Butlers Pantry - Open or Closed Shelf's

Hi All

Starting a new build soon and my kitchen selection appointment is coming up in a few weeks, so taking this time to research research.

I'm undecided about having open shelving or closed doors in my butlers pantry.

I have a 2 year old and I know it's just a phase right now but whenever i open our pantry door he comes running and will just stand in front of it pulling everything off the bottom two shelf's.

The new build, the design we have does not allow for a door to close off the pantry, so i can just imagine him going in there and removing everything with in reach then finding cans of baked beans or bottles of tomato sauce hidden randomly around the house.

At the same time not having doors means you can easily find everything (great for hubby) and also much easier when unpacking shopping.

Alternatively would it look weird to just have doors on the bottom and open up above? My design is an L shape so I plan to have one section with floor to ceiling shelf's so there wouldn't be a bench dividing the two.

Thoughts, feedback, personal experience all welcome please.

Both, depending on what is being stored.

Mostly food items but i will also be storing the "occasional" dinnerware that only gets pulled out for bigger gatherings.

We’re putting open shelving on one side for appliances and dry foodstuffs. Other items, like semi-perishables and the millions of plastics containers will be stored out of sight behind doors. You probably just need to sit down and plan out how and where you want to store all your stuff, and then make a decision based on that.

Edit: I'd put the dinnerware behind a door so that dust stays off. That way you don’t need to wash it before every occasional dinner party.

ohh yes good point about the dust.
Thank you

I would say closed shelf throughout.

The effort to open the shelf door is much less when comparing to efforts of wiping the dust off every single item on a regular basis.

The doors can be transparent though if you are concerned about finding stuff easily.

If it's an open pantry then I would have closed cupboards. If you have a pantry door then I'd do open shelves. I just don't like seeing my cams and food when in the kitchen or living areas. But essentially whatever you want , that's the joy of building

I've gone 80%closed and a few shelves, looks classier with doors, but adding a few decent shelves allows 80% of most used items to be accessed easily, you will love this combo, you won't regret it, we listened to the kitchen maker, and he was absolutely right.

does anyone have a company that i can get to quote for my butlers pantry?
thank you

Need to know where you live.

leppington in NSW