A walk-in pantry

With amenities, such as supermarkets, often less easily accessible than in towns and cities, rural properties need sufficient storage for essential supplies — while a village shop is a valuable asset, the lack of delivery services from supermarkets and restaurants means it is more important than usual to have a well-stocked larder or pantry.

“Traditionally kitchens had larders to store food, north-facing rooms without windows placed against solid external walls, with external ventilation and mesh to prevent vermin entering,” explains architect David Nossiter. “Today we have refrigerators, but there is still an advantage to having a darkened and cool walkin larder.”

The most successful pantries have a combination of shelving, hanging rails and hooks, perhaps a couple of drawers and racks and baskets. Good ventilation is a bonus, as is a work surface, ideally made from a naturally cool material such as marble.

A pantry should include electrical sockets to operate appliances, and the lighting scheme needs thinking about too. If you plan on having some high level shelving, consider making space to store a small set of steps.

Those without the space for a full-blown walk-in larder might want to consider a full-height larder unit instead. Some larger larder varieties actually come complete with power sockets, pull-out worksurfaces and integrated lighting.

“At home we have located our larder on the outside face of the house, on the north, with no central heating in it and kept it dark so that food isn't in the super-insulated and airtight main house,” adds Merry Albright. “I like how I can see everything in one place and no one else has to look at our super-sized cereal packets or the ridiculous amount of wine we have!”

PLENTIFUL PANTRIES

TOP: Floor-to-ceiling shelving in this larder provides maximium storage space in a relatively small area in this Oakwrights self-build; ABOVE: This pantry from Brayer Design incorporates lighting, electrics for appliances and storage space.