For two years, we did our best to utilize the available space in our kitchen pantry. But eventually we had enough and moved the pantry renovation to the top of our Never Ending Honey-Do-List! Jacque came up with a plan to convert the existing pantry into a custom built-in that would fit our growing need for more functional storage. Jacque even went as far as to draw out a to-scale layout of her new pantry plan…That’s when I realized I’d better jump on board or get out of the way, cause this pantry makeover train was about to leave the station!
Thanks to two full time jobs, multiple part time jobs, an abundance of learning opportunities (aka “screwups”), and a general need for human interaction, this pantry renovation took us about two and half months to complete. But to look at the drastic difference from beginning to end, I can’t imagine the amount of money we saved doing it ourselves!
Originally, we had planned on building doors to enclose the entire pantry, but Jacque opted for leaving the mid-level cabinets without doors to help give that area of the kitchen a more “open” feel. To add a little pop to the open cabinets, Jacque ended up painting a unique cabinet backing using a stencil.
Each pantry door is built out of poplar wood and has an inlayed bead board center. Jacque wanted to use hinges that would not be visible from the outside of the cabinet, and since we opted for overlay cabinet doors, we chose these Full Overlay Hinges
Jokingly, I told Jacque that since we were doing such a “custom” pantry, we ought to add drawer slides to the lower cabinet shelves to make this makeover the envy of all the pantries in the neighborhood….
And that was when I realized, you don’t joke with your wife about upgrades to her pantry.As you can probably guess, the next thing I added was…Full Extension Drawer Slides
Just in case we need to adjust a shelf height, the outer lower cabinets have two adjustable shelves each. All three lower cabinets are deep enough to store just about what ever we need to!
Because the cabinet handles are close to waist height, we wanted to stay away from a cabinet knob that could potentially snag on belt loops or clothes. So we chose these rustic looking Oil-Rubbed Bronze Cabinet Handles.
(They are belt loop friendly!)
The upper cabinet storage is probably the most functional addition that we made to the pantry. We finally have a place to store all of things that we don’t use on a daily basis, but can’t live without!
All of the clutter out of site and loving it!
Once the installation was finished, Jacque took the reigns and started loading the pantry contents back into their new homes!
Including a special place for the antique kitchen scale I got her for her birthday last year …
And these great glass storage jars that were given to us as a “pantry-warming gift” by my dad and step-mom!
(As a thank you, I let my dad help with the pantry install)
And of course, the pantry wouldn’t be complete without our favorite wine leftover from our wedding in 2009, stored perfectly in an old bolt bin I found in a dumpster full of metal scrap. (Hey! No judging! I ‘m not too good to dumpster dive!)
Well, I believe this is one more project that we can cross off our list! Over the next few weeks, we’re rolling out the plans for the components that make up our built-in.
Be sure to check out How to Build a Pantry for the first set of plans!
Love it!!!!
WOW!!!!! All your hard work really did pay off. I ADORE this and will pin it for sure 🙂
Woo Hoo! Thanks Stacy! It’s silly, but since we’ve been done, I’ve caught myself just staring at the pantry 🙂 It was a pretty rewarding project to mark off the list!
Matt, This pantry is amazing looking. Must be so satisfying to have created. I thinking of trying to replicate it. Can you give your dimensions? Especially the proportions of each of the 3 sections. Would love to see how you did the whole thing (since I want to do it too!)
It’s just breathtaking- Well done!
Never thought I would say such a thing, but I have total pantry envy 🙂 You guys did an unbelievable job making it functional and practical but just soooo pretty!
Beautiful! All of your hard work was well worth it. I love the sliding drawers!!! I love the whole thing!!!
Holy wow! Jacque and Matt, you seriously did the most amazing job!! Now I don’t even want to look at my pantry!
OK this was the funniest post ever! You 2 are so clever, I love the open storage part, the stencil background, crown molding at the top, and that bolt bin is awesome. This is such a dramatic makeover. And I’m totally jealous of your slide out drawers.
Danielle, we’re really glad you like it! This project could have been deemed the “never ending renovation” because it literally seemed like we started this 2 years ago instead of 2-1/2 months!
The pantry looks awesome! You guys did such a great job. Now I’m worried about what Jocie will say when she sees this.
Thanks Ethan, I’m starting to think that we both need to include disclaimers that we can’t be held responsible for any projects that get added to other husbands “to-do-list”
holy crap, matt and jacque! this looks effing amazing!!!!! and the pix are awesome! great great job.
Seriously Jocie, Best comment ever! Thanks!
Simply AMAZING! Wow… you guys did an incredible job! I have pantry envy!!!
Holy Toledo, this is awesome!~ Your pantry looks like mine. I am totally inspired by this idea Jacque and will be having my husband look at this WOW! Nice job.
Wow! You guys did an amazing job! Love the roll out shelves!
Yes yes!!! It’s done! And all that hardwork paid off hugely!! You guys did a great job and I’d very much like to come live in your pantry. Just move aside the beans for me :).
Thanks Janel, our pantry is your pantry! I’m still considering DIY retirement…So, Jacque may need someone with your talents around once I’m gone! We’ll see 🙂
OK Matt Knowlton you had me at “honey do list!” This is truly amazing. I think the design is top-notch and the end result adds such value to your home. Well done! Oh p.s. love the crown molding!
BLOWN AWAY over here! You guys! This is so, so, SO gorgeous! What an amazing transformation. Excellent work!
Thanks Beth! I’m considering DIY retirement if I get asked to do another project of this magnitude again…Well, at least not for a month or so 🙂
Amazing! I love the pantry, especially the pull-out drawers. I think the open shelves were a good choice, especially with the stencils. Really great!
Karen, it’s funny that you mention the open shelves, because at first when Jacque told me that’s what she wanted, I gave her one of those “what chu talkin’ bout Willis?” looks…She assured me that they’d be perfect. And she was…Another lesson learned!
Wow! It’s gorgeous! Great job. Sharing this on Facebook right now!
Thanks for sharing Erin! I’m not really accustomed to our projects taking that long, but I think this one was worth it!
Wow! You guys rocked this! I knew you would! I’ve totally got pantry envy now. Love the pull-out shelves and scale and “props”. Great job. ~ Angie
I Love it Looks so Nice and neat. I have plans for
Mine it’s just getting to it Beautiful Blog
Thank You
Lisa
That is one awesome project you guys! I LOVE it!
Fabulously done. Pinned for my new house.
AMAZING!!! Even better your before looks exactly like my “now” so perhaps I could pull this off too???
Heck yeah Melissa! And if you need any help with yours, the next time we’re in town, I’ll send Jacque over to help! (Sarcastic Grin)
I am BEYOND impressed – this looks AMAZING, you guys!!!
FINALLY!!!!!!! I’ve been waiting for so LONG! Okay, that sounded selfish, not as long as you’ve been waiting! LOL This looks phenomenal!!! I love, love, love it! Pinning!!! Great, now I have pantry envy! 😉 you two rock!
Laurie @ Vin’yet Etc.
Ha! Laurie, Sorry to have kept you in the dark for so long! On this end, it felt like there wasn’t enough time in the day to work on it! But, we’re stoked that you like the pantry so much! And for next time, we’ll try and not keep you in suspense for so long!
Holy cow. Hoooly cow. That would take us like 2 years guaranteed. What a huuuge transformation. You two are so fancy. 🙂
Courtenay, our trick was to spread out the contents of the pantry all over the kitchen…Sort of as a motivator to keep pushing for progress! Needless to say, I’m glad this one’s done!
This is absolutely amazing!!! And yes, I have total pantry envy too! Pinned it! 🙂
This looks fabulous! You two did an amazing job! Love it!
WHOA, you guys!! It is SO amazing! Suddenly my pantry is getting very nervous. 🙂 I can’t believe the difference. Congratulations!
Dude after just building built-ins I know the pain, agony and then ultimately joy you felt. It looks amazing. High 5 J&M
Beckie, I was keeping tabs on your progress with your built-ins the whole time. They turned out incredibly by the way! Thanks for taking the time to let us know what you thought! It means a lot!
That is gorgeous! I love the white. So clean and fresh.
BEAUTIFUL!!! I ADORE IT!!! Sorry for all the caps, but I love it that much!!
Holy crapola!! This is ridiculously cool! My husband will be seeing this as soon as he gets home tonight, and I’m sure he’ll be cursing you but I am pumped!! Great job!
Natalie, that has seemed to be a common reaction from some of the husbands! Heck, I’m just thankful to have gotten through this project. It was definitely one of the larger scale projects that we’ve tackled, so it was just a tad stressful! Thanks for stopping by and I’m really glad you liked it!
Holy greatness that is simply amazing! Nice job! That scale is gorgeous…nice gift 🙂
ummm seriously. Your kitchen pantry rocks my socks!!! Please convince Jon to do this to our teeny-tiny pantry!
Katie, You two could totally rock a pantry reno! I’ll try and lean on Jon a little bit 🙂
Absolutely A.MAZING! I love everything about it!
Thanks Cristina! After I saw your tutorial on how to install window trim, we wish we could have brought you in for the finish work! You do FANTASTIC work!
It may have taken you a few months to complete this but it is simply amazing! Well worth the time and thought that obviously went into it. (You would NOT want to see my pantry right now!) Pinning this for future reference!
This is amazing. How does the space compare to the old pantry?
Sandra, we gained almost a whole foot in the depth of the shelves, the width actually stayed the same, but everything is much more accessible now. And the biggest gain of all was the 24″ of height that we added with the upper cabinets. We definitely needed the extra storage!
Thanks for the reply!
This is really outstanding! What I like best is that is something uniquely designed and artfully constructed, yet retains a classic feel. It’s not outrageous; it looks like it was always there. Nice work!
I really appreciate your feedback John! Even though we were working together on the project, there were many times that I had to have Jacque reiterate what “look” she was going for. So it was kind of a lesson it cabinetry and communication!
This is absolutely beautiful! I would love to do this for my mother-in-law’s pantry, that is going to fall apart any day now. I hope to see future detailed tutorials on the project.
Thanks Holly! We definitely want to share the “how to” side of the pantry install! It’s in the works and I hope to have the first article out sometime next week!
oh this is FABULOUS!!! LOVE what you did!
Your pantry is great wish I had one like it!!! It was worth all the work.
Jealous. Totally jealous.
This is so incredible! I love how you guys did this…all of it.
Too funny about not joking with your wife about upgrades. Yeah…don’t do that unless you’re gonna follow through. 🙂
Love Love Love!
Kelly
Kelly, you’d think I would have figured that out by now? Well, now that it’s all said and done, I’m glad we added them…But the steps it took to get them there… Well, I’ll get into that next week!
I love your new pantry! I’m thinking of doing something like this in my bathroom and now I have something to pin!
What can’t you two do? Looks great – and of course I love the dumpster dive container and that old scale! You know how to do b-day gifts right Matt!
Kelly
Thanks Kelly! All of you ladies have had an impact on what I look for! I literally walked by the dumpster and saw a ton of those organizers…My first thought, “How could someone scrap those!”
We’re really excited to have the pantry finished and looking forward to tackling some of the smaller projects on the list for awhile!
Love! Awesome transformation! Pinning!
This is some SERIOUS DIY’ING! Holy crap. I am inspired and freaked out all at the same time… I want to go finish the pantry cabinet that I started building last September but it now pales in comparison!
Great job, you guys are amazing!
Anne, that’s quite the compliment! We were highly motivated, as the contents of the pantry were spread out all over the place!
Love every single detail! Whoop – awesome!
I love this idea! Great job!
I was directed here from View Along the Way. this is amazing! I would love to know more about the actual construction and assembly of this piece
Hey Jenn! Thanks for stopping in! Over the next few weeks, we’ll be putting together a few posts on the actual construction and assembly of the individual pieces!
Can’t wait to see the posts on the construction and assembly. I have the exact same pantry and REALLY want to do this!!
Denise, I am working on those as we speak! If all goes as planned, the first post on the construction of the pantry should be up on Wednesday!
Thanks! I signed up for e-mail and liked your FB page so I wont’ miss it! This is by far one of the best makeover’s I’ve seen!
Wow! What a fantastic job! I just organized my pantry but it’s nothing like this 😉 Great work.
Jamie @ somuchbetterwithage.com
Amazing. I am totally impressed. This is the most well thought out pantry I have ever seen Love it. I would love for you to link this to my Inspire Me Tuesday party that is ongoing – –http://www.astrollthrulife.net/2013/04/160th-inspire-me-tuesday.html
I think this is such an unreal project and one that would definitely inspire anyone. Hugs, Marty
OMG, what a change. It looks so fabulous, best storage solution I’ve ever seen.
Renata
I am a new follower! I love your new pantry! I would love for you come by and hopefully want to follow me back. Have a great day, Nicole!
Fantastic Nicole, we’re glad to hear that you give a thumbs up on the pantry! Consider yourself followed!
I absolutely LOVE this! I love your cubbies, and the style of your cupboards. Nothing like being clean, neat, and organized in style! Thanks so much for sharing. Have a great weekend!
Great and a lot of savings too! I’m planing to create one too our budget is limited! I’ll just gather the materials first before starting the whole project. What did you use for the the back pattern?
Rose
Rose, Jacque used a stencil from Royal Design Studio to make the backing a little more unique! Here’s the post where she goes into the stencil process! http://www.thediyvillage.com/2013/03/kitchen-pantry-update.html
Matt and Jacque I am in aww over this. I want it baddddddddd!
This is so amazing and really beautiful! You guys did an awesome job!
This is AMAZING!!! I love everything about it and that scale ROCKS! I wish I had more time to chat with you guys during SNAP but I’m so glad I got to find your fabulous blog! Hope you had a safe trip home! 🙂
Stinkin smart, Matt and Jacque! An organized home is a happy home and this home is both! So clever! Love it!
Wow! It sure looks amazing! I love the look of the built in so much more than what was there. I would love if you would share this at my link party. http://www.realcoake.com/2013/04/real-family-fun-11.html
Take care,
KC
No wonder why Matt didn’t want to enter the Lowes challenge at SNAP! 🙂 This is absolutely gorgeous! I want to pet your new pantry. Is that weird? Yeah, definitely not weird.
This is absolutely stunning! I have pantry envy now. If you get a chance, please share this on my linky party: http://suburbsmama.blogspot.com/2013/04/sunday-link-party-5.html
I LOVE it! IT looks great! SO organized.
girl, you know this is the most amazing project EVER, right? Thanks so much for sharing. Just pinned and featuring you tonight! 🙂
Visiting from Monday Funday. I’d like to invite you to my Friday Flash Blog, where you can share your best blog entry of the week! The party goes on ALL weekend. And who knows, you may just get featured next week.
Jennifer
You guys did an amazing job on this transformation! Makes me envious 🙂 Our laundry room also functions as the pantry, store all, but it has sloped ceilings and it would take a ton of work to make it pretty. So I shut the doors and pretend!
After I left that comment I forgot to mention I graduated from UNC-G (though quite a few years before you!) Go Spartans!
WOW, doesn’t even look like the same space. Seems as if you widened the area. Can you share the actual dimension of this project.
Super job on the kitchen pantry Matt! It’s so awesome! I love the open shelving. Who wouldn’t love this pantry? Jacque did a fantastic job finishing it off, and I love that scale!
gail
ps catching you!
Gail, I have to give most of the credit to Jacque! She had the vision, I’m just the brawn behind it! And thank you SO much for “Catching” it!
Love the pantry! We haven’t started on ours yet. But getting ideas. Do you have a post on how to make the doors with the bead board?
What kind of paint did you use? Oil-based or latex? And did you use primer? We are following your plan but now I need to do some research on paint and primer. Thanks for your help!
Hey Ted, we used a latex based paint and primer combo from Benjamin Moore. It went on amazingly smooth and has held up really well!
I absolutely love your new pantry! I have to show this to my husband…we are going to take the coat closet beside the kitchen and turn it into a pantry. I love your design, but I think we’ll have to keep ours closed since it is at the top of the entry steps and would not work with open shelving. I originally was thinking wire shelving like in your before picture…my husband has agreed with me that the pull out drawers are going to be much better! Thank you so much for the inspiration! I voted for you over at ‘Not Just a Housewife’.
Debbie 🙂
This is just amazing – I’m in love – we’re thinking of installing a butler’s pantry but you’ve made me rethink that entirely –
Just voted for you at Not Just a Housewife – I’m in awe!!!
Hugs from Montreal
Suzan
love the slide out drawer Where did you purchase the drawer itself? I really want to do this. Thanks
I would love your plans for your pantry. I want to make the same exact one in my kitchen. If you have the plans or can measure for me, that would be lovely. Great job!
Great write-up! Can’t wait for Part 2!
I have a question… Did the pull out shelves come with the panty unit and you just added the sliders? I would love to do this to my cabinets that do not have shelves in them!!
This is crazy cool, Matt & Jacque! You guys rock!!!
COMPLETELY gorgeous!!
It’s amazing when kitchen space is properly organized 🙂
Would you mind sharing your dimensions for your drawer spacing?