Kitchen Pantry: Installation Update – Wood Pallets, Corks and More

Update on the pantry! Such a small, small room to be taking so long to finish… but I’m really excited that it’s starting to functionally come together. Kevin had talked me into a clear glass door for the pantry because he thought that it would play nicely with the many other clear glass doors in our kitchen space (for the record I was going for something a little more frosted), the downfall though is that you can now see every box, bin and can inside when standing in the kitchen. I saw that one coming. Now that the boxes and bins and cans are starting to pile up in there, that little agreement I’m starting to regret ;-). But on the pro side, it will force us to be clean and organized even in our closets – and I like the thought of that. I’ll have the finished pantry to share with you in a few days, we are very close.

Let’s take two steps backwards and I’ll update you from where we’ve left off:

We ended up choosing a very nontraditional material to line our pantry with, actually it’s reminding me more and more of a cellar rather than a kitchen pantry now. Kevin wanted to find a way to create a more rustic, reclaimed wood look for the space (hence his original inspiration board) and thought that wood pallets might be a neat way to achieve that. One day while we were out running errands we came across a tile shop that had a huge stack of pallets out front with a ‘free’ sign, mission accomplished!

The wood is rough, knotted, uneven, mismatched… but I think that’s the charm of this new cellar.

Installing it took quite a bit of time! Remember how we started the process of brainstorming this space way back here? Many Saturday mornings later…

Including a trip out from our electrician to get this room hooked up in the form of a hanging light and electrical box…

And the pantry is ready to be properly filled and organized.

A couple of other fun details to point out – see the flooring in there? Corks!

Friends helped us to collect a huge bag of corks over the past year, enough (and then some) to create a soft, squishy pattern in what really feels like the mini cellar now.

As far as building out this little floor, a nail gun, silicon and a right angle were really the only tools necessary.

To complete, Kevin poured a clear resin over the corks to fill in many of the gaps. But I can already tell that that will be the issue, if we have one, with this DIY flooring.

The beverage cooler is a fun addition and was a big splurge for us. Kevin brews his own craft beer and enjoys having some of his favorites bottled and on hand, we also think it will be a neat resale value addition if we ever decide to sell.

Another pantry detail? Rope lights! The overhead industrial-style lighting that Kevin found helps to light up the space, but the rope lights provide direct strip lighting to each shelf to easily see what cans and jars are hiding at the very back of those deep wood shelves, especially at night.

Speaking of that industrial light, you can find it in stores here.

So back to that glass door… now it’s time to fill this pantry back up and to make her look oh so pretty! As pretty as canned food and cereal boxes can be, that is. But then that’s where my inspiration board fits in – PS my version of the candy red wire baskets are finished :-). I suppose we’re tag teaming this one? Kev to build, Morgan to buy pretty fabric bins and paint wire baskets.

Now it’s my turn.

 PS more to check out on the den-to-kitchen and pantry remodel.