New Custom Pantry Replaces Our Tiny Shallow Closet

David McIntosh
by David McIntosh
4 Materials
I tore out the simple shallow closet we had and put in a custom pantry with built in drawers. Huge improvement.
You can see the BEFORE pictures on the bottom of this project. I took a picture of my neighbors house and their exact closet we had. They are the BEFORE house for all my projects I did.


First I gutted out the door and the side wall. Behind that light switch is our main plumbing down spout. I though of relocating it but adding bends into sewer lines is not the way you want to get rid of waste, so I left it right were it is.
I had to build a new side wall and a base to raise it up a bit. You can see where I tore down the existing crown molding on that wall.
I built 2 main sections... the very top box, and the main area which I initially only split on the top.


I left space on the top for the crown molding and a half round moulding detail I have everywhere else.
After some last minute planning, I added a split down the whole bottom section. Large drawers would not be as useful here as smaller pull out drawers.


I also added a new can light with a spot light pointing into the space. I tied it into the existing hall light and put in a dimmer.
Shelves are in... and the first coat of paint. Last minute I routed out a groove for the metal shelf runner... to allow me to adjust the shelves as needed.


I spent a long time deciding what size they needed to be... organization is king.
Then I built some pull out drawers and used full extension sliders.
I built some custom doors... adding some soft close hinges.


In the end, it tripled our food storage and gave some storage on top for our punch bowl and party supplies.


So glad we did it! Hope it inspires you.
I needed a BEFORE picture... so I took one of my neighbors house who has the same layout as us. As you can see the door is small, wasted space to the LEFT with that knock out pillar.
Inside was a very shallow wire Shelf. Demolition was the only option.
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  • Jacqueline Jacqueline on Apr 03, 2020

    Where/how did you learn to build and use to carpentry tools? I would love to do some of these projects but I don’t Know where to get instructions locally to learn to use the tools. I wish that I had taken wood shop in school.

  • Mary Cook Mastin Mary Cook Mastin on Apr 25, 2020

    Can I build this on a kitchen wall (waisted space need storage) we have a formal dining room no need for kitchen table but I need more storage in the Kitchen

  • CR CR on Oct 03, 2020

    How deep is it?

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  • Bob Bob on Oct 17, 2021

    Nice job! I'm adding on a master bathroom and will be using this idea for the bathroom medicine closet. Nice and shallow to view all the small items we typically store there, from medications to toilet paper. Perfect use of space.

  • Carolyn Carolyn on Jan 24, 2022

    Excellent Job! Not too deep either so things get lost in back. Love it! Wish I had a spot in my kitchen for this. Have 5 doorways, barely room for appliances.

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