How to Build Pantry Walls Against an Existing Kitchen Wall

Every kitchen can use a pantry aside from the usual kitchen cabinets. A pantry is a good place to store soups and other canned goods and dry goods such as pasta, rice, sugar, baking powder, flour, and mixes. Having a pantry allows you to take advantage of sales to build up a stockpile of food to help you through hard times. Add doors and everything is shut away from public view. Even a small kitchen can accommodate a pantry.

Measuring tape
Marking pencil
2-by-2-inch framing studs
Power screwdriver
2 3/4-inch wood screws
1/2-inch plywood sheets
3/8-inch plywood boards
1/8-inch plywood or trim sheet
Power saw
Wood level

Instructions

- 1
  
  Store your dry goods in plastic bags.
  
  Plan first what you want to store in your pantry. Aside from cans, jars and dry goods, you might want a place to store unused pots, pans and a slow cooker. Find a spare section of wall and measure it for height, width and potential depth. If you are setting your pantry next to kitchen cabinets, the standard depth for base cabinets is 24 inches. You can build your pantry cabinet to be 24 inches deep or less. In most designs, a pantry cabinet will look best at the end of a run of cabinets or by itself on another wall.
- 2
  
  Measure your framing studs precisely and cut to size.
  
  Saw your 2-by-2-inch framing studs to meet the dimensions of a pantry cabinet. This example is for a 48-by-24-by-84-inch pantry. Saw two vertical studs cut to 82 3/4 inches and two horizontal studs cut to 42 3/4 inches each. Saw and pull away 48 inches of floor molding from the wall where your cabinet will be installed. Place the bottom 42 3/4-inch stud flat against the exact middle of the bottom wall where the molding was pulled out, about 3/4 inches off the floor, where the cabinet will slide in underneath. Screw in the stud with wood screws every three inches across. Measure up to where the top 42 3/4-inch stud will sit at the top on the wall and set it with two screws for now.
- 3
  Lay one vertical stud up next to the set horizontal studs and check for position with your wood level. If it's level at 180 degrees, set your top screw and one at the bottom. Check your level again and add the rest of your screws every three inches. Repeat the same on the other side with the second vertical stud. When done, you should have an outside rectangular measure of 46 3/4-by-24-by-82 3/4-inches.
- 4
  Assemble your cabinet frame with two 1/2-inch-thick, 24-inch-deep and 84-inch-tall plywood sides and two 1/2-inch-thick, 47-inch-wide and 24-inch-deep plywood bottom and top sheets. The top and bottom planks will sit inside the two side pieces. Screw them together at each top and bottom corner on both sides. Tip the cabinet upright and slide it gently over the stud framing on the wall. It should be an exact fit, maybe a touch tight, with the frame now inside the cabinet against its edges. If it works, pull away the cabinet and finish adding screws every three inches along each connecting edge.
- 5
  Place the cabinet over the wall frame again and gently tap the casing into place against the wall, using a hammer on the edges. Once set, screw your 2 3/4-inch long screws through the inside framing into the cabinet. This will lock the cabinet casing into place. Slide in a 1/2-inch plywood sheet that's 46 1/2 by 82 1/2 inches and set it as the cabinet back. Screw it into place on the rectangular framing studs toward the back wall.
- 6
  Measure the inside of the cabinet to determine the width and depth of your shelving and cut it to size with your saw. Cut as many shelves as you need, then mark their placement on the wall using a pencil and ruler. Glue in a 2-by-2-inch bracer underneath the line, for the total depth of the shelving, let it dry, then screw it into the cabinet side walls. Slide on your shelf and nail, or screw it down into the underneath bracers. Repeat this step for each shelf you want to install.
- 7
  Cut your 1/8-inch-thick facing plywood to set on the edge of the inside face of the cabinet. This can also pass as a finishing trim for your cabinet if you don't want to add doors. Cut two 1/8-inch sheets at 1-by-84-inch vertical strips and two 1/8-inch sheets at 1-by-46-inch top and bottom facing strips. Set the sides first with wood glue, flush to the cabinet edges, then nail them into place with finishing screws. Set the top and bottom facing trims just inside the vertical trims, glue them to the edge, then nail it into place with finishing nails. Stain or paint your cabinet to finish this project.

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