Welcome to the second corner of my kitchen. The pantry.
Before we get to that I'd like to tell you a little story about a young girl. A girl who grew up in Nutley, New Jersey. The daughter of Polish parents, this ambitious girl became a model, a housewife, an author, a television host and then head of an empire. All based on her impeccable taste and ability to take every day tasks and elevate them to art.
Then she went to jail.
As you have probably guessed by now, that little girl was me.
In 1979 I shined as "girl modelling slacks" in the Robinson's department store flyer. That alone should be proof enough that I'm telling the truth. The jail thing is a bit hard to explain but suffice it to say you don't wanna get between me and the last full fat buffalo milk Greek Yogourt on sale.
So let's talk about that Martha Stewart now. She may not know anything about how to utilize a Chinese throwing star in a yogourt emergency, but she has a pretty adequate handle on good design.
When I first started thinking of redoing my kitchen I immediately thought of Ikea cabinets because EVERYONE uses Ikea cabinets. They're inexpensive, well made and easy to install. I knew I wanted Shaker cabinets. But when I looked at the Ikea ones in person they weren't exactly what I wanted.
And if I was going to pay absolutely nothing for my kitchen cabinets, I was not going to compromise! And that's exactly what I spent on these cabinets by the way. Nothing.
I knew going into this kitchen renovation that I was going to work as many deals as humanly possible to get my dream kitchen. I could guarantee the cabinets would be featured in a 5 page spread in Canadian Living Magazine as well as be seen on my blog from now until I get a new kitchen. Which I imagine will be around the time evolution actually eliminates the human baby toe.
My kitchen designer Carol Reed suggested the Martha Stewart line of cabinets at Home Depot for two reasons. Because they're really good cabinets and because the Home Depot is very blogger friendly and open to this sort of exchange. Carol was right on both counts. In case you don't remember Carol and I've never met. She designed my kitchen over the Internet.
I went with the Martha Stewart Ox Hill cabinets in the colour "Picket Fence". In layman's terms those are shaker cabinets in white. I knew I wanted a big pantry and after some configurations and reconfigurations Carol and I decided the best place for it was on the left side of the kitchen where it would be seen from the dining room.
Take a look at the pantry corner and I'll explain some of the details as we get through the post.
The thing about this pantry is Martha Stewart doesn't make one like it. She does however make cabinets and drawers so we Frankensteined together a mixture of base, upper cabinets and drawers to create a stunning pantry. And I don't use the word stunning loosely. Mainly I reserve it for tomato seedlings and Lladro figurines.
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To make the cabinets look more like a separate piece of furniture, and well ... like a pantry I did a couple of things. First off, I had the base stepped out from the rest of the base cabinets by 3 inches. This broke the line of cabinets and differentiated the pantry from the rest of the bases.
Then I had the upper portion of the pantry (the drawers and the upper cabinets) stepped back from the front of the base cabinets they sit on by 5 inches. The whole effect is a sort of breakfront that turns what could have looked like cabinets stacked on top of cabinets, into a pantry.
I keep two wood crates in the bottom. The one on the left is filled with baking stuff like flour, sugar, baking soda, chocolate chips, vodka. The crate on the right is filled with dry pasta type things. Penne, rice, asian noodles, sake.
The drawers. The drawers on the other hand hold far more important things.
Behold the spice drawer of my dreams. And if you don't dream about spice drawers you are not livin' large ladies. Not. Living. Large.
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Because of the depth of the upper cabinets (22") and the lack of height from my ankles to my neck I had to figure out a way to make all of the items accessible without having to permanently attach a folding stool to my shins.
Enter the laziest of all the ladies. Susan. The lazy susan seems like it should be an easy thing to find in any number of stores. Do not be fooled. Miss. Lazy Susan is as rare as hair on a turtle.
I searched and searched for a lazy susan and couldn't find anything. I found a few flimsy plastic ones but that was about it. Ikea did have some at one point but they were a specialty item that they carried once and they were gone.
Even if I had found lazy susans in a store chances are I never would have found one large enough. I wanted it to be big enough to fill my entire cabinet so I wasn't wasting any space.
So I made my own lazy susans. 4 of them. I'll be showing you how to do that in an upcoming post. I know. Super-exciting, right? Live. Ing. Large.
On the inside of one pantry door, I put up stick on chalkboard paper (which I got at Dollarama years ago) to act as my chalkboard. I've had a chalkboard in my kitchen for 15 years now and I wasn't about to give it up just because I had no cabinets.
The final thing I did to customize the cabinets into a really great pantry was have a piece of marble cut for the upper portion to rest on. This piece cost around $200 to have cut to size and the edges slightly rounded.
It's Pink Tool belt's favourite part of the kitchen. Along with looking great, it gives me somewhere to put my jars, cans, or glasses when I'm going through the cupboard.
The marble is honed Carrera ...
... which matches the honed Carrera marble on my island which you've caught tiny glimpses of but haven't seen in its entirety.
And which you're not going to see now. I told you. One corner at a time.
Now if you'll excuse me, my ankle monitor is makin' me rashy and there's a sale on Greek yogourt.
Kelli
FAB. U. LUSS! I love me a well thought out pantry! It all looks gorge, especially that Carrera marble. I'm just excited to know that I own those same spice jars! (btw, what do you do when they start getting sticky/rusty? just buy new ones?)
But really...you ARE going to tell us your jail story some day, right? :)
Vere
I love it, love all of it! but being an Italian citizen it just hurts my soul to see Carrare spelled Carrera, you are killing me Karen!
Vere
Sorry I meant Carrara!!
Karen
LOL. I know. I debated about the spelling. It's about 50/50 here as to how people spell it. Either the traditional way of Carrara or Carrera. Kind of like doughnut and donut. :) ~ karen
Cred
Love your pantry. And the lazy susans are so smart. I need to reorganize my kitchen, now I look forward to making a few lazy susans for my awkward corners. And love the hardware, too. I thought I recognized the cup pulls from Martha's line.- they're great.
Leslie
That is SO pretty! What a relief to have that calm space in your kitchen after all the time in chaos!
Gretchen Sexton
OK. You are absolutely GENIUS! This piece is not only gorgeous, but ever so functional. I am taking notes and going to copy it at my earliest opportunity. But right away I am going to put all my baking items in a basket in my current pantry configuration. Can't wait to see the Lazy Susan DIY. I do love a good Lazy Susan! You continue to rock my world!
Marion
Beautiful!!!! I cannot wait to see the final reveal. You've probably already answered this somewhere on the bloggity blog, but when does the issue of Canadian Living with your kitchen in it come out?
Melissa in North Carolina
Amazing! My heart is racing...carrea marble, a beautiful pantry with full size lazy susan's and that fancy hardware. Living large indeed. You deserve it. I, too, want to know if you spices are in alpabetical order, lol.
mickey
awesome!
Liz
Can we talk about the freaking beautiful latching hardware for a second?!? guuuuuhhh I LOVE IT!! I'm curious if you had that in mind all along, or if you agonized over a few choices?
I love that it's shiny, gold and new, but brassy enough to be a bit old and timeless :) I'm enjoying this one corner at a time thing too! The anticipation definitely makes me appreciate every detail more
Karen
Hi Liz! I'll do a small update about the hardware on the bottom of the post. I had SO many things to mention I completely forgot about the hardware, lol. The cup pulls are Martha Stewart hardware and the latches are from Lee Valley. I have to antique the brass on the Lee Valley hardware so it matches the Martha stuff but I haven't had time. That too will end up being another post. :) I didn't debate at all. I knew I wanted gold for the warmth and because well ... it's the new thing ... and I knew I wanted cup pulls again, which I've always had. I was thrilled when I saw Martha Stewart carried not only gold cup pulls but ones that were more squarish than the normal rounded ones you see. So there you go. The story of the hardware! ~ karen
Kim from 3 peanuts
I love it all too Karen. But really I swooned over the hardware so thank you for the details on it. I am in a big house and it is lovely but we want to buy a small older home in our neighborhood and gut kitchens and bathrooms. So, I am taking notes.
Kim from 3 peanuts
Okay, I have scoured the Lee Valley site and cannot find those latches. I am kinda obsessed, Karen. Please help. I will be forever in your debt as I have fallen deeply, madly in love with them.
Karen
Here you go ... http://www.leevalley.com/en/hardware/page.aspx?p=41960&cat=3,41399,41407 ~ karen!
Kimfrom3 peanuts
You are the best Karen!!! Thank you.
In your honor, I will name our unnamed year old goldfish after you . She's scrappy yet beautiful. We did not name her cause the kids won her at a fair and we thought she'd have an early demise. But she's going strong!
Carol
Its funny I have to remind myself we haven't met in real life, because I feel like we have.? : ) Your photos capture the pantry beautifully and it provides that wonderful sightline its like an update to your DR too. So much beauty in these first two sneak peeks and yet my favourite part is still to come..... ~ C
Elen
I'm experiencing total pantry lust. Total. Pantry. Lust.
Maybe even a hot flash.
The end.
Rebecca
I love it! All of it.
J9ftw
A-maz-ing. I'm moving into your pantry.
mayr
Nice drawers.
jainegayer
Well done, Karen! Love the hardware too.
ps- Love the vodka in with the baking stuff.
Dan
You're missing half your vodka, which should also be stored with the pasta. Now, all you can have is penne-a-la-damn-I-wish-had-pasta-vodka.
This kitchen reno is dead to me.
Su
Stunning. cool. Awesome. Now I have pantry envy. Serious pantry envy.
Tigersmom
Absolutely gorgeous. You surprised me a bit at first with the gold hardware, I love it, but I didn't expect it. Thinking back now though and remembering things like your gold tree in the dining room it isn't too big of a surprise after all.
I put what I like to call an exposed butler's pantry down at the end of my kitchen where the dining room used to be when we renovated. It has white cabinets with mullioned glass fronts over small drawers with a narrow bit of marble and then three more bigger drawers stepped forward on the bottom. The pair of cabinets frame a large window and beneath the window is a window seat with three huge drawers that hold things like my crockpot and blender. I can send a picture if you want to see it.
And, yes, I noticed the stacked pigs and it is not lost on me how perfectly at home they look in such a timeless, classic and elegantly designed kitchen. We apparently had the same thoughts in mind when we renovated our kitchens: that we wanted it to be timeless looking and classic and something that we would never grow sick of because we never want to do have to do it again.
Great job and I hope you are thrilled with it and find it to be worth the eternity it seems you waited for it.
Deb Miller
This. Is. STUNNING! And the post is knee-slapping funny! And that cabinet hardware is to die for! Can't believe you didn't brag on your amazing choice of hardware! Perfection, I say!
Beth W
Looks fantastic Karen! I love the countertop, so sleek. I also like the use of the inside of the pantry door for your menu board. Might I suggest that you put the menu itself on the chalkboard, but make one of your "print on wood" signs to go above it that says "menu" or whatever? I think it'd be a great compliment to the other woody items that are peeking out here and there, and would fill in the gap above the board.
Edith
Forget the fridge. I would wanna sleep with this pantry if I could! But I can't. Im too far away.
It is perfect.