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Tips for building Kitchen Pantry on a Budget

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Building Kitchen Pantry on a Budget
Last week I shared with you how our girl room closet was under construction, this week I’m sharing the process of building a kitchen pantry! Recently I shared our kitchen gallery wall, part of why I shared it was because I was forced to take pictures of it and blog about it before I began deconstructing it! Yes… it’s true. In order to make use of this space next to the fridge I had to remove half of the gallery wall.
Here was our pantry. It’s a nice tall cabinet, but it’s deep and narrow, which meant I was constantly losing things in the back and pulling EVERYTHING out of the cabinets to find things.
At first we planned on having a cabinet maker build a pantry cabinet to match our existing kitchen, but when we had one come out he quoted us $3,000 for a pantry in this space! We knew that wasn’t going to happen so when we ordered the closet door for the girl room we also ordered one for a pantry.
Before Easter I demoed the trim, rearranged the gallery wall, and took down the crown molding. Then I waited and waited for Matt to have a day to build the new pantry, which just wasn’t happening. Finally on a Saturday while he worked I decided to tackle it myself!
First I built a rectangular frame for the side and anchored it to the floor, wall, ceiling, and adjoining cabinet. Then I built a frame for the front wall with a door cutout. It was actually really fulfilling cutting everything perfectly and nailing each piece in place!
How to frame and build a kitchen pantry
The hardest part of the project was hauling the frame inside alone! Then I anchored it to the ceiling, wall, cabinet, and floor. Next I hung the five panel door. The door for the girl closet was identical and for our first time hanging a door it took us a LONG time together. For this door I hung it by shimming it open and driving screws through the hinges to the frame and I had it hung alone in about 45 minutes!
How to build a kitchen closet with a swinging doorHow to built a kitchen pantry closet with a swinging door
 Then I began hanging drywall. I decided not to mud or tape the inside because the seams are not visible at all when you open the cabinet. I actually had to get a piece of drywall from Menards half way through the job with the minivan and both boys… we looked like a circus but we got it home!
How to build a kitchen pantry on a budgetHow to contruct a kitchen pantry DIY
 Then I made shelf brackets by cutting the end pieces off of the shelves and anchoring them to the side walls. I also reinforced each shelf with a center bracket.
DIY Kitchen Pantry Shelving
Around midnight Matt got home from work and was completely shocked by what I had accomplished. At this point I was just starting to paint the door! The next morning I installed the knob and was ready to move everything over.
 I wish I could say I had a beautiful pantry with everything in glass jars and pretty labels, but that is not a reality around here. Thankfully it has a door to cover up the chaos! We’ve got about 5 different small drywall jobs throughout the house so we are not going to have a drywaller come and finish them all until he can hit them all at once. For now I’ll happily live with the unfinished drywall and the HUGE addition to our pantry space!
DIY Kitchen Closet or Pantry next to refrigeratorDIY Kitchen Pantry with Swinging Door and Shelving
Now our old pantry is set up for spacious small appliance storage and with a pull-out garbage can that I installed. It is SO nice to have gained SO much space!
In the end here was our cost breakdown:
-$14 wood
-$16 drywall
-$130 door
-$20 door knob
-$54 shelving
-$10 brackets
Grand Total= $245
We’ll still have the drywall finishing and trim to add to the bill, but compared the the $3,000 that the cabinet guy quoted us I am VERY pleased with the outcome!
DIY Kitchen Pantry on a budget
*Edit 4/6/15*- Here’s how it the pantry turned out once we finished the entire kitchen! Doesn’t it look like it was always meant to be there?
Modern kitchen with tile backsplash, open shelving.


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Comments

  3. Shauna says

    June 26, 2014 at 2:10 pm

    That’s so awesome! You go girl! I wish I had a space to build a pantry in my kitchen seeing as I don’t have one!

    • BrightGreenDoor says

      September 17, 2014 at 9:04 am

      Because we live in an oil boom town, I ended up not being able to find anyone who would take a small drywall job, and I had to finish it myself! It really isn’t that difficult, but I do think mudding drywall is one of my least favorite DIY jobs. Good for you for being willing to tackle it!

  5. farmquilter says

    June 20, 2015 at 11:32 am

    Looks like a professional job to me!! I love how the white cabinets brighten the whole room!! Looks fabulous!!!

  7. Julia says

    March 27, 2016 at 12:52 pm

    Looks good! We are thinking about doing the same thing. Can you tell me how wide and how deep it is?

    • BrightGreenDoor says

      March 28, 2016 at 2:18 pm

      We’ve moved since then, but I think it was around 3′ wide and a little under 2′ deep. One thing to keep in mind is that if you go too deep you will just lose things in the back of the pantry, or have to do more of a walk in pantry with shelves around an open center.

  8. Chad says

    March 28, 2016 at 1:54 pm

    just curious how you anchored it to the floor. I am thinking of doing something like you have done and I am not sure how I would need to tackle that.

  10. Samy says

    April 8, 2016 at 10:14 am

    Looks good, I saw you said you drilled the base plate to the floor, but did you drill through the tiles, without breaking them ? is there a work around not to break the tiles ?

    • BrightGreenDoor says

      April 8, 2016 at 11:32 am

      Ours was actually just linoleum, so I wasn’t worried about it. With a ceramic bit though you should be able to drill through the tile, just dip the bit in the water frequently. That’s how we hung our shelves on our tile backsplash without breaking any. It was definitely nerve racking though!

    • BrightGreenDoor says

      September 5, 2016 at 9:59 pm

      I had to google to find out what a trimmer stud was. After looking at some images I learned. Other openings we’ve done we have used them, but because this wasn’t supporting anything we didn’t. Good point though.

  13. Jenny Hamrick says

    February 7, 2018 at 3:29 pm

    Hi there — What do you suggest if I will be securing to a floor that is hardwood?

    Thanks!
    Jenny

    • BrightGreenDoor says

      February 7, 2018 at 8:57 pm

      Because ours was on linoleum, I was able to secure ours right to the subfloor. I did a little research and some people suggested cutting out the hardwood where the wall gets built. I’m definitely no expert though. If I were you I’d probably consult with an expert. Thanks!

  15. Patty says

    February 18, 2019 at 11:17 pm

    This looks great. I am thinking about doing this in my kitchen reno also, to go next to my refrigerator instead of cabinetry. What are the dimensions of the closet? Thanks.