When guests come to visit our new homes we love showing them around. It’s fun to see their reaction to the place we’ve been anticipating living in for so long. Giving friends and relatives a guided tour of the new home is part of the joy of new home ownership.

There’s a space, however, that our guests may never see, which makes a huge impact on life in the home. It’s not flashy or splashy. It’s probably not even very high-tech. But it can make life in the kitchen so much less crowded and so much more enjoyable.

I’m talking about the kitchen pantry. It may not be the first room you think about when considering building a New Jersey home, but it’s one of those spaces that packs a lot of punch per square foot.

As kitchens have become increasingly popular areas for informal social gatherings. Family and friends just seem to congregate in the kitchen. Most of us want our social spaces to look nice, and some of today’s kitchens are spectacular.

It doesn’t take long, however, for a kitchen to get cluttered. It is, after all, still a working space. So how do you contain the clutter? That’s where a pantry is a thing of beauty. You can store packaged foods on the shelves that don’t lend themselves to storage in your kitchen cabinets. And if you have somewhat larger appliances (bread machines, or large mixers, for instance) that you don’t use every day, they can be stored in the pantry instead of taking up counter space.

There’s also a convenience factor. It’s much easier to find what you’re looking for when you can walk into a pantry and look around instead of trying to peer to the back of a dark cabinet. The space in a pantry also allows you to buy in bulk and not worry about where to store everything, and that means fewer trips to the supermarket. If you have a “Butler’s Pantry” you also reap the benefit of extra workspace. Not only does this leave your kitchen countertops free for other items, but it’s tucked away where guests don’t have to see your “works-in-progress.”

If you’d like a pantry in your home, contact a new home advisor at Country Classics. They can help you determine the best floor plan for your lifestyle so that you will have plenty of space to cook and entertain in your kitchen.