Butler’s Pantry
Table of Contents
The Homeowner’s Guide to Butler’s Pantry
Space is very important when planning a home design. It is even more so when it comes to the kitchen.
Kitchens need several parts to store food and cooking equipment, like cupboards, benches, and shelves.
The Butler’s pantry (also referred to as a scullery) is a particular feature in homes that increases the space and functional efficiency to the next level.
A Butler’s Pantry can be built into your new build or be a part of a rebuild project.
In this piece, we will go through the idea of a Butler’s Pantry, and why your home should have one.
What exactly is a Butler’s Pantry?
Historically, this room was built for the butler to have a separate space where they could handle the messier and time-consuming aspects of the kitchen away from guest’s eyes.
Compared to Walk-in pantries (which are primarily about storage space), they provided a place where utensils were polished, and most food prep was done.
From a design perspective, Butler’s pantry are still an extension of your kitchen, constructed and kept separate from the kitchen complex.
Along with extensive storage features, most include space for a sink as well as appliances.
Why Your Home Deserves a Butler’s Pantry
Here are the most popular reasons homeowners are opting for a Butler’s Pantry at home:
1. Increase the resale value of your home, making it excellent for investment based projects.
2. As it is basically a mini-kitchen, it makes your main kitchen area even better for entertaining friends and family.
3. Increases convenience for mutli-generational families.
4. Provides a hidden space for concealing to hide the mess (like dirty dishes).
5. Extremely well suited to open floor plans.
6. Extra space for food/utensil storage and food staging.
7. Convenient place for bigger, noisier appliances.’
8. Alternative place to cook when hosting parties.
Challenges when building a Butler’s Pantry
Along with the many benefits, there is a self-evident challenge when building a scullery-they require more space and hence are more suitable for a bigger home.
If pressed for space, you can still build one, but that needs extensive planning in the design phase.
Apart from space, building a scullery involves a lot of different techniques.
The joinery, plumbing and designing with multiple materials like steel, wood, brick and stone make it a specialized build.
How Butler’s Pantry’s are Designed
Here are some pertinent factors and how they drive scullery design:
1. Budget: Splurging here means using stone and more finishing work. If you want to contain costs, laminates or melamine may be a better option.
2. Frequency of use: Whether it is a daily use place or reserved for parties makes a big impact on the type of door used, with sliding doors preferred for multi-use and normal doors if they are used minimally and on special occasions.
3. Location: They can be both open or closed from the rest of the home. It is also influenced by the overall home design.
4. Size: This is impacted by point 1, as well as the size of your overall lot.
5. Width of walkway: Should be anywhere from 800 mm to 1000 mm.
6. Appliances: Messy and noisy machine like coffee machines and dishwashers are best placed here, which means space will need to be assigned.
7. Storage and Shelves: Closed spaces are the way to go for food and utensils, whereas open space are chosen for appliances.
Butler’s Pantry Experts in ACT and NSW
At ABM Homes, we have built several striking sculleries as part of our various projects in the two states.
Our project at Whitam Display has an exceptionally designed scullery.
Our team is both experienced and adept at managing space efficiency and functionality.
Contact or visit our expert team today for tailored solutions to making your kitchen experience truly awesome!
Karandeep Singh
Karandeep Singh is the Operations Manager at ABM Homes with diplomas in Project Management and Building and Construction. Off-duty, he's smashing ping pong balls or hitting cricket sixes. A construction geek, he loves untangling concepts for others.
Karandeep Singh is the Operations Manager at ABM Homes with diplomas in Project Management and Building and Construction. Off-duty, he’s smashing ping pong balls or hitting cricket sixes. A construction geek, he loves untangling concepts for others.
