You don't need a larder to have a larder.
, by Sarah Frame, 2 min reading time
Apparently, 82 per cent of people who renovated their kitchen last year added some kind of speciality storage. A walk-in pantry, a prep kitchen, a larder.
The other 18 per cent possibly have builders' quotes and are quietly weeping.
It could be down to a romantic memory of the pre-fridge era. But it's certainly more than just a fad.
The pantry has become a status symbol. Shelves of neatly labelled jars. Spices in formation. The kind of fridge-to-table life that suggests you always have exactly the right ingredient to hand.
Well, that's the dream.
Most of us don't have the space for a pantry. Or the budget. And, if we're being honest, we don't have the spice discipline.
But here's the thing. You don't need a room to have a pantry. You just need the right cabinet.
We don't normally mention a particular item of our own furniture in our blog but we're going to make an exception in this case.
It stands six feet tall. Solid wood, warm and rustic. It rolls on sturdy trolley wheels to make it easy to reposition. It's a big one.
Inside, there are five deep shelves, a nine-bottle wine rack (in case you're expecting a visit from Tom Gilbey), four drawers and two doors that each hide four more shelves behind them.
Everything you'd put in a proper pantry fits in here. Tins. Jars. Bottles. The good olive oil that nobody's allowed to use. The baking ingredients you bought in 2023 and haven't quite got round to turning into a cake.
And then there are the things no pantry article ever mentions: the non-food items.
The router. The cables. The printer that only works if you stand next to it and believe hard enough. This cabinet will take all of it, close its doors, and look entirely unbothered.
Bring your multitude of sins and it will hide them.
If you want a pantry, you don't need to get a room.