Question: Chilled pantry?

[Beth]

My husband and I have been trying to decide how or where to put a wine cooler in our house of 2 years now (after passing on the house with an obvious location but a master bedroom off the utility and garage entry). Both options that leave the walls and other major things in tact (my husband wouldn't give up the shower even if the space is right) involve using the back of our pantry. One is to buy a unit that is similar to a small refrigerator and assemble it inside the pantry (the pantry has a narrow door). That's easy and involves moving a couple of shelves.

The other is to weatherstip the pantry door, put it on spring hinges so the door stays closed, build racking into the back of the pantry and chill the entire pantry. This would not cost any more, maybe less, and it would give more flexible use of the space and possibly more wine storage. However, we don't know what it would do for the food stored in there. It would not be as cold as a refrigerator, just cool. Would that be good for the food, bad for food storage or no big deal either way?

Any thoughts?

[eloise forever]

Do you think the second option would be subtantially cooler than the average grocery store? I am always freezing in there and that temp does not seem to affect the food. Just a thought.

I think it is a fabulous idea. Wish I could have something like that. First, though, I wish I had a PANTRY, much less a wine refrigeration system! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif

[This message has been edited by eloise forever (edited 02-12-2001).]

[tovie]

I turned what was, I guess, sort of the coat closet in the entryway into a pantry. It's on the outside wall and it gets pretty chilly out there, although it doesn't freeze, in the winter (I live in Michigan). I keep all my canned goods and boxed stuff like pasta/cereal/crackers out there and I've never had a problem.

Some stuff does sort of set up or gel a little because of the cold (coconut milk goes solid, cond soup comes out of the can in one piece, no scraping the side) but it's not really a big deal. And it conveniently chills my canned fruit for me (g) I don't like warm or room temp fruit.

Tovie

[lindrusso]

Beth -

My BIL just put in a wine cellar in his basement (and then moved to a house with an unfinished basement http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif ) and it was cool, but not super cold. I keep my pantry goods in cabinets out in the garage here in Indiana and my stuff fares just fine in winter. The only problem I have had is with oils becoming solid, but we're talking really cold, so I don't think you'd have that problem.

And boy, his cellar was better stocked than some of wine stores in my town! Have fun with whatever you decide - what a great thing!

[RunnerKim]

This would be great for baking staples such as flour. I wish I had a bigger fridge so I could keep my flours in there. I do a lot of baking and have several different types of flours and other than the basics (all-purpose and bread) I don't go through them very fast.

My parents have a "cool room" in their house - it's built into the ground (part of the basement) and insulated so that it stays cool. They've kept all sort of things in there - potatoes, onions, canned goods etc.

I wouldn't think it would be a problem for most pantry items and for some it would help prolong their shelf life.

Kim

[Beth]

Not sure it would be colder than our grocery store (my son always freezes in there too). Think we just discovered the root of the question. The pantry door is opposite an exterior and a short distance from the door to the garage. Houston's summers can be very humid, and I'm wondering if the cooling units dehumidify. If not, we could get condensation that could make things soggy. And the tile floor dangerous.

I started to suggest that we all gather to drink some wine and look over the options in person. The more we drink and talk, the smaller the problem! Except DH might stand for "departed husband" if we were too successful. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif

We moved here from Sonoma County, CA where we were able to buy cases and futures and we had a huge under stair closet that stayed cool all year round from the foggy nights. We just put in some inexpensive racks and a little insulating material on the exterior wall. Probably a good thing we did move. It was too easy to keep buying morre wine out there.

[Beth]

In case anyone's wondering, I found out the unit we were looking at is supposed to be left 6 inches from the wall and will generate a fair amount of heat from the cooling unit venting into the pantry. Not good for the food storage, so we're back to seeing if we have another spot other than the shower and looking at cooling part or all of the pantry with a built-in, which means leaving it behind someday. Why do I think this is taking on lifetime-goal proportions?

[Beth]

Kelly, one thing we are going to check out is buying a pantry style cabinet, insulating and racking it and putting a cooler on top of it to vent out of the pantry into the air conditioned breakfast room....over the cabinets where it won't be noticed. Let me know if you come up with anything cool or ingenious, no pun intended. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[KellyD]

Beth - we live in Houston too and are going through the exact same dilemna! Our house is 3 years old and we've considered remodeling the kitchen/family room to accomodate a wine cooler. We have a large pantry, but those wine storage units are really deep - as well as putting off heat - and we'll lose alot of storage. I think we've decided to use the under cabinet models. We have a lot of cabinet space under our breakfast bar that isn't really all that well utlizied. But I am also struggling with leaving it behind - but then again, hopefully we'll buy our next house with measurements in hand and won't have this problem! Good luck!