STYLE CLASSIC
Cupboard love – we peek inside the kitchen pantry
A favourite kitchen storage space for granny’s generation, the pantry is having a widely welcomed revival as the perfect solution to our contemporary, clutter-free needs. Named after the Latin word panis (bread), the pantry originated in medieval england as a cool, dry room used for storing, you guessed it, bread. With houses increasing in size, ‘pantry’ became the general term for small service rooms in great estates, including the ventilated cold pantry – a clever little space for food that needed to be kept cool, before fridges came on the scene.
During the 19th century, the pantry became a household staple, connecting the kitchen and dining room while keeping groceries and utensils hidden from guests. But as integrated storage began to develop in the Twenties and Thirties, the pantry slowly merged with the kitchen, with built-in cupboards and modern refrigeration seeing it fall out of favour.
Today, homeowners lucky enough to have the space are turning back to the kitchen’s equivalent of the walk-in wardrobe, creating pantries that are multifunctional and more luxurious than ever before. For those with little space to spare, larder-style cupboards can slot neatly into an already-established kitchen, providing flexible organisation at a fraction of the cost.
To get the look, bespoke kitchen designers such as DEVOL and Harvey Jones can create tailormade pantries, while those in search of larder cupboards can turn to the high street, with prices at Loaf starting at £695.