New Pantry Build With Sliding Barn-style Doors #BudgetUpgrade
We desperately needed a pantry as food wasn't staying fresh in the makeshift area in our garage during the wet months in the PNW. We had more room in the dining area than we needed so I framed out a pantry space and loaded it with inexpensive bookshelves I acquired through a resale website. The pantry sits just opposite the room from the kitchen which is very small and open to the dining/living room space.
The very best part of this project, besides having a TON of space for dry goods, was that I figured out how to create a sliding barn-style door track using inexpensive parts found at my local home center.
I used two spray painted garage door pulleys to support the door. I purchased a longer bolt than was provided with the pulley so I could load it with a washer, steel strapping, 3 more washers, the pulley, another washer and a nut. This was the necessary order to balance the weight of my particular hollow core door.
The track consisted of two 4-foot (would have preferred one 8-foot piece but couldn't find one locally) of steel which I drilled through and attached to a piece of stained hemlock that I attached through the wall into the studs. The bolts on the steel track are also spaced away from the hemlock using two washers each so that the pulleys/wheels could move freely.
Looking for a low profile door stop to keep my kids from shoving the door straight off the end of the track, I opted to pound a rather thick nail into the wood then I used a hack saw to remove the head of the nail and painted it black to match the track. It isn't at all noticeable which was what I was going for but it works great (as tested by my young boys).
The pantry holds lots of dry goods and even my bread machine which I can run in there because there was already an outlet on the existing wall. Our house has an open floor plan and hardwood floors so when I used to run the bread machine at night, it would wake us up with all it's beeping and grinding. Having it behind closed doors is perfect. Since this picture was taken, I also added a spice rack and a plastic bag holder on that center wall. I can store larger containers of spices then refill my small kitchen spice containers as needed.
I even had a place for all my jars lined up for the year's harvest of fresh garden vegetables.
This is what the room looked like when we bought the house. I'd say our gorgeous pantry is not only useful but an amazing architectural upgrade to our space. Not a day goes by that I don't look at the pantry and fall in love with it all over again.
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Comments
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2 of 133 comments
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I love the look and usefulness of the barn door! Did you install all the shelves as well? Great use of the space you had!
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I love this project because I can show my husband how to do your nail trick, because the wall stops shortly after the closet door frame too. Awesome. Thank you for sharing.
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Do all 3 doors slide? I have an 11' closet I am wanting to use sliding bypass doors.