Pantry cabinet design

[Scott Clifton]

Hello all. I am attempting to build my wife a pantry cabinet. The space for the cabinet calls for a 42" wide, 94 1/2" tall and 24" deep. The cabinet will be face frame construction with the doors and drawers having 3/4" overlay. The left side of the cabinet will be against a wall and the right side of the cabinet will be next to another base cabinet for a "mud" sink. Still unsure of the proper design for the pantry cabinet. What I see is a 4 door cabinet with 2 on top and 2 on bottom. If my calculations are correct, that would make each door 19 1/2" wide. I am still unsure on the height. Should the bottom doors be about the same height as the base cabinet next to the pantry to keep things proportional, thus having much taller doors on top? Another thought I had was to place a wide drawer between the upper and lower doors so my wife would have a place to store spices. Any thoughts on that and if so, what depth should the drawer be to properly store the spices (I have seen drawer storage where the spices are tilted back at an angle)?

Because I am just getting into cabinet construction as a hobby, I used poplar for the wall and base cabinets on the other side of the room. The finish was with milk paint. So the new cabinets will be finished to match. With the pantry doors being taller than the ones I constructed earlier, are there any additional concerns regarding warping? Should I use a different type of wood or does that really matter? The doors are a raised panel style with the panels approximately 3/4" thick.

Thanks in advance for any help. I really love this site and use the information I gain from all the great resources here. Keep up the good work. Hopefully one day I can be as good as you. Just takes a lot of patience and practice.

[G Douglas Fowler]

Hi Scott,

Pacing a drawer to break up the large solid surface will be more visually pleasing. I would consider spitting the drawer in two. When I do paint-grade cabinets I use MDF panels in my doors. MDF does not warp and is an excellent paint surface.

[tony strother]

Morning,
I built one almost the same dimensions (48"w x 96"h, 24" deep). Mine is divided 1/3 top, 2/3 bottom, 4 doors, case carcass is white 3/4" melamine (liked the clean look of the white interior), shelves dadoed, with 3/4 solid oak face frame, panel/frame exterior sides and doors. All upper/lower section shelves adjustable. The lower two doors are the largest I have ever usesd on a project. I was concerned initially that they might warp, but 9 years on and still great. Monster sits on a 1" thick solid oak base frame.
Best of luck with the project!
Tony.