Pantry Remodel Revealed - You Won't Believe the Before and After

Last week we showed you how we built a drop in cabinet which was butted right against the soon to be pantry.  We had a great response when I posted it on Hometalk and lots of you wanted to see the pantry when it was complete.  Here it is!

We have tons of space now and no longer have to over crowd all the other cabinets just to get it all "put away".  I'm still rearranging and trying to figure out where the best space is for everything.

Here's a peek at what it used to look like and what it looks like now.  If you want to see what it originally looked like when we moved in, look HERE.  Such a huge difference!

This was the final cabinet that needed to be remodeled.  But we aren't done yet!  More to come!

My honey very carefully disassembled the cabinet, piece by piece because he wanted to reuse as much of the existing cabinet as he could...just like all the others.

I had removed all the other old shelf paper when we redid the other cabinets, but this one was the only one left.  Good bye old shelf paper!  Remember the southwest craze in the late 80s early 90s?  Oh I liked it too back then, but not anymore!

Here it is all stripped down to the floor base.  See the two outlets?  My honey sealed up the bottom one because we were not going to need it any longer and the top one he replaced with a new outlet because we plan on putting a lighting system in the pantry later on down the line.

Bead board was added to the back wall to help tie in the other cabinets.  Why you ask? Because the door we add later will allow the inside of the pantry to be visible, so I wanted matchy-matchy!  The shelf cleats were also added after we thoughtfully planned out how far apart to space them.  We grabbed our tallest cereal box for one measurement and stacked two can goods on top of one another for the next measurement and so forth and so one until we reached the top.  The shelf you see here was the only one original to the previous cabinet.

Next the shelves were cut using 3/4" plywood.  Must be sturdy to hold all the weight.  Then the pantry lived like this for one week.  We both work full time, so we remodel on the weekends only.  When the new door is put together some day soon, the bottom of the pantry will not be visible.  I store all of my larger counter top appliances in there.

Now for paint!  I used the same sage-y green I used in the dining room here.  I love this Valspar paint from Lowes.  It only takes two coats and you're done!  The paint color is called Jekyl Crane Cottage Green.  I used my paint tray trick again, line it with foil for a fast clean up job.

First coat looks a dab scary, but just wait, it gets better.

See, now its just he right green!  This paint dries fairly quickly too.  Another thing I like about it!

I painted the under side only of each shelf.  Assembly line style out on the patio worked perfectly for the task.  I chose not to paint the tops because I knew I was adding shelf paper and it seems to stick to bare wood better than the painted wood.

Just to add, we wanted to do slide out shelves but the hardware is very spendy.  Since we are on a tight budget right now, we chose to wait on that feature for a later time.  Now for the facing.  My honey took the facing that he saved from the original cabinet and reworked it to fit the new pantry.  It's ready for paint and then shelf paper.

I used the same shelf paper I used in all the other cabinets.  See how I did that HERE.  I found my perfect paper at Walmart HERE.

Isn't she lovely, isn't she beautiful!  Everything's better with shelf paper huh? LOL!

One more look at the before and after!  Big change huh?  Some day when it has its "new" door it'll look even more different.  HINT:  My honey scored two old and identical screen doors for FREE!  He plans on making the two into one to fit our new pantry.  Fingers crossed it will work out like we have in mind.

NOTE: We finally did it! Go see right here!

We still have 3 more doors to build and of course the pantry door, but for now I am really enjoying this big ole space my honey created for me!  Wait till you see what we've done next!

Would you like to see more about our kitchen remodel?

Tiling Our Kitchen Floor
Kitchen Cabinet Makeover Part 1
Kitchen Cabinet Makeover Part 2
Kitchen Cabinet Makeover Part 3
Building a Corner Cabinet
Building a Drop in Kitchen Cabinet
Installing a Farmhouse Sink
Pantry Remodel
DIY Mosaic Tile Backsplash
Painting Our Cabinets
Old Screen Doors Get New Life

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!

I'm Linking to:
These lovely and FUN parties!
Between Naps on the Porch
DIY Home Sweet Home
We Call It Junkin