I love long walks on the beach, sunsets, chardonnay, and pantries. Yes, pantries! In fact they are one of my most favorite rooms in a house (if you can find a house with one). I’m not talking about the closet you call a pantry. I’m talking about a full on walk-in or walk-through butler’s pantry. My grandparents had an amazing one that connected their kitchen and dining room, and living in Newport, there are so many homes that still have them. When we were looking to buy a house, I swear we saw places that were in shambles, but if they had a beautiful old pantry, I was sold. Unfortunately, the rational side of my brain and my husband won, and we ended up in a home sans pantry. However, I’ve got some back to back closets in the kitchen and dining room that in my dreams will be busted through to create a small pantry. But while I wait for that dream to become a reality, I thought I’d peruse the world for some other inspiring pantries so that I could live vicariously through their home owners, and here’s what I found.

While a pantry can be used to store food, it’s really best suited to store china, serving pieces, and linens in an organized and well displayed manner. I love this pantry which was converted from a ho-hum office space into a chic and elegant space.

However, pantries don’t have to be all about the glamor, they are equally as appealing when rustic.

Of course, when you add a sink, wine fridge, dishwasher or any other amenities they get a little sexier.

Of course when you are storing food in the pantry, it helps when it is as beautifully organized as this and has a fun entrance.

Ironically, one of our C & B readers and amazing DIYer and decorator Dani happened to just be finishing up her new pantry this week which she shared with us. This space used to be a bathroom off the kitchen, but since she has another bathroom on her first floor she chose to turn it into a pantry. I love the open shelving and the combination of having it be great storage for everything from platters and bowls to food (the clementines in a bowl look amazing, but don’t the oreos look even more delicious in a glass jar than a plastic package), and it’s also a workspace where she can keep her small appliances off the counter in the kitchen. This is a great solution for the modern family.

Imagine if you could even fit your full size fridge in the pantry! And I love the open baskets on the bottom shelf too.

Maybe I could have one pantry for food and one for dishware and glasses? That’s not overkill, is it?

Yes, I would even very happily take this old-school pantry. I mean besides it’s sheer size, look at all those glass cabinets and the latches on the doors. Really, why did they ever stop putting these in houses on a regular basis.

*Sigh*

Some day one of these will be mine.

Image sources:  Willow Decor, Willow Decor, Decorology, Old House Online, Country Living, Danielle Braun, , Org Options, Hooked on Houses