How to Choose a Pantry Cupboard for Your Kitchen
A kitchen pantry cupboard is one of those purchases that seems straightforward until you’re actually standing in the store trying to decide. Most customers who come to us have already decided they want a pantry — but they’re not sure which type suits their kitchen, what size they actually need, or where it should go.
Getting this right before you buy your kitchen cabinets matters. A pantry that doesn’t fit the space, clashes with your existing cabinetry, or opens the wrong way in a tight kitchen is an expensive problem to fix after the fact.
At Ross’s, we carry pantry cupboards, pull-out pantries, and pantry toppers — all from the one range, designed to work together. The right choice depends on your kitchen size, your layout, how many people use the kitchen daily, and how much you actually need to store.
This guide covers all of it — what each type is, how to size one correctly, configuration options, and how to match your pantry to the rest of your kitchen.
What Is a Pantry Cupboard?
A pantry is a dedicated storage space for food, dry goods, and kitchen supplies. In most modern Australian homes, that means a tall cupboard rather than a separate room — either freestanding or built into the kitchen cabinetry.
A pantry cupboard is a specific type of tall kitchen cupboard. It’s different from your overhead wall cupboards or base cabinets — it runs floor-to-ceiling or close to it, and it’s designed primarily for food storage rather than cookware or appliances. If you want a clearer picture of how pantry cupboards differ from other kitchen storage, our Kitchen Cupboards vs Cabinets article covers that in detail.
As for whether every kitchen needs one — not strictly, but most kitchens benefit from having dedicated pantry storage. Without it, food and dry goods end up scattered across multiple overhead cupboards, which makes the kitchen harder to use and harder to keep organised. A pantry consolidates your kitchen storage into one place, which makes a noticeable difference day to day.
There are a few different types to choose from, which I’ll cover in the next section. If you’re already across the basics and trying to decide between a standard cupboard and a pull-out, our Pull Out Pantry vs Pantry Cupboard guide covers that comparison in full.
Types of Pantry Cupboards
Ross’s pantry range covers three main options. Which one suits you depends on how your kitchen is set up and how you use it.
Hinged Pantry Cupboards
This is the standard option — a tall, single-door cupboard with fixed and adjustable shelving inside. The door hinge is reversible, so it can open left or right depending on your layout. Two units placed side by side create a double pantry, with both doors opening from the centre. It’s a clean, practical setup that works well in most kitchens.
Pull Out Pantry Cupboards
Same footprint as the standard cupboard, but with an internal pull-out mechanism that brings everything to you. Nothing gets pushed to the back and forgotten. It costs a little more, but in a kitchen that gets used every day, the convenience is worth it.
Pantry Toppers
Pantry toppers are wall-mounted upper cabinets that sit above a base unit or kitchen bench. They’re available in 45cm single door (left or right hand), 60cm double door, and 80cm double door. What makes them particularly useful is that they’re not limited to new kitchens — you can add a topper to an existing bench section later as a standalone storage upgrade. If your kitchen is short on vertical storage, a topper is often the simplest fix.
What Size Pantry Cupboard Do I Need?
Sizing is where many customers get tripped up — usually because they assume they need more width than they actually do.
How Wide Is a Pantry Cupboard?
Our pantry cupboards are 45cm wide, which fits neatly into most kitchen runs without disrupting the existing layout. If you need more capacity, two 45cm units side by side create a 90cm double pantry — both doors opening from the centre if the hinges are set correctly. For the topper above, you have more flexibility: they’re available in 45cm, 60cm, and 80cm widths, so you’re not locked into matching the base exactly.
How Tall Is a Pantry Cupboard?
The pantry cupboard stands 2050mm tall, or 2200mm with the adjustable feet fitted. Pantry toppers are 1330mm high. Stacked together, that’s a significant run of storage — worth measuring against your ceiling clearance before ordering, particularly in older Perth homes where ceiling heights vary.
How Tall Is a Pantry Cupboard?
Both the pantry cupboards and toppers are 580mm deep, which sits flush with most standard kitchen bench runs and integrates cleanly with adjacent cabinetry.
I’ve had plenty of customers come in convinced they needed a wider unit, only to find a 45cm cupboard with a topper gave them more storage than they expected. That extra vertical height adds up quickly once you start filling it.
Pantry Cupboard Configuration Options
Ross’s pantry range is more flexible than it looks on paper. Before you finalise your setup, it’s worth understanding what’s actually possible.
Can You Reverse a Pantry Cupboard Door?
Every pantry cupboard in the range has a reversible hinge, so the door can open to the left or right. It sounds like a small detail, but it matters in a tight kitchen where a door swinging the wrong way creates a problem every single time you use it.
How to Create a Double Pantry
Two 45cm cupboards, side by side — with hinges on the outside edges — create a double pantry where both doors open from the centre. It looks integrated rather than like two separate units, and it gives you considerably more storage without needing a wider single cupboard that may not exist in a standard range.
Can You Add a Pantry Topper to an Existing Kitchen?
Toppers aren’t limited to sitting above a pantry cupboard. They can go above any base cabinet or kitchen bench section, which makes them useful for staged renovations — buy the base now, add the topper later when the budget allows. It’s an easy way to extend your kitchen storage without touching the layout below.
Handles and Finishes
The range comes in 3 handle designs across 5 finishes, all matched to our kitchen cabinetry range. If you’re buying a full kitchen, choose everything to match. If you’re adding a standalone pantry to an existing kitchen, match the finish to your current doors as closely as possible — a pantry that coordinates with your cabinetry looks intentional, one that doesn’t will always draw the eye.
Where to Position Your Pantry Cupboard
Where you put your pantry affects how your whole kitchen flows — and it’s something I see customers get wrong more often than almost anything else in a kitchen renovation.
A few placement rules worth following:
- Beside the fridge: this is the most practical position for most kitchens. It keeps all your food-related storage in one place, making cooking and unpacking groceries easier.
- At the end of a kitchen run: a pantry at the end of a bench run stays accessible without interrupting your prep space or bench flow.
- Away from the cooktop and oven: heat and steam aren’t ideal next to stored food. If your only option is near the cooktop, factor that in when deciding what to store inside.
- Watch the door swing: a pantry door that opens into a walkway, or collides with the fridge or oven door, is one of the most common mistakes I see. Map out the swing before you commit to a position — and remember the hinge is reversible if you need to change the direction.
- For toppers: mount them above a base cabinet or existing bench section. A topper floating on an otherwise empty wall looks out of place and loses the visual connection to the rest of the kitchen.
If you’re still planning your kitchen layout, our guide on how to arrange kitchen cabinets for optimal functionality is worth a read.
How to Match Your Pantry to the Rest of Your Kitchen
Getting the finish right matters more than most people expect. A pantry that doesn’t coordinate with the rest of your cabinetry will always stand out — and not in a good way.
Our pantry cupboards come in gloss white, which suits most modern Australian kitchens and matches our broader kitchen cabinet range. Where personalisation happens is in the handles — there are 3 styles to choose from, so you can match or complement your existing tapware and hardware with ease.
If you’re buying a full kitchen, choose your handles at the same time as the rest of the kitchen to keep it consistent. If you’re adding a pantry to an existing kitchen, the gloss white finish works in most cases — it’s a neutral that rarely clashes. The same applies to toppers: keep the handle style consistent between the base cupboard and the topper above it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Conclusion
The right pantry cupboard comes down to your kitchen size, your layout, and how the unit fits with everything else in the room. Getting the type, size, and position right before you buy is what separates a pantry that works from one you end up working around.
Ross’s stocks a wide range of pantry cupboards in-store and online — including the standard hinged cupboard, pull-out pantry, and pantry toppers. Browse our range of pantry cupboards to see what’s available, and if budget is front of mind, our guide on affordable pantry cupboards is worth a look before you decide.
