The Pantry is Back
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 10. 5.07
Kitchen cabinets are expensive, particularly if you buy them formaldehyde free with a green counter. Yet storage is at a premium if you plan on canning fruits and vegetables or laying in supplies of root vegetables for the winter. According to Paula Robinson of the Telegraph, "The pantry is definitely making a comeback as interest in healthy, organic eating grows. It is essential to making the most of your crop if you have a vegetable garden or an allotment." She continues "The location of your walk-in pantry is important. Tradition and practicality call for a dry, cool and dark place so, unfortunately, it can't do double duty as the utility room. Site it well away from the oven, fridge freezer, or washing machine, and ensure that it has a solid door that seals shut."
It doesn't have to be doilied up and made so cutesy-pie as the one shown- it is a closet for food rather than a cabinet. We no longer have armoires for our clothes but have put them in closets; why not do the same with food, so that we can store lots of it cheaply in a more controlled environment and can just walk in and see what we have? ::Telegraph
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a pantry isn't a good place to store root vegetables for any real amount of time. root veggies on the whole prefer a cold, humid environment that that sort of pantry can't provide.
Pantries also have the benefit of making your food more visible so that you can use what you have more effectively rather than it getting lost way in the back of a cupboard.
A good side addition, put up curtains over your pantry shelves. It keeps the dust of things more and also cuts down on how much light hits your canned foods.
It's a nice inexpensive way to compartmentalize things.