My New Pantry

Technically we do have a cold cellar. However, with the spring thaw, we've also realized that it is a leaky, damp cold cellar. All of our carefully hoarded jams and jellies and sauces and flours (mine, for my gluten-free baking) were either sprouting moldy lids or worse, were completely soaked. The cold cellar clearly needs of a bit of a reno job. But what to do with our dry goods in the meantime?

We had a closet in the upstairs hallway area that I primarily used as The Dumping Ground... a place to throw the hat or coat or pair of boots one was too lazy to put away properly. It was pretty much a luxury - we do have proper coat closet. So, it has become our pantry.

Converting it was surprisingly easy. I tore out the existing coat hooks, filled the holes and painted. I left the "hat" shelf, which became the top shelf of the new storage area. Max cut some excellent shelves (3/4" plywood was all that we had on hand, which is perfect, considering the weight it has to support) and some 'brackets'. After the paint had dried I just went in, screwed in the braces, lay in the shelves, and started to load it up.

What a huge difference. It's remarkably convenient for cooking - being able to just turn the corner from the kitchen and find a jar of pickles, or some beans. It has also improved our shopping - where in the cold cellar it was "out of sight, out of mind" (ie lets just buy more in case we don't have it at home), now it's easy to take a peek in and figure out what we really need to replace.

I know that people who have lovely kitchens with pantry cupboards already as part of their layout might raise some eyebrows and ask why the big surprise. But I've never had such a kitchen and The Homestead's kitchen doesn't even come close to having sufficient cupboard and storage space. Hence the cold cellar and the mud room. So it's been a luxury to have access to our dried goods.

We are a couple that cooks at home mostly, and Max in particular is an adventuresome cook. We typically have a lot in stock. And now, we only have 4 or 5 extras of everything, and they are dry, accessible, and they look surprisingly reassuring all lined up and ready to go.