Custom Pantry Cabinet Ideas: Pull-Outs, Tall Cabinets and Walk-Ins

By the MJC design team, Orlando. Updated November 2026.

What are the main types of pantry cabinets?

Pantry cabinets come in five common forms, and most kitchens use one or two of them together. The choice depends less on style and more on two questions: how much wall space you can give to food storage, and how often you shop in bulk.

Pantry type	Where it fits	Good for	Watch out for
Pull-out pantry	A narrow tall gap, often next to the refrigerator or at the end of a cabinet run	Cans, jars, oils and spices, visible from both sides when pulled out	The slide has a weight rating, so heavy bulk items belong elsewhere
Tall cabinet with roll-out shelves	A floor-to-ceiling section of the kitchen wall	Dry goods, cereal, snacks and small appliances	Top shelves are hard to reach without a step stool
Tall cabinet with door storage	Same as above, with racks mounted on the doors	Spices, sauces and small jars	Door racks need shallower interior shelves so the doors can close
Base pantry drawers	Under the counter, usually near the cooking zone	Heavy items, bulk bags, pots and pans	Takes counter-level space that could hold the dishwasher or trash
Walk-in or reach-in pantry room	A closet or corner room next to the kitchen	Bulk buying, drinks, appliances you use once a month	Needs a room you can give up, plus lighting and airflow

How do you decide what goes where in a pantry?

A pantry works when the things you grab every day sit between hip and shoulder height, and everything else moves up or down according to how often you use it. Designers call this zoning, and it matters more than the number of shelves.

• Eye level: breakfast items, snacks, oils and the ingredients you cook with every week.
• Lower drawers or roll-outs: heavy things such as bottled water, rice, flour and canned goods, so nobody lifts them overhead.
• Upper shelves: holiday platters, backup supplies and appliances you use a few times a year.
• Kid level: if children help themselves, give them one low shelf or drawer with their snacks and keep the rest out of reach.
• Near an outlet: the air fryer, blender or coffee machine, if you want them stored and used in the same spot.

Before the design, spend one week noticing what you take out of the current pantry and what stays untouched. That list tells the designer more than any photo.

What should you look for in pull-out pantry hardware?

Pull-out pantries and roll-out shelves depend on their slides. A cabinet can look perfect and still feel cheap if the hardware sags or sticks. These are the points worth checking during the design stage:

• Full extension: the shelf or basket comes all the way out, so items at the back are as easy to reach as items at the front.
• Weight rating: every slide is rated for a load. Ask what the pull-out is rated for and keep heavy goods in base drawers.
• Soft close: stops loaded shelves from slamming and keeps jars from shifting.
• Rails or raised edges: keep bottles and cans from sliding off when a shelf moves.
• Adjustable spacing: shelves that move let the pantry change as your shopping habits change.

The designer can show you the hardware options with samples during the visit, so you see how each one moves before it goes into the drawing.

How do you fit a pantry into a small kitchen?

A small kitchen in Orlando rarely has room for a walk-in pantry, but it almost always has space that standard cabinets leave unused. Custom pantry cabinets can claim that space because they are built to the measurement of the wall, not to a catalog width.

• The gap beside the refrigerator: even a narrow opening can hold a pull-out for spices and cans.
• One tall cabinet instead of an upper and a lower: replacing a section of wall cabinets and base cabinets with one floor-to-ceiling unit often adds usable storage.
• The end of the island: a shallow pantry facing out from the island works well for snacks and lunch supplies.
• A hallway or dining wall: a shallow built-in pantry outside the kitchen keeps cans in a single row, so nothing hides behind anything else.
• Above the refrigerator: a deep cabinet there is useful for trays and items you reach for a few times a year.

The layout of the kitchen decides which of these makes sense. Our guide to kitchen layout ideas for Florida homes shows how pantry space fits into L-shaped, U-shaped and galley kitchens.

Is a walk-in pantry worth the space?

A walk-in pantry is worth it for households that buy in bulk, entertain often or keep several small appliances off the counter. It is less useful when the room it takes would have been more valuable as kitchen floor or a larger laundry area. A few points decide whether it works:

• Shelf depth: shallow shelves on the walls keep everything visible. Deep shelves hide food at the back and lead to buying duplicates.
• Lighting: a pantry without its own light becomes a dark closet. Plan the fixture and switch at the design stage.
• Airflow: Central Florida humidity is hard on dry goods. A closed pantry room benefits from air movement and from sealed containers for flour, rice and cereal.
• Door type: a pocket or sliding door saves the swing space that a hinged door needs.

Humidity also affects the cabinet itself. Our article on cabinet materials for Florida humidity explains which box and finish options hold up in a pantry and near the dishwasher.

Should the pantry match the rest of the kitchen?

A tall pantry is one of the largest surfaces in the kitchen, so it carries a lot of visual weight. Most homeowners match it to the main cabinets so the wall reads as one piece. Others use the pantry as the accent, in a second color or a wood tone, the same way an island is often finished differently. Either choice works when it is decided in the 3D drawing, where you can see the whole wall before anything is built.

How does MJC design a custom pantry?

MJC designs pantry cabinets as part of the kitchen, in the same 3D drawing, so the pantry, the refrigerator space and the cabinet run fit together. The cabinets are built to measure in the MJC shop at 5014 Forsyth Commerce Rd in Orlando, and the mobile showroom van brings door styles, finishes and hardware samples to your home so you can choose them where they will be installed.

If you are planning a new kitchen, start with our page on custom kitchen cabinets in Orlando, or read what happens at a free 3D design visit.

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