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WHY would you want a Butler's Pantry???

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For homeowners who love to entertain, a butler’s pantry is the perfect station for caterers and chefs to set up shop for the last stages of preparing meals and pouring fine wines. The return of the butler’s pantry brings back the function of yesteryear with a 21st century twist of luxury design.

Quote is from this blog.

I have no need for a butler's pantry as am downsizing dishes, etc. and don't entertain with caterers and chefs. I wanted a food pantry in this house but would have had to give up my large kitchen window so chose to do without the pantry. Maybe next house.

Purely my own opinion and I may be cynical but I think things such as butler's pantries are status symbols for some people. Unless they come in an old house where this was a common architectural feature. I'd love one then altho don't know what I'd put in all the cupboards.

I love old houses -- big old houses -- far bigger (and some far older than Linderhof). I love the rabbit warren of rooms that comprise the kitchen in these homes!

The Butler's Pantry is the place to wash and store china, silver and glass. A smallish room with cabinets and sink (and now I'm sure a dishwasher) and large drawers for tablecloths.

The kitchen is just that -- a food only preparation area so that unlike the kitchens we all have where the cabinet to the right of the sink holds dishes while the cabinet to the left of the sink holds food! It's all food!!!

And . . . besides the kitchen I would love to have a larder where you can store lots of food and cooking equipment . . .

I saw a set up like that once in a magazines -- (the three rooms that make up the kitchen) I coveted it.

Martha

We have a house with two laundry rooms that are 72" wide each. The second one is furthest away from the kitchen so the previous owners took out the doorway of that back hall and made it a laundry room. Now the center 72" room is going to be my Butler's pantry. It actually will hold the refrigerator and pantry and 72" sink area under a window.

This gives me a place to process food such as herbs and vegetables without tying up the main kitchen sink.

My SIL had a butler's pantry in her CT home and used it was a wine storage and for storing serving dishes.

I would adore having a butlers pantry for all my china and silver. My nephew I mentioned in another thread who builds houses has one in his house (which he built) it is between their beautiful kitchen and their dining room.

When my parents bought their first owned house right after WW2, it had two pantries off a large kitchen. I loved those rooms with all their built ins including, a flour bin. Since I was not allowed to make any suggestions (LOL) they did many things I did not approve of. I would have kept those pantries.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: lady of shallot,

I would personally love a butler's pantry to store my home-canned jars of food!!!

I grew up in a neighborhood where many if not most of the houses had butler's pantries. However, the way people live now has changed radically since I was a child. Martha of Linderhof entertains frequently, she could certainly use one but how many people actually entertain often enough or use caterers to warrant having one???

I do not have a butler's pantry because I live in a house built in the 1970's. I would not need one because I have a large kitchen with a lot of cabinets When I replaced the hardware, I had to buy 94 pulls for the kitchen and breakfast room.

Recently my 40 year old niece was over. She told me that I needed to have a professional kitchen planner redo my kitchen which WAS done professionally back in the late 1980's. It was her opinion that I should tear out most of my kitchen cabinets and have just plain walls. I was rather surprised because I thought most people want a lot of cabinets in their kitchen. It was one of the things that sold me on this house.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Love, Lu,

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When I replaced the hardware, I had to buy 94 pulls for the kitchen and breakfast room.

Well, see, that's why I don't have a place for my home-canned foods. I only need 50 pulls, and many of those are doubled on a wide drawer.

I need a bigger kitchen with more cabinets!!!

This is why I am planning on putting cabinets or shelves in the garage for MY stuff--not car or typical garage stuff. Seasonal dishware, my canning gear, empty jars, etc... all the things I'd store in a butler's pantry if I had one. Or a kitchen with a million cabinets.
.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Indexlady,

For 28 years in my last house, I kept my good dishes and canned goods in the basement.

NOW, however, because I NEVER entertain or use any of it, I kind of wish I had never acquired all this stuff. It certainly is NOT worth the expense of buying a larger house or building on to accommodate it:::::laughing::::::::

I would LOVE to have a Butler's Pantry (and the butler to go with it). More storage is always a good thing, and I foresee turning it into a bit of a wine bar as well as a food gathering area for the holiday dinners. I don't see these as status symbols but good sense and smart use of space rather.

I would love to have one- tired of having to get extra dishes, serving pieces from wherever I stored them. We have a large circle of friends and entertain rather frequently in our home.

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Originally posted by Indexlady:

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When I replaced the hardware, I had to buy 94 pulls for the kitchen and breakfast room.

Well, see, that's why I don't have a place for my home-canned foods. I only need 50 pulls, and many of those are doubled on a wide drawer.

I need a bigger kitchen with more cabinets!!!

.

I only had to buy 21 pulls!!!! That's why I REALLY need a Butler's Pantry!!!

Martha

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Originally posted by Linderhof:

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Originally posted by Indexlady:

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When I replaced the hardware, I had to buy 94 pulls for the kitchen and breakfast room.

Well, see, that's why I don't have a place for my home-canned foods. I only need 50 pulls, and many of those are doubled on a wide drawer.

I need a bigger kitchen with more cabinets!!!

.

I only had to buy 21 pulls!!!! That's why I REALLY need a Butler's Pantry!!!

Martha

15 here! And that includes the ironing board cabinet! I agree with whoever stated that the original old ones (in old houses) are the best and I would love one...as well as the space to put it. DD2 has one and it's mostly used as a great big junk drawer! You have to walk through it to get from the back door to the kitchen, so it's a landing area for everything...purses, keys, phones...not so good.

Oh I would LUV to have one, just to store all my serveware and glassware. DH built a wall to wall library with a server and drawers in the dining room so that's the closest thing I'm getting to a butlers pantry. It added 19 feet of countertop for serving.
I'll post photos as soon as we're finished which should be today!

I surely do not need one but would love to have one!!!

I feel blessed to have a walk in pantry tho I wouldn't call it a butler's pantry. I agree...extra storage, particularly adjacent to the kitchen, is a plus in my book and you can never have too much storage space.

I'd even take a walk in closet! I'm just imagining having more dishes and not going to the basement every time I want a crock pot.

The house I grew up in (built in the late 19th century) had a butler's pantry. That's where the good china, glassware, etc. was stored and for big meals it was a useful "landing place" for platters of food, etc. My mother kept large serving platters and the like there - stuff not used routinely but that needed to be kept somewhere.

Ours didn't have a sink - just a countertop area, glass-fronted cabinets above, and cabinets below.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: azul99,

My kitchen is large enough, and has enough storage and counterspace, that I don't need or want a butler's pantry. Moreover, I don't entertain very large groups, so I don't have -- or need -- tons of serving pieces, stemware, dinnerware and flatware.

But, in the right circumstances, a butler's pantry is indeed a lovely and functional asset in one's home.

lol, comparing pulls. Well, I have 30 but 2 do not count as they are at the sink area and only store a couple of little things like pot scrubbers.

It would be a waste for us to have a butlers pantry but I would love to have a pantry for storage. We entertain but not often enough to ever have a need for a butlers pantry, nor would we be able to afford the luxury of catering. Sure wish I could though since I hate cooking.

Took me a while but I put together a collage of what my pantry will be like when we get to working on it. I hope it will be done by Fall. We plan on remodeling the kitchen, but I want this portion done first, that way we will have a sink to fall back on while the other main kitchen is being worked on.

Some of you may remember for a MMF post I showed this Elkay sink I found on Craigslist. I was thrilled to get a stainless sink and counter as one seamless piece. I can't wait to process my herbs in this sink! I am choosing the sprayer faucet to go with the sink. And I want some vegetable basket drawers for one of the cabinets, and another to store all strainers.

I want white subway tile as backsplash, so all will be water tight for those splashes that happen when spraying! I will have FUN playing in this sink!

This will also be a great station to cut flowers as well!

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I only had to buy 21 pulls!!!! That's why I REALLY need a Butler's Pantry!

five here! Oops made a mistake it is 4 on the base cabinets and 2 up above!

But we all know don't we that if a 25 yr old on house hunters saw my kitchen they would fall over in a dead faint that any AMERican kitchen could look like this!

But those 25 year olds on House Hunters have no intention of every paying off their mortgage::::smile::::::

I've often wondered if those young people aren't a set up. They turn up their noses at houses that people my age work for years to afford. No wonder so many houses are in foreclosure.

I would love one in an older house and if it were possible, maybe sneak one in when we remodel.

BUT... We were on a Parade of Homes tour a few weeks ago and a home in our area was open to tour. Completely gutted and remodeled, opened up and the living/kitchen had been converted into a great room. The kitchen consisted of a small galley facing the LR but with a big "butler's pantry" on the backside of the galley.

Sure it was pleasing to the eye - VERY high style and I'll admit a smart design to the pantry, but what I can't understand is this: If you don't want to see the "working guts" of a kitchen, WHY design it to be open concept? Maybe they have a full time chef but don't want to see him?

Love, Lu,
I hear you on that one! They have to make a show that young people will watch. Too bad it gives the wrong advice for life... Reality bites!

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Recently my 40 year old niece was over. She told me that I needed to have a professional kitchen planner redo my kitchen which WAS done professionally back in the late 1980's. It was her opinion that I should tear out most of my kitchen cabinets and have just plain walls. I was rather surprised because I thought most people want a lot of cabinets in their kitchen. It was one of the things that sold me on this house.

Chalk her suggestions up to youthful exuberance. Many of my younger clients want a commercial style kitchen with stainless shelves instead of upper cabinets. In a restaurant kitchen it makes total sense since they go through hundreds of plates in one night. I like mine behind closed doors from a cleanliness standpoint. Even though we keep our place clean, dust is inevitable and I would rather not have it land on my dinner plates and wine glasses. When I point that out, along with the fact they are giving up storage, most of them come around. Don't get me wrong, in the right size kitchen with the right kind of home it can look great.

If we were building our dream home, a butler's pantry would be at the top of our wish list.

Cavin,
So well said!

We use ours as a coffee bar and where we keep the dogs food and treats. We have a sink and an under cabinet microwave in there as well. Love ours!