“Oven in the Pantry!” Oh My! – A Pantry Design Story

Utilizing An Oven in the Pantry Design

In planning the new kitchen during an extensive home remodel, the goal was to keep the kitchen as open to the adjoining rooms as possible for great flow and to provide for lots of windows for great light. The trick was to keep at a minimum the “tall walls”–those are the ones that normally contain a refrigerator, a cook top with adequate ventilating equipment above it, a full-height pantry or hutch, or a double oven.  Three of the “tall walls” for such appliances were located within the kitchen, but the fourth – in this case, the double oven – utilized space within the pantry, which is located just off the kitchen in the core of the house.  This idea of oven-in-the-pantry was spotted and reported on at an International Builders’ Show.

Mary Armstrong Crane, CAPID

Cooks today don’t use their ovens as much as homemakers did even a generation ago. So with an average oven use of twice a week, this location works out beautifully.  Care was taken to provide a special ventilating fan in the attic directly in front of the oven, with the fan switch just inside the pantry.  This keeps the pantry a comfortable temperature even when the oven is on for longer periods of time.

Mary Armstrong Crane, CAPID

By looking beyond the kitchen walls and into the pantry, the function and flow of this kitchen remodel were maximized!

Contributor: Mary Armstrong Crane, CAPID