DIY Kitchen Corner Pantry
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I’m sharing my DIY Kitchen Corner Pantry with you all because I’ve been getting lots of questions about it on Instagram! So, I’m sharing exactly how we made our DIY kitchen corner pantry, how much it costed, and how long it took.
Table of Contents
We have a corner pantry with a door. But when we built the house someone (probably Delaney haha) ordered the wrong door for the pantry. When it arrived, instead of opening out as we had planned, it was installed opening in. The guys just installed it with all the other doors, and we didn’t realize until it was done.
When you’re standing in our pantry with nothing in it, it seems really big. We were also super stressed as our house was a Covid house, so we were at dry wall right when Covid hit. And a door opening in instead of out was a very minor thing compared to others! Like having our appliances completely lost or backordered, was a bit more pressing.
So, we just thought it will be fine! We’ll just leave it, and we’ll deal with it later. Then we moved in and realized we needed shelves in the pantry, so Delaney built some around the door opening in.
They were nice shelves, and we utilized the space we had. But it wasn’t the vision I originally had planned for our pantry. Then it started to get too crowded, and I realized the door opening in was just wasting a ton of space! It was also annoying to shimmy past it each time I needed something from the back corner!
So, here’s how we created our DIY corner kitchen pantry! You can see the transformation on the video here, and I’m sharing our step by step process, along with how much it costed us, how long it took to complete our DIY kitchen corner pantry, and links to where I bought everything!
Design & Plan
Measure $0
This is the first step in any remodel or new design. Measure and measure again! Delaney likes to measure and then create a design in illustrator with a scale. So, we did this because it was easy for us to visualize. Our pantry is about 58-inches on the right wall and 50-inches on the left wall of the corner. And the depth of the left wall to the back is 33-inches, to give you an idea (this is the most commonly asked question I get). But, you'll need to measure your own pantry if you're doing this!
Custom Cabinets $2,600
We decided to add cabinets into the pantry because I knew it would maximize the space and look the nicest. So, we measured and planned ahead of time, before we ripped out anything!
We had to buy custom cabinets that we ordered from Cabinet Authority. The depth we needed was a just a little smaller than standard, so custom cabinets were the only way to go. We could have saved a lot of money here and just did shelves, but I really wanted the cabinets! I wanted the look and feel of a butler’s pantry, even if it’s on the smaller side. Standard cabinet depth is 24-inches and our cabinet depth is 21-inches.
Since we were getting the cabinets from a different place than the kitchen cabinets came from, I couldn’t match the color exactly. This is why I chose a white shaker cabinet, so it went with what we have, but I wasn’t worried about an exact match.
The cabinets took about 6 weeks to be custom made and shipped. I was really happy with the quality of the cabinets, and we didn’t have a single ding or scratch! I would highly recommend these cabinets, but they are on the expensive side for sure! We did have to assemble all the cabinets as well as they came in pieces, which took more time. But it was worth it! Assembling the cabinets took one day and Delaney did all the labor so it didn’t cost us anything extra here.
Butcher Block Counters & Shelves $1,000
Because we did cabinets in the pantry, we had to have a countertop. I could have matched the quartz we had in the kitchen, but because we’re so remote in Mammoth, it’s not that easy to have counters installed! Doing quartz also would have been more expensive and we didn’t really need it. So, we decided to do butcher block because it would match the other wood accents in the kitchen, be very durable, and it would last.
We found Hevea Solid Wood Butcher Block Countertops from Home Depot. I really love this color of wood, it’s beautiful! We had to cut it, because the cabinet depth was smaller than standard size. Our counters are 22-inches in depth because of our smaller cabinet depth. And we also had to glue and sand the corner together and then stain the whole thing.
Since we loved the butcher block counter we found so much, we just decided to use it for all the shelves too! This way we had matching shelves and they are really thick, which was the look I was going for.
I really wanted the shelves to be an L shape to match the counter. This made it more work, but I felt we’d utilize the space better versus having floating shelves on each side as we’d lose some valuable space in the corner. Our shelves are 16-inches deep.
Even with new construction, your walls are never perfectly straight. We had a hell of a time getting the butcher block counter into the pantry and Delaney even ripped off some drywall in the process, and then had to repair it!
So, while he measured perfectly for the countertop, getting it into that small space was very difficult as we had to lift it in there and the wall was slightly different size from top to bottom.
When this happened with the countertop, we realized we were going to have a hell of a time with the shelves as Delaney had built them to size too, so they went all the way to the wall on each side. We realized we might never get them in like that or if we did it would be a nightmare with lots of possible drywall damage.
So, we trimmed off about an inch on each side, leaving the shelf L intact. This gave the illusion of floating shelves but allowed us to maximize space especially in the corner!
We had 4 shelves plus the countertop that we had to cut, glue, sand, and stain. This took about a week, but Delaney was not working on it all day every day. He would work on it for a few hours a day, as things had to set, dry, etc.
Black Shelf Brackets $110
We used black shelf brackets to hold up the shelves. I chose these ones because they are flat which gives us more space on the shelf below, as big brackets with an angled support would have gotten in the way of storage. I ordered these ahead of time and we spray painted them matte black to match our pulls perfectly.
Matching Pulls $30
I bought matching pulls for the pantry cabinets, so they matched the kitchen. This really ties them together, even if the cabinets are a bit different! We have matte black hardware, which is harder to come by than flat black. I bought all our pulls at Home Depot, you can find my matte black pulls here and matte black knobs here.
Construction
Swap the Door $0
The first thing we did to start the transformation was swap door to open out instead of in. We had room for the door to open out, as that was the original plan! So, we just had to flip the door; touch up some paint, add some wood fill and it was just like it always should have been. It also opened up a lot of space! This took one day. The cost of this was $0 because Delaney did all the labor, and we had the paint and supplies to touch it all up already.
Demo, Drywall, Paint $70
We ripped out everything we had and started with a blank slate. We had to fix drywall and repaint, but we’re pros at that now! I used Clare Paint Fresh Kicks in the pantry as that’s what’s in our kitchen and living room too.
This also took one day, because paint dries so fast up here with our dry air! It may take longer for you, depending on where you live if you have to prime and paint. This only costed us one gallon of paint as Delaney had all the drywall supplies already and we just had to buy more paint to touch up.
Move an Outlet $30
We had to move an outlet on the left wall as it was basically on the floor. We moved this up so it would sit right on top of the countertop so we could plug the microwave into it. We did this the same day we did demo.
This only costed us $30 because Delaney did the labor himself and all we had to do was buy a flex conduit, 45-degree angle mount, and a metal outlet cover to move the outlet from the floor up to above where the countertop would be.
Backsplash $45
My original plan was to do wallpaper from the counter up to the first shelf, for the backsplash. And as you can see in the video (or if you were watching my stories) you see the wallpaper go up. And then you also see it come down, haha.
Peel and stick walkover was a great idea in theory. We put it up before we installed the countertop, and during that process we damaged a portion of it as the counter was so tight going in. So, we repaired it.
But when we tried to get the shelves in initially (before we trimmed the edges off) we really fucked up the wallpaper! We had no more, so that also left us with another decision to make. I could buy more and repair what was damaged, peel it off and just paint, or think of something else.
Because of the wallpaper issue and the issue of having a gap between the shelf and the wall now, which was completely necessary, we had to pivot. I knew I wanted some kind of backsplash from the countertop to the first shelf. I wanted it to be easy and look good. I thought about doing tile but we just didn’t need tile there, so it seemed like a waste of time and money.
That’s when I decided to do a wood pattern on the wall. I love the wood pattern walls on a larger scale. I’ve been wanting to do one of the walls in our gym, still trying to convince Delaney! But I thought it would be a perfect spot to do it here! I love that we did this as it’s totally clean, modern, and classic all at the same time. It gives it some visual interest and it still matches the rest of the kitchen!
This was super easy to do! We had a freshly painted wall already so all we had to do was decide our pattern, buy small pieces of wood, cut them to size, paint them, and we just glued them on here as it’s such a small space. We didn’t nail them in as it wasn’t necessary, but we caulked the edges to make it look super clean. This just took a couple hours on the same day we put up all the shelves.
This costed us $45 because we took a loss on the wallpaper ($15) but we did pay for it. And the only other thing we had to buy was a few pieces of wood and glue, that only costed $30. We had the paint and caulk already and Delaney did all the labor.
Microwave $240
We had a microwave in the old pantry, but I had recently broken the glass spinner on it, and I also burned something in it, haha. So, it was time for a new one. I also wanted it to better match the kitchen, as the previous microwave was just bought during our Covid move in as a necessity!
I bought this Breville Compact Wave Soft Close Microwave and I could not be more happy. I love this microwave! Not only is it beautiful, it’s on the smaller side so it’s not taking up more space than necessary, but it still fits large plates and it’s definitely big enough for our needs.
The best things about this microwave are that the door is soft close, so no slamming it! You can also turn off the beep, which is amazing! And I love the dial as you can turn it as the microwave is going if you want to increase time, which is so convenient. We make all of John John’s food from scratch so we mainly use the microwave to warm it up for him for breakfast and dinner.
Coffee Machine $0
De’Longhi is a client of mine and I love working with them. And this TrueBrew Coffee Machine was part of a recent shoot and I knew it would make the perfect addition to our new DIY kitchen corner pantry. I love having our main coffee station in the pantry, even though we have an additional espresso machine on the counter still. But this is where we mainly make coffee each morning. If you make drip coffee daily, this machine is a game changer!
Storage $750
The final step in completing our DIY corner kitchen pantry was buying storage for the new pantry. I had a lot of the tubs already because I was already storing all my baking items in those tubs. But I added up all my storage items I bought and listed them here for you if you’re looking for storage.
Large White Metal Wire Storage Bins
Wood Handle Small White Metal Storage Bins
Wood Handle Large White Metal Storage Bins
Glass Canisters with Wood Lids
Small White Canisters (I use these for John John’s treats)
Dog Food Canister (I keep John John’s Peanut Butter Dog Cookies in this!)
How long did it take to build your DIY corner kitchen pantry?
Planning Time
It took about one week to measure, plan, and order all the things we needed.
Waiting Time
It took us about a month to get our custom cabinets we ordered. Everything else came pretty quickly as it was just from Amazon or Home Depot.
Building Time
It took about a week to put together custom cabinets, build butcher block countertop, and shelves, paint brackets, and make the backsplash.
Construction Time
It took about a week to swap the door, demo, fix drywall, paint, install cabinets, pulls, countertop, shelves, and do the wood design backsplash. This is how long we had to live without a pantry — all our food was on the kitchen table, and we were eating at the island! Definitely not ideal, but it was a week well worth it to have an amazing pantry with so much more storage now!
Total Project Time
With the planning, cabinet lead time, and construction, it took us a total of 7 weeks to transform our kitchen pantry to the DIY kitchen corner pantry of my dreams!
What is the size of your DIY kitchen corner pantry?
While our pantry is 58-inches x 50-inches x 33-inches, you really need to measure your own pantry! Our cabinets are 21-inches in depth, counters are 22-inches deep, and our floating shelves are 16-inches deep. I hope this will give you an idea or inspiration that you can do this with a smaller pantry. But, please be sure to measure your own pantry, counters, shelves, etc.
How much did it cost to create your DIY kitchen corner pantry?
Total Project Cost
Our DIY Kitchen Corner Pantry costed us a grand total of $4,875. We saved a lot of money because Delaney did all the labor and we even had drywall, paint, caulk and other supplies from building the house already in our garage.
This will cost you more if you don’t plan to do the labor yourself or if you have to buy more supplies. Or if you are able to buy stock cabinets (without going custom) you will also save a lot of money.
But, if you’re thinking of transforming your corner pantry, it will totally be worth it! Our pantry is something we use every single day, many times a day. So spending the time and money to do this DIY kitchen corner pantry was totally worth it!
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Any chance you could share the measurements of your pantry? Specifically the bottom cabinets. I’ve been trying to get my husband and build this exact thing for me for a couple years now but he keeps saying our pantry is too small. I feel like it’s the same size as the one you did.
hi Deb! It’s about 58″ by 49″ (from my husband’s memory ha). We ordered custom cabinets, which is why it was able to work. The depth of our cabinets are only 21″ where the standard is 24″. I linked the cabinets spot we got them at in the post! If you have a smaller pantry, then custom cabinets are the way to go! Good luck with your remodel!