Pantry Lust

I'm on the verge of having almost my "dream" walk-in pantry! Anyone else lust for one?

My new apartment has a very small kitchen in terms of cabinets and counters, but I will improve workability in it with an island I will build when I have time (and there's enough floor space for it), hopefully before Christmas.

The cabinets are new, cheap and few, as is counter space. (I don't even want to talk about the shallow sink and a faucet you cannot get a 4 quart pot under.) Fortunately, there is a large concrete block storage room off the kitchen, and I have done my best to seal the walls, wipe down the overhead floor joists for the floor above (not mine) with clorox, and painted the concrete floor. I now have 8 shelving units (18" x 3') in there so far, and I'm making it a walk-in pantry.

Part of that area will be my home-canned goods and my freezer, but the bulk of it will be the bulk and exotic ingredients... the jars and jars of many, many kinds of pastas, dried beans, a zillion kinds of vinegars, dried mushrooms and other ingredients that I've amassed over recent time (keeping in mind their useability time)... plus more things than I can remember off hand. Space for occasional use pots, pans, baking equipment, espresso pots, slow-cookers, woks, canners... and more, more, more.

I will probably need 4 more of those plastic heavy-duty storage units before I am through, although some of the space will have to be dedicated to other storage like tools just because the apartment is so small.

I guess this is the very best thing about this new and very small space, where I will be cramped in the rest of it... but I WILL have a PANTRY!