Designing and installing between the studs pantry

[Cincinnati]

I have an 84” hallway wall (9’ ceiling) that includes a 36” pocket door in a house with almost zero pantry space.  I’m wanting to rip the drywall off and install between the studs cabinets. The other side of the wall is a kitchen with only 1 electrical outlet for the refrigerator and a water line for the ice maker.  I believe the electrical drops in from above and the water comes up through the slab.

I’m considering eliminating the pocket door to pick up 2 additional stud cavities of storage.

Here’s my dilemma. I want to prebuilt cabinet units.  Studs are on 16” centers (nominal of course).  To minimize the amount of “remodeling inconvenience” to one of  the owners - namely my wife - I wanted to prebuilt the cabinets.

I was thinking of planning for 2” between cabinets for the 1-1/2” stud, and to account for off-plumb or bowed studs.  I would anchor the cabinets from below and above with cross blocks added between the studs.

How would you approach this job?

 

[thudchkr]

I wouldn’t bet that the 1/2” would be enough to be sure to fit. I’ve seen way too much variance in stud placement, not to mention bowed or twisted studs. I’d like to believe they’re at lest plumb, but that’s not a given either

Maybe if I used a quality stud finder to mark the outside of the walls as to the location of the studs, I might try to maximize the width of a pre-built. Even doing that I’d probably give myself a full inch of space for installation.

I’m sure that’s not what you want hear as you’re trying to maximize the space gained. You may have nice straight studs on precise 16” centers but, unfortunately, won’t know for sure till you open up the wall. Shoot, there could even be a possibility you might have enough space to make your cabinet(s) wider than the standard distance between studs.

Good luck and let us know how it comes out.

 

[tmccowan]

Make sure you post some pictures, I have plans to do this as well. We have zero pantry space, all of our canned items are in the kitchen cabinets.

 

[Peter_C]

How would you approach this job?

I would start with clear photos!

Why not tear the wall down? Enlarge the kitchen and put in more cabinets for storage? Plus open the house up. Is the wall load bearing? (If it is load bearing can a beam be added above?)

What about moving the fridge? Changing the kitchen completely around can be a good option.

 

[Cincinnati]

Peter.

The wall is not load bearing.  I did think about removing the studs and using the back of the new pantry as the wall between the upper and lower cabinets in that section Of the kitchen. I’d have to paint the back or put a backsplash on it so it looked good from the kitchen.  A complete kitchen remodel is definitely out of the scope of my time budget. (But even though you posted what first seemed like an outrageous solution, for the past year I have been thinking about re-designing all the kitchen cabinet layout around the sink and range. And building all the cabinets and a new countertop. - maybe in retirement.)

From the other replies, i’m Thinking of removing the drywall and seeing what I have to work around. Ill b sure to take photos.

 

[serge0n]

How old is the wall? Was drywall attached with nails or screws?

If nails were used and it's not a load bearing wall, I'd eliminate every second stud to get 30.5" of space for pantry cabinets. Entire stud doesn't need to be taken out, only the portion where cabinets would go. You will have to carefully cut all nails (or screws) that are holding drywall on the kitchen side, then you will be able to remove a portion of a stud without damaging the kitchen side wall.

Then install 1x cross-bracing above and 2x bracing and jack studs below the cabinet cavity. Almost like installing a window, but with less lumber required as this is not a load bearing wall.

At least that's what I've done for my laundry room, it worked out great.

 

[pettyconstruction]

You could remove the wall,add cabinets ,then glue Sheetrock to the back of the cabs .
Texture and paint. Done
Charlie

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Dick Mahany]

This doesn't exactly answer your original question, however it may provide useful ideas on how to increase "pantry space" in a dead wall.  This was a request from my wife during a remodel in the mid 90's.  She wanted additional pantry storage space for canned goods. spices, coffee, etc.  We decided to open the front of the wall next to the existing oven and add storage in between the studs.  We couldn't put full cabinets there because the living room was directly behind the wall.

The solution was to open the drywall, skin the backside sheetrock and sides of studs with 1/8" prefinished maple, and add a face frame back where the drywall was.  It turned out to be incredibly useful.  We had approximately 20 adjustable shelves filled with pantry items.  Although it was only 3-1/2" deep, nothing got lost in the back of the cabinet [smile].  When we sold the house, the new buyers loved it.  I'll apologize in advance for old and poor photos....

[attachimg=1]
Before -Wall to right of oven to be converted to shallow pantry storage

[attachimg=2]
Sheetrock removed and electrical wire relocated, ready to skinned

[attachimg=3]
Interior skinned with 1/8" prefinished maple ply

[attachimg=4]
Prebuilt face frame and doors installed

 

[Peter_C]

You could remove the wall,add cabinets ,then glue Sheetrock to the back of the cabs .
Texture and paint. Done
Charlie

To compound on that, an option is to use good quality 3/4" plywood and 1/4" sheet rock as the back of the cabinets being built. Or just rebuild the wall with 3/4" plywood and 1/4" sheetrock. Dado a 2x2" for the ply to rest in. Done that to make a closet wall as thin as possible.

Pictures would really help. We are blind here.

 

[Cincinnati]

After removing about 6 ft of the drywall, I decided to extend the pantry height another foot or maybe 2 Because of the water line I found in the wall.  I hoped it would come in from overhead.

In accordance with “the law of  remodeling surprise”, I discovered polybutylene water pipe in this wall cavity. I’d have to remove the kitchen base cabinets to replace it.  And I’m not sure where I’d stop.  The whole house should probably be re-plumbed. I’ll likely leave this to another project - ie I’ll take care of that if it leaks.

Here are pictures that were requested. I’m rethinking the design - specifically whether to run the bottom of all the cabinets just above the water line, or have the ones in the other stud cavities go to the floor.  I’ll box around the electrical outlets and rout a groove up the  stud, moving the wires “into the stud” to give me an even space between cabinets.

Any suggestions are appreciated.