Creating A Butler’s Pantry Out Of A Small Hallway

I’m so excited to give you a tour of our new pantry today! What was once an awkward hallway with unusable space is now a beautiful, functional extension of our kitchen. It’s also a great example of how space planning and designing a space to function and flow efficiently yields better results than simply taking down walls or creating more space. All sources are linked at the bottom of the post!

before

Our home is 1917 Craftsman. While the overall layout of it is actually very conducive to modern day living, it still has its quirks. The main one being the space that was between our kitchen, basement and tv den. After doing some demo, it looked like this space may have housed a half bath (there was a window framed up in the far pantry wall, which would be the other side of our full bath) and over the decades this space has become a hodgepodge of doorways that have been added to the original structure.

To start, we actually divided the space in two, creating a pantry separate from the basement and tv den access. Creating a closed off space for the pantry allowed us to make the most of the space by designing cabinetry that would run from wall to wall and hide some of the existing radiator plumbing that we didn’t’ want to move. Sometimes adding a wall actually creates more opportunity and functionality for a space!

Once framing was finished the space ended up being about 6′ long by 3′ 4″ at its narrowest point. In rooms that have limited floor space, making use of the vertical real estate is the best way to create a more expansive feel to the room. It shows that although there may not be a lot of floor space, the room still has a lot of available space to work with. It may seem counterintuitive to fill small space with more, but without a doubt it makes the space feel larger than it appears. So, we designed the cabinetry appropriately to fill each wall and hide the radiator plumbing in empty cavities.

after

This is definitely my favorite before and after. I love taking a space that’s lacking in function and giving it purpose in a way that makes a home work better. And, of course, it’s such a beautiful room now!

The lower cabinets are about 16″ deep while the upper shelving is 12″. This still allowed for plenty of storage space and room to be in the pantry without feeling too crammed. We used 5″ vertical shiplap behind all of the shelving to mirror the shiplap on the opposite kitchen wall and range hood.

My favorite detail we added to the cabinetry was incorporating a plate ledge in each shelf for leaning platters, cutting boards and plates rather than setting them flat on the shelves.

When designing the pantry, we made sure there was plenty of space for small appliances to be stored. I love having our microwave tucked away in here that the kids can easily access.

The wallpaper by Cole & Sons is clearly the star of the show. It adds so much to the space and really draws you in when walking past the pantry.

I wanted to make sure the pantry tied into our existing kitchen while still feeling like its own space. The wallpaper ties in beautifully to our kitchen cabinets, which are painted Benjamin Moore Hale Navy and Simply White.

All of the doors in our house have original hardware on them, so I wanted this door to look as if it’s always been a part of the house. This vintage replica doorknob matches our existing door hardware almost exactly.

This pantry pulls double duty for us by storing most of our food along with my serving dishes, table linens, bakeware, etc. I organized all of our food into clear containers and used these clear lazy susans for cans, snacks, condiments and other spices for easy access.

Thanks so much for all of your excitement for this project. And even bigger thanks to Ty for renovating the space & working hard on this with me, and to my Mom who installed the wallpaper. This little pantry turned out better than I had hoped and am so grateful to get to use this pretty space everyday.

For a full video tour and more details on this project, head to Instagram