How much did my pantry cost?

I have had an overwhelming response to my pantry with lots of lovely comments and a heap of questions! I have also seen a few comments from people stating that this is a pantry made by someone with a lot of time and money.

My entire blog philosophy is aimed an average person so I never want anyone to think any of my work is unattainable. Both my husband and I work pretty demanding full time jobs so time is not really on our side. The entire concept of the pantry was designed with the saying in mind “spend a day to save a week”. I am a big advocate for a clutter free lifestyle and I like everything to have a spot and since our actual kitchen is pretty small, the pantry was important to store things efficiently, particularly our bulkier items which I didn’t want taking up precious bench space.

I am a pretty transparent person, so I have gone through and made an estimate of exactly how much I think the pantry actually cost us. Of course I have probably forgotten things and I definitely didn’t include everything but I did overestimate some costs to hopefully take that into account.

Please be assured I am in no way affiliated with anything mentioned below, nor am I a financial advisor, so any advice on expenditure and budgets given here, are just suggestions that have worked for me.

Total Actual Spend: $2,855
Estimated Pantry Worth: $4,372

In total, and at a very rough estimate, my pantry is worth $4372 however I only paid $2855 for it by utilising discounts, credit card points and gift cards which I received from doing surveys. Some of the contents are also gifts from my bridal shower and our wedding.

My husband and I are pretty money savvy and adhere to a monitored monthly budget. We like to know exactly where all of our money goes so we can eliminate unnecessary expenditure. We put everything we possibly can on our credit cards and pay them off in full as soon as they’re due to ensure we never pay interest. The credit cards we use are always reward rich so we can maximise our points earned and therefore, gift cards redeemed.

More than happy to answer any questions or discuss something I may have missed! Post a comment below 🙂

Here are the broken down costs:

Pantry Construction and Installation

Worth: $2,000
Actual Spend: $2,000
The home we live in is a new build so when we were getting quoted for the internals, I had the builder remove any joinery costs because I knew it would be cheaper to do it ourselves later.
The construction and installation of the custom shelving only cost around $2,000. The design is made up of two parts – the long 30cm deep wall, where I keep all my appliances and the ‘OXO’ wall which is only 14cm deep and houses all my containers. I provided the joiner with all the plans and measurements which he double checked but essentially, all he had to do was build it hence why the cost wasn’t astronomical.

I don’t mean to state the obvious, but shop around and get numerous quotes.  Ask for the joiner to use inexpensive material such as melamine and do as much prep as you can your self to reduce costs.

OXO Containers

Worth: $500
Actual Spend: $80
These containers were ridiculously pricy and I couldn’t justify the cost of them so I bought them in bulk sets from Costco for $80 a pack (7 various sized containers). I registered with William Sonoma for my bridal shower and a group of my friends bought me one set from there ($130) as a present. The rest I bought from Costco and paid for in gift card vouchers I had gotten from doing 50cent surveys. I only paid for one pack with actual cash.

White Ikea Baskets

Worth: $180
Actual Spend: $180
Probably my most expensive container purchase without any gift cards or discounts. I bought these baskets as I needed them and in stages so it wasn’t one big hit.

Ikea Basket Labels

Worth: $15
Actual Spend: $15

I had the labels for each basket custom made by a wedding signage company which cost $15 including postage

K-Mart Jars and Containers

Worth: $70
Actual Spend: $0

I have both the K-Mart Tilt jars (spray painted pink) and the Pet treat jars in my pantry. I have estimated their worth at $70 however I cashed in my MasterCard points for a K-Mart gift card.

Oil and Vinegar Bottles

Worth: $80
Actual Spend: $0
I bought these pourers from Wheel & Barrow three years ago for $7.95 each. They unfortunately no longer stock them and I have not been able to find anything similar for the same sort of price. I cashed in my American Express Credit Card points for cash, to pay for these.

Bakeware – Pink

Worth: $50
Actual Spend: $0
This is an approximate cost but the bakeware was bought in Coles. I cashed in some of my fly buys points to pay for these

Bakeware – Glass

Worth: $200
Spend: $0
This was gifted to me by various friends at my bridal shower so this is a very approximate cost.

Smeg Appliances:

Worth: Toaster: $179, Kettle: $199, Blender: $299
Actual Spend: Toaster: $150, Kettle: $180, Blender: $250
When I was deliberating whether or not to purchase these SMEG appliances, I noticed they NEVER went on sale and that really bothered me because I LOVE a discount. Eventually we had to go and purchase a bunch of large items for our house (fridge, TV, vacuum etc) so I asked what sort of price they could give me if I were to buy it all in one go (cash, not finance). Even though I didn’t get a huge discount, I did get a few dollars off. I bought them all from Harvey Norman and received $300 off my total purchase by redeeming an offer from my American Express card.

Kitchen Aid

Worth: $600
Spend: $0
We received my Kitchen Aid as a wedding present

All the plans and scribbles I drew up for the pantry can be found here

Comment Response

“Is it actually practical?”

Believe it or not, yes. My life motto is usually prettiness over practicality but having everything labelled not only makes it easier for me but also for my husband to find stuff. The baskets are the best part because you just shove whatever you want in there and it looks nice regardless. Things that don’t fit into each container go into the refills basket which I make sure to check prior to going to the grocery store.

” I can’t see why you would need so much food at one time. I bet heaps gets thrown out”

If you take a look inside your pantry, you will find you have a lot of the things I have at any one time. The majority of it is baking goods which has a long shelf life. We’ve been living here for well over a year and I am yet to actually throw anything out without using it. It also allows me to purchase things in bulk which is cheaper because I have the means to store it appropriately.

“Cheeky. More like freaky. Who has time for this???”

Not me! That’s for sure. The whole point of an organised pantry is that you do it once and save yourself time in the future. I just decided to also waste my own time by making it themed (this is completely my own fault)

“So much extra time added to unpacking the groceries!”

As the saying goes, “spend a day to save a week”. You only need to re-stock once every few months and the clear containers make it really easy to see what you’re low on.

“My kids would mess this up so quick!”

Probably, but it wouldn’t be too hard to put everything back since it all has a spot!