Shelving vs a pantry "system" addresses accessing the contents in your pantry. However, the storage containers used to hold your food may or may not maximise the best usage of the space in your pantry. This last aspect deserves careful consideration if you are designing a pantry space. I moved house a few months ago and am still tweaking my pantry, which consists of shelves (deeper on the bottom half and narrower at the top half). One of the best investments I've made over the years are Tupperware Modular Mates storage containers. The containers can be labelled, contents seen and are stackable. I can stack them to maximise the full height of shelves and sometimes have stacks in front of other stacks for items used less often. I also have many open plastic containers for food packets, bottled items, very large spice containers, etc. These containers prevent packages, which don't stack easily, from falling everywhere and can be easily pulled out to access the item of interest. I bought some tall containers at Howard's Storage World and some large Sistema containers at Target and Woolworths (during their 1/2 price sales). Sistema containers are stackable, too. Smaller spice containers (stackable Tupperware Modular Mates again) have been placed on a round wooden carousel in one corner of the pantry.

We design our pantry with a small sink. I now wish I had more shelves to store food. If your kitchen sink is close to your pantry don't bother unless eg... - you entertain a lot and want to hide dirty plates as they cycle through the dishwasher in the pantry - have your fridge in the pantry and need to wash vegies, rinse out food storage containers, or - intend having you mixer/thermo in the room and need to rinse or drain food prep. Personally I think I'd rather be in the kitchen with family than working in a pantry.

Hi siriuskey, it's actually quite a big house, just awkwardly laid out. There are two other bathrooms - a main bathroom and an ensuite - and the laundry will just be a stacked washer and dryer, so not much space required. Yes, I think one door is a better option for the layout too. The house is on a very good sized corner block. The dining room side is open to a car parking deck, no roof. There is a flowering hedge between the dining room window and the car park area so visually it's private and allows good sunlight. Off the family room is a large covered patio plus lawn and trees, and a large shed that will be turned into a home office. Adjacent to the dining room is a bedroom and past that (so the opposite side of the house to the dining room and car park area), is the neighbouring fence. So there is only a narrow walkway between the house and the fence.

What a lovely kitchen. Good idea to match to window and bi-fold. Gorgeous splash back tiles and the black pendants are perfect. I also spotted the clever used of space with the bank of drawers in wall between oven and L-shaped counter.