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Leaving a home you love is hard, especially one you poured yourself into decorating for five years. After our landlords (not-so) politely asked us to leave our 1930s Mediterranean apartment in Mid-City Los Angeles so they could move in, we relocated to a larger townhome further east. We mourned the Spanish architecture complete with plaster walls, coved ceilings, and original casement windows, but gained more space via an office, eat-in kitchen, and two extra bathrooms. What we didn’t get, however, was a functional pantry.
In our old place, a large laundry area doubled as a pantry with the help of wire shelving units. In the new kitchen, all we had was tall, narrow cabinetry beside the fridge. At first, the pull-out shelves at the bottom seemed promising, but they quickly proved frustrating (I had to take everything out just to access the flour, for instance).
We lived with our cumbersome (and too-small) cabinet pantry for nearly a year before I decided to give our rental space a refresh. Finding a solution for food storage was top of mind, both to make my life as our home’s main cook easier, but also because I had a snack-loving toddler who struggled to reach her raisin boxes. Where would such a thing go, exactly? We were lucky enough to have a breakfast nook with a sliver of open wall that we could dedicate to a free-standing pantry.
At first, I wasn’t sure what I wanted. I scoured Facebook Marketplace for a vintage hutch that could double as a coffee station, but with no outlet nearby, that idea fizzled. My budget was about $500, so I checked stores like IKEA and Target only to find that nothing matched the playful English cottage vibe I had in mind. Space was also a challenge: The nook had to fit a table, chairs, and high chair in addition to the pantry. I measured just 38 inches of wall space and about 16 to 18 inches of depth before things would start to feel overcrowded.
Arnika Fluted Glass Dining Cabinet
That quickly boxed me into narrow-depth cabinets. After selecting a pretty floral blockprint wallpaper from Chasing Paper, I was hoping for something in a green or blue color to complement my palette. Could I find it? A colorful and shallow piece that would be tall enough to fit all my pantry goods? After weeding through a blur of not-quite-right options, almost serendipitously, I found the Arnika Dining Cabinet by AllModern. It ticked every size requirement, came in a rich jewel-toned green, and, best of all, was made of metal and glass instead of particle board. It was slightly over budget at $799, but because it fit perfectly and doubled as a statement piece, we made it work.
The cabinet arrived quickly, though the box was incredibly heavy—it took both my husband and me to drag it inside. Assembly was straightforward though time-consuming, and thankfully, ours arrived dent-free (something reviews had warned about). The standout feature is the thick, fluted glass, which is high quality, beautifully textured, and perfect for disguising the contents inside.
Once assembled, I was surprised at how expensive it looked—easily double or triple the actual price. It’s now a true showstopper in our kitchen. The four wide, shallow shelves fit all my dry goods in a way that’s both organized and accessible. Even my bulky KitchenAid mixer has a home on the bottom shelf. A combination of baskets, clear bins, and riser shelves house bean cans, bags of rice, pasta, bulk-item overflow, and all my three-year-old’s favorite snacks she can now grab herself.
While we don’t plan to live here forever, this cabinet will be easy to repurpose when we move, whether in a dining room, bathroom, or elsewhere. But for now, it’s the perfect landing spot for my baking supplies, no shelf Jenga required.
My Pantry Runner-Ups
Ellerby Freestanding Kitchen Pantry
The deep teal is bold and funky, while the price is hard to beat.
Gayle 3-Drawer China Cabinet
If your budget has more wiggle room, I love the arched shape and combo of drawers and shelves on this cabinet.
Tall Farmhouse Storage Cabinet
The grill design on the front doors keeps things visually airy while still covering up whatever mess or clutter you may have inside.
Fluted Pantry Cabinet
Who doesn’t love a great fluted detail? Tall, slender, and shallow, it’s a great option if you have similar space constraints as I do but want a wood-look option for less.