4 Butler’s Pantry Design Considerations

These days, it’s not hard to see the appeal of having extra space in your home close to the kitchen that can not only add plenty of room for storage but can act as a secondary prep area as well as be used for somewhere to store mess out of sight mid-dinner party.

If a butler’s pantry is something that grabs your interest whilst mapping out  renovation or new build plans for your home, here are four of our top tips to take into consideration when planning your dream Butler's Pantry. 

Think about where you can save money

While a butler’s pantry is a useful addition to any kitchen, you shouldn’t break the bank just to add one in your home. Consider some cost-effective ways to make sure you’re getting everything you need in the space without overspending. One tip is to save on materials. Since the butler's pantry isn’t on display like your kitchen, you can use budget-friendly options and shave dollars off your overall renovation budget. For example, consider using laminate, sealed timber or engineered stone countertops in this space. These are more cost-effective than other finishes, like a natural stone benchtop but can still look great and be colour-matched to your kitchen bench for consistency. Open shelving, opposed to built in cabinetry, is also practical and a good way to save. An added bonus is this type of storage in a butler’s pantry is simple to organise and provides easy access to kitchen supplies.

Utilise shallow open shelving and organisational jars

Use shallow shelving to save on floor space and create an organised, yet functional space for all your day-to-day and also one-off kitchen and entertaining needs. If you’ve ever fallen down the rabbit hole of watching TikTok videos and Instagram Reels that feature magazine-worthy pantries which have been aesthetically arranged with matching jars, colour-coded and labelled, you’ll understand the appeal of a well-organised butler’s pantry. Make use of the shallow shelving by incorporating glass jars and smaller baskets for items that are regularly used. The addition of Lazy Susan for condiments, jars and bottles will also put an end to some items getting lost or forgotten about all the way at the back.

Include a cavity sliding door in your design

If you are a fan of entertaining friends and family but don’t love them seeing the mess involved in whipping up meals that have your guests drooling, a well-designed butler’s pantry for this purpose could include a cavity sliding door. Not only does it save space by avoiding the need for a swinging door, a cavity sliding door also achieves a cleaner, more seamless look. From a practical standpoint, it makes it so much easier to hide any mess or dirty dishes away just by sliding the door close – particularly if you’ve got a butler’s pantry large enough to incorporate a sink and kitchen prep area into the design. And, if you’ve got open plan shelving and haven’t yet had the chance to organise everything into something that looks neat, hiding the mess is just one door slide away!

Include a small appliance area

It can be easy to think of a butler’s pantry as simply a place to store food and ingredients. However, it is also a very useful and practical area to store small kitchen appliances that are too bulky to sit permanently on your kitchen’s benchtop or take up too much room in kitchen cabinets. Work into your design a small appliance area so you can store away appliances like your toaster, kettle or coffee machine so as to not take up space on your kitchen benchtop. Consider which ones you’ll use regularly (like, the sandwich press if you’re regularly grabbing it to make jaffles) and ones you’ll only need so often (like an ice cream maker which may only come out in summer).