PULL-OUT PANTRY
Custom Pull-Out Pantry Cabinets
A pull out pantry is a tall, narrow built-in cabinet with full-extension shelves that glide out to bring every item into view — most units run just 6 to 18 inches wide. Dream Spaces designs, builds and installs custom pull-out pantries across Barrie, the GTA and southern Ontario, sized to your exact kitchen.
What Is a Pull-Out Pantry and How Does It Work?
A pull out pantry is built around one piece of engineering: full-extension runners mounted to the cabinet sides or base, carrying a frame of shelves that rolls completely out of the cabinet. You stand beside the open unit and see both sides of every shelf at once — nothing expires at the back, because there is no back you can’t see.
Pull-outs earn their keep in the spaces standard cabinetry wastes. The slim gap beside your fridge or range becomes a spice and oil station. A dead run of deep cupboard becomes storage you actually use. If what you need is a full floor-to-ceiling storage wall rather than slide-out hardware, our custom pantry cabinets page covers that build; plenty of kitchens end up with both.
Here’s what homeowners most often ask us to design pull-outs for:
- Spices, oils and condiments within arm’s reach of the range
- Canned goods and dry staples, visible in one pass
- Baking sheets, trays and cutting boards stored vertically
- Cleaning supplies in a base pull-out near the sink
- Recycling and waste bins hidden behind a cabinet front
How Wide Should a Pull-Out Pantry Cabinet Be?
Most pull-out pantries fall between 6 and 18 inches wide, and the right width comes down to three things: the opening in your cabinet run, what you plan to store, and the weight the hardware must carry every day. Wider isn’t automatically better — a fully loaded 18-inch unit can carry well over a hundred pounds, so the runner class matters as much as the shelf space.
| Width | Best for | Typical runner class | Approximate weight rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 in. | Spices, oils, bottles | Standard side-mount | Up to about 30 kg (66 lb) |
| 9 in. | Canned goods, jars | Standard side-mount | Up to about 30 kg (66 lb) |
| 12 in. | Dry goods, cereals, baking supplies | Standard or heavy-duty | 30–45 kg (66–100 lb) |
| 15 in. | Bulk staples, small-appliance overflow | Heavy-duty | 45–60 kg (100–130 lb) |
| 18 in. | Full pantry loads, mixed storage | Heavy-duty full-extension | Up to about 70 kg (154 lb) |
Because every Dream Spaces unit is custom, you’re not limited to catalogue sizes — we build the pull-out to your opening, not the other way around. And if the pull-out is part of a bigger rethink, our custom kitchen cabinets team designs slide-out storage into the cabinet run from the first drawing rather than retrofitting it later.
What Hardware Keeps Slide-Out Pantry Shelves Gliding for Decades?
The shelves are the easy part — the runners decide whether your slide-out pantry shelves still glide smoothly in fifteen years. Quality runners are rated by load class and cycle life; the difference between builder-grade and premium hardware is a drawer that sags in three years versus one that outlasts the kitchen.
A useful benchmark: Blum, one of the industry’s most-referenced hardware manufacturers, publishes that its hinge testing runs to 200,000 opening and closing cycles — decades of daily kitchen use. That’s the benchmark worth holding any pull-out hardware to: full-extension runners matched to the real load, with soft-close dampers so a loaded pantry never slams shut.
Hardware is one layer of a bigger system. How the pull-out relates to your drawers, corners and tall storage is covered on our custom kitchen storage page — the runner class only matters if the whole layout works.
Why Choose a Custom Pull-Out Pantry Over a Big-Box Unit?
An off-the-shelf pull-out is built for a standard opening, and your kitchen almost never has one. Fillers, bulkheads, out-of-square walls and existing cabinet runs all conspire against catalogue sizes. A custom pull-out pantry is measured, designed and built for your actual cabinet — so the unit sits flush, the runners run level, and the whole assembly is anchored to carry its rated load.
It also matters who builds it. Dream Spaces is a Canadian family-owned company — Todd and Trish Clifford have been designing and building custom storage in Barrie, Ontario for more than 10 years. Your pull-out pantry is designed, built and installed by our own team, never subcontractors, and it’s backed by a lifetime structural warranty. Canadian-owned and Canadian-made, unlike the major US franchise brands.
How Much Does a Custom Pull-Out Pantry Cost?
There’s no honest flat price — four factors move the number: the width and height of the unit, the hardware class your load demands, whether we’re fitting into existing cabinetry or building the cabinet as well, and the finish you choose. A slim spice pull-out in an existing opening and an 18-inch heavy-duty pantry in a brand-new cabinet are very different projects.
That’s why the design consultation is free: we measure your kitchen, work out what your storage actually needs to carry, and give you a real number for your project — not a bracket designed to get a phone call.
FAQ
Pull-Out Pantry Questions, Answered
Can a pull-out pantry be added to my existing kitchen cabinets?
Yes, in most kitchens. Every Dream Spaces pull-out pantry is custom-built, so we design the unit to the exact opening in your existing cabinet run rather than forcing a standard size to fit. During the free design consultation we measure the opening and confirm the cabinet can carry the loaded weight.
What's the difference between a pull-out pantry and slide-out pantry shelves?
A pull-out pantry is a single tall unit — the whole cabinet interior glides out as one piece on full-extension runners. Slide-out pantry shelves are individual rolling shelves fitted inside a cabinet, each pulling out on its own. Pull-outs suit narrow openings from 6 to 18 inches wide; individual slide-out shelves suit wider cabinets where you want shelf-by-shelf access.
How much weight can a pull-out pantry hold?
It depends on the runner class. Standard side-mount runners are typically rated around 30 kg (66 lb) per unit, while heavy-duty full-extension runners carry up to roughly 70 kg (154 lb). A custom build matches the hardware to what you’ll actually store — canned goods and small appliances weigh more than most people expect, which is why the runners should be matched to your real storage list.
Do pull-out pantries work in small kitchens?
They’re at their best in small kitchens. A pull-out turns spaces too narrow for a usable cupboard — like the 6-inch filler gap beside a fridge or range — into genuinely useful storage for spices, oils and trays. Because the unit glides out into the room, you get full access to every shelf without the clearance a hinged pantry door demands.
READY TO START?
Book Your Free Design Consultation
If a pull out pantry would end the daily archaeology in your cupboards, let’s design one for your kitchen. Visit us at 73 Saunders Rd in Barrie, call 705-315-9169, or book your free design consultation online. We design, build and install across Barrie, the GTA and southern and central Ontario.
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