Pantry facelift...

Marty Walsh

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Location
Southern Georgia
As many of you know, I recently spent three weeks in Arkansas helping tod build new living quarters. Well, when I got back home I wasn't ready to dive back into "IT", so I took a few hours and built a set of shelves for the closet in Denise's office:

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Denise really likes the wild grain in the Paduak I picked up when I was building the shop, so she had me use some for the shelf faces and uprights.

Well...Denise liked the shelves so much that she made another request...

Her garden has been such a success that she's started canning LOTS of veggies. Storing all these jars was becoming a problem. She saw her new office shelves and realized that the design I used would be perfect for a new pantry! :doh:

Here's what we started with:

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The original owners of the house had installed your typical cheap borg plastic coated wire shelving above the washer and dryer and on the rear wall. Unfortunately, they didn't hit a single stud when they installed it, so the shelves were...to be polite...less than sturdy!

(Denise had already started emptying the shelves in anticipation of her new shelving when I got around to taking that picture. :rolleyes:)

Last Sunday I spent a few minutes in Sketchup and came up with designs and measurements that met with Denise's approval. She left for a week long business trip and I went out to the shop to get busy.

First, I built the shelves...3/4" MDF edged with Paduak, along with 3" wide 7/8" thick 8' high Paduak uprights:

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I glued and screwed braces on the back side of the uprights where Denise decided she wanted shelves. Between those braces, and 3" wide ledgers of 3/4" MDF screwed directly into the studs along the wall supporting the shelves, I figured they would be plenty stout! :thumb:

With the shelves taken care of, it was time to replace that cheap plastic shelf unit on the left wall. Denise wanted a better place to hang clothes as they came out of the dryer, so I built her this:

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Again, using her choice of Paduak, I glued up a 13" wide, 7/8" thick shelf, added 1 3/4" thick corbels that I notched to accept a ledger and drilled to accept a closet pole. Now we'd have someplace better to hang clothes as we took them outta the dryer! :thumb:

I still needed to do something about that last wire shelf over the washer and dryer...:dunno:

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Here's what I came up with:

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Again using Paduak, I made a 5' long 3' high cabinet. I had some English Walnut Burl veneer that was too skinny for my original use, so I decided to book match it on the raised panel doors. I think it came out pretty nice...in spite of the wild grain pattern of the Paduak behind it:

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I got the cabinet installed last Thursday...quite an excercise since I was alone...but just in time since Denise came home on Friday! :doh:

We still have to finish moving stuff into the cabinets...(the 10 coats of lacquer were still curing)...but all in all I think she's pleased with the facelift I gave our pantry:

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Oh, and sorry to all you turners...NOT A SINGLE SPINNY THING IN PROJECT! :rofl::rofl::rofl:

Thanks for looking...
- Marty -
 
Those both look terrific. Much better. The pantry is one of the keys to saving money around here. Buy big and store neatly. The downside is the sticker shock when you finally need ziplock bags again ;-)
 
I took a few hours and built a set of shelves for the closet in Denise's office ....
She saw her new office shelves and realized that the design I used would be perfect for a new pantry!
....
all in all I think she's pleased with the facelift I gave our pantry:

Great Job, Marty. VERY nice grain on that shelf opposite the dryer. Almost a shame to put stuff on it.

It sure is satisfying turning a "plain/stock" room in a house into a custom job.

Any reason you didn't rip down the wire shelf in the top of the office closet? I kind of thought you would.

thanks for showing us the results
...art
 
Great job Marty! someone would say too beatiful to be in a pantry but don't pantries and laundry rooms deserve the same treatment as the rest of the house? I would say YES!:):thumb:
 
Thanks for the kind words everyone.

Toni,

I'm with you. Why should a pantry not get the same attention one would pay to the rest of the house? Now if only I had the time and money to pay that attention to the rest of the house!!!! :rofl:

Art,

Denise wanted that upper shelf left in place. It's much wider/deeper than the wooden ones I created for her, and is intended to hold seldom used, larger and bulkier (albeit light weight) items.


Larry,

Notice all those jars on the center two shelves in the pantry. That's only a SMALL portion of what Denise has been putting up. There's pickles and relish, and Jalapeno peppers, and pickled Okra, and, and, and...the list goes on.

In fact, I shot this picture last night after Denise got done with ONE DAY of picking peppers from her garden:

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I think there's going to be a few VERY POTENT jars on those shelves very soon. That pile has Habanero, Serano, Jalapeno, Cubanelle, Tabasco, and Chile peppers in it. (The watermelon is desert... :D)

- Marty -
 
with that

much natural heat layin there on the stove marty you anit gonna need no gas or electric..that mix is one hot commodity.. i hope she wears gloves to process them some folk get burned puttin them up from the juices in them.. tell the canner i said hey and great job on her green thumb:thumb:
 
much natural heat layin there on the stove marty you anit gonna need no gas or electric..that mix is one hot commodity.. i hope she wears gloves to process them some folk get burned puttin them up from the juices in them.. tell the canner i said hey and great job on her green thumb:thumb:


Ditto what Larry said!

That is a ton of heat there. Does Denise where a gas mask? ;)

Marty those shelves and cabinets look wonderful!

Joe
 
wow marty, very nice execution, very nice choice of wood denise.

that wood has a beautiful color and grain to it. i think the burl is great too, hey I think i'm seen that one other place before, where you veneer a panel and then raise it. hmmm, a name comes to mind.

i also agree with toni, and being a cabinet maker, i feel all cabinets should be given the chance to look there best, no matter what room they are in.

thanks for sharing the facelift
chris
 
Wow Marty! Not only does the pantry look great, the amount of work is dizzying! Very nice. And the garden looks like it's in full swing! Canning all of that is a lot of work.

Wes
 
Ditto what Larry said!

That is a ton of heat there. Does Denise where a gas mask? ;)

Marty those shelves and cabinets look wonderful!

Joe

Joe,

Tonight I put up 12 pints of Hot Pepper Relish... and it may be the best ever "Hot Pepper Relish".

No gloves or gas mask required... :)

I sampled some of the remaining relish that was left over and it is awesome:thumb:

I'm going to give some jars to some of our neighbors who said they like 'HOT' peppers. Not sure they are ready for my relish...:rofl::rofl::rofl:

Denise
 
Great Googly Moogly,

I know I got a late start on my garden out here in the west, but that many peppers AND a watermelon already!

Wow!

Oh, and the cabinets are ok too, I guess.... :D (Just Kidding)

Oh, With that many peppers, I'd recommend doing some poppers. Had a recipe for a sausage and cream cheese filling, then you bread them and fry them.

We had a bumper crop of peppers a few years ago and did a production job and froze a bunch. Always a nice appetizer to put together for a spicy meal....
 
The cabinets came out looking sweet, Marty.

Denise, I grew up in chile territory in New Mexico, but I never did acquire a taste for the super hot stuff. Fresh-roasted Hatch Green is my ideal chile. It's comparatively low on the Scoville heat scale, but real high on the McMillan taste scale. :) Unfortunately, I can't get it here in SoCal, so I have to settle for bringing some back to California with me on my occasional trips back to the old stomping grounds.
 
Marsha (LOML) does all of our canning and freezing - and I can say the amount of time and work that goes into the stuff ON the shelves is immense. My hat's off to you both!

Wes

I do try to help, but usually get in her way.:eek:
 
Everything just looks so good!

Marty, the cabinets are way, WAY better than most people have anywhere in their houses, great job, as usual! :thumb:

Denise, that is a lot of work, but boy are you going to enjoy all of fruits (OK Peppers) of you labor :D

We only get "Sweet" relish over here in Japan :(
 
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