The Growing Appeal of the Walk-In Pantry

The latest kitchen trend has a long history

Pantry shelves
Walk-in pantries are growing in populaity.
Heather McKean

What are home buyers looking for the most when they buy a house? Could it be a fire pit in the back yard? Might the answer be a spacious hot tub? Or has their interest been piqued by solar panels, perhaps? In reality, none of these are the answer. Instead, the walk-in pantry has risen in popularity over the years — a sign of a classic home feature returning and a reflection of a growing tendency to stock up on food.

That data comes from the National Association of Home Builders, and it’s cited in an article in The Wall Street Journal about walk-in pantries. So too is an insightful quote from Toll Brothers’ Lisa McClelland, who said, “We’ve been offering pantries for a number of years, but the luxury pantry is the new must-have.”

McClelland pointed out that luxury pantries lend themselves to social media posts, and in an era when influencers have helped shape perceptions of travel, it’s not surprising to see them play a role in shaping trends in home design as well.

There’s another reason why pantries may have grown in popularity as of late, and it’s not hard to guess. As pandemic-related lockdowns and quarantines have led people around the world to embrace both stockpiling food and cooking more at home, it’s not exactly shocking to imagine that some of those same people are rediscovering the full scope of their pantries.

Throw in the ways in which the design-savvy can utilize storage in pantries and you have yet another reason why these spaces have made a comeback. When you have good aesthetic and pragmatic reasons for something, it’s not hard to see why it might gain momentum.

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