Our Home: An Update on Our DIY Walk-In Pantry

Hello, friends! Progress is coming along on our walk-in pantry! Since I last posted about it here, we made a big trip to our local Home Depot to pick up supplies.

Recall that we are using the built-in shelving tutorial from The Sawdust Girl as our guide for the pantry shelves. Our plan was to make L-shaped shelves. We wanted two larger shelves on the bottom that would have a depth of 19″, with a butcher block countertop on top of the second shelf (about 38″ high, typical counter height). Then we wanted four shelves of 8″ depth above the counter. This was the original mockup of the side view:

Yes, my drawings are a little OCD-ish.

The tutorial recommends ripping your own 2×2 boards from 2×4 boards for the shelf framing (if possible). After checking out how atrociously warped most of the 3000+ 2×2 boards in stock at the store were, we decided this was the best option for us too. So rip away we did!

Just #rippingboards.

It took us about an hour or so to cut down the 2×4’s to 2×2 size. But it was well worth it compared to the mess of 2×2’s at the store! I would highly, highly, highly recommend doing this step yourself if you can.

The next day we were ready to get started putting up the shelves!

Just sawing things.

Throughout the framing of the shelves, we did have to make some modifications from our original plans. First, we were concerned that the shelf depth on the bottom two shelves might interfere with the molding when we finish the door. So we modified the shelves to be 17 inches deep instead.

The second major change was for the top shelves. We had originally wanted four 8″ deep shelves of 12″, 10″ 8″, and 8″ heights. However we had an issue with the measurements of the thickness of the shelves, and we ended up only being able to fit in three shelves. Therefore, to try to make up a little bit for that lost shelf, we increased the depth of these shelves from 8″ to 10″ instead. It just goes to show that while it is important to have a good plan for starting such a big project, you also have to remember to stay flexible if needed!

Some very nervous puppies wondering where mommy and daddy are!

Our last major task in terms of the design is finding a decently priced butcher block counter to put on top of the second shelf. I do not have experience with butcher block counter tops, so friends, any ideas? Please comment below if you have any experience with either DIYing your own butcher block counter top or places to purchase decent quality (but reasonably priced!) butcher block counters! Thank you so much!

Almost finished with framing!

It has been so hectic around here with all the basement remodel and having people in and out of our house for the drywall, insulation, electrical, etc. But we are really excited to be coming to the final stages of this massive project! My next update on the pantry will hopefully be the finished product! Stay tuned!

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