir (rpowell@email.ccis.edu), October 12, 2001.

I'm assuming the purpose of the room is storage and retrieval, and actual work would be done in the kitchen. You're going to be filling it with things which can attract pests, so I'd try to minimise their chances. The ideas about shelves only from waist height up, with roll- out bins below, are great - means you can easily reach right in to inspect and clean the floor. You'd almost never see what was at the back of shelves below waist height anyway, and the whole idea of something like this is to make you more efficient and your life easier. Think this through as you stand near a wall - there shouldn't be any shelves which you can't see the back of without crouching or climbing (except maybe the top, with big bulky light seldom-used items like stockpots and canning boilers). If you do have shelves below waist height, they ought to be very widely spaced. Similarly, I'd build shelves with minimum opportunity for pests or their food (flour, dust, whatever) to lodge - say double-sided melamine, or plastic coating, or at least gloss paint. Might sound silly, but I'd also consider running a bead of caulking top, bottom and edges of the back of each shelf, so nothing could lodge between the shelves and the wall.

Another silly thought just struck me. You may have seen those Compactus shelving units for offices, which have lots of shelving units sliding on rails, so you only need one corridor space to reach everything? If you could bide your time and pick one of those up cheap at a clearance sale or bankruptcy auction, they could make a lot of sense. Wouldn't have to make a separate pantry room - just the Compactus unit in a corner of a big kitchen would do the job, and have more light too. I'm going to give this some serious thought - I don't mind looking silly (or unconventional) if it's working smart; and one of the definitions of a house is "a machine for living".

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), October 12, 2001.

I would suggest reading the Little House book called "These Happy Golden Years" by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Toward the end of the book, newly-wed Laura goes into the pantry built by her husband, Almanzo, and describes it in such a way that I want one myself.

There was plenty of shelf and drawer space for everything she needed to store; a low shelf under a sunny window for mixing things (the height of the shelf was probably hip level, just right for kneading bread); and all the ingredients (flour, sugar, spices, etc.) were within reach so that you could stand at that shelf and mix anything up without taking a step. There was space for large items (churn, etc.) as well as smaller things like towels and tablecloths. The trap door to the root cellar was in the pantry floor.

You will have to remember, though, that this took place during a time when women used their pantries the way we use our kitchens. The cookstove was in the main room, along with the dining table and whatever else we might have in a sparsely furnished living room. I like this system, myself, and hope someday to have a house that is centered around the kitchen as the main living space. I have seen such a house only once, in New York State.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), October 12, 2001.

The laundry room/pantry from hell!

I have a room off my kitchen that I call my laundry room/pantry. The painted plywood floor was getting very "soft" in two places, so I recently cleared everything out so the floor could be fixed and vinyl flooring could be put down. All I wanted was a new floor, but I ended up remodeling the space, and spending more than originally intended! There was already a half bath attached which I updated. Although the laundry room/pantry isn't quite finished yet, this is what's happened so far: a deep laundry tub has been added; cabinets were put over the washer/dryer for storage; a small freezer was put into an area that had previously been walled off; a cabinet was put over the freezer for storage; I put a 4 foot countertop on two 12 inch base cabinets to form a work area and to add more storage; and, oh yeah, the new floor looks great!

Next, I will be adding two 24 inch wide by 72 inch high storage cabinets and installing hooks on at least one wall to hang things from. There are two awning windows up high on one wall that let in lots of light, but don't get in the way.

My cousin is a recently retired dairy farmer. He has a huge room that can be entered directly from outdoors. It has an area to wash up, a table and chairs, a couple of freezers, the washer/dryer, and lots of storage space, among other things. As others have indicated, don't scrimp on space. Good luck!

-- bluetick (coonhound@mindspring.com), October 12, 2001.

The best pantry I ever had was also the entry room to our little house. It measured 15' by 15'and contained the laundry area with a sink, and room for a huge freezer, plus room to do ironing and sewing. Also had a large table for folding clothes under a big window. Two whole walls were lined with deep cupboards which had shelves for canned food about 10 inches apart. The section of cupboard next to the door was the coat closet. I loved that house.

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), October 12, 2001.