Walk-In Pantry–Day 2

The day began with Phil finishing the fitting of the new quadrant along the side of the floor to make everything neat, and then he began on the frame for the door, and for the top of the pantry.

The door is made from a full-length end panel which Phil was able to find still available at Howdens – it’s a really good match. He also fitted a matching handle.

The door has soft-closing hinges and it opens wider than 90 degrees, which is exactly what I wanted, making access easier.

He moved my spice rack from the utility room, which was the only place available for it, and not very conveniently situated, to the right-hand side of the pantry. A much better location for it!

Phil is very conscientious about tidying up and I was highly amused to catch him in the act of hoovering the garden!! Had to get a photo of that – I’d never seen anyone doing that before! He had made a lot of sawdust out there – he had his bench set up out there to prevent too much dust in the house.

We had some discussion today about the shelves – how many, how to fix them, whether or not they should be height-adjustable. In the end we decided on the simple option of having them fixed – it will be easier to do, and will look better. I am going to get out some sample items tomorrow so that he can judge how far apart they should be. There are going to be a good number of narrow shelves along the left-hand side, and fewer, deeper ones at the back. The central one will be a granite slab. Phil is going to make a template for this, and he has spoken to the supplier and we can visit them and choose what we want.

I have also had a word with our neighbour Gary, who is going to call in tomorrow afternoon and arrange a time to come and do some painting, hopefully over the weekend.

Phil has patched up a few bits – he boxed in the space above the new pantry where the top cupboard went right up to the picture rail; unfortunately there is now some dead space up there but it would be very inaccessible so I don’t mind – its loss is more than compensated for by the additional space below – much more than in the old cupboard. There is a missing section of picture rail that needs replacing. He said he would also try and source some more of the Howden’s cornice so that it continues right across the top of the double oven unit and over the new pantry, but it may not be possible to obtain this as the kitchen is no longer in their catalogue.

Tomorrow he will be working on the side panel to the right of the door, and fit the shelves. He is going to add some small shelves inside the panel – no point wasting that space, is there! The finished space will be quite narrow but manageable.

So far I am very thrilled with it. It’s lovely to see so much progress made, and to visualise how it will be when completed. Hopefully we’ll be able to get the granite slab next week, and in the meantime I shall be able to start moving some things back into the kitchen. I am anxious to get everything sorted before we get the kittens at the end of the month.

So much to look forward to!