Popularized by TV home makeover shows, the butler’s pantry adds a touch of elegance and functionality to any home.

This versatile space is the ultimate secret weapon for hosting seamless dinner parties, storing fine china, or simply keeping your kitchen clutter-free.

With the popularity of open floor plans, some homeowners feel stressed about keeping their kitchens clean. A butler’s pantry makes that easier by moving more food prep out of sight.

Homeowners can use a butler’s pantry for storage, food prep, or cleanup. The space is typically located near or between the kitchen and dining room.

“Once we opened up our kitchens, it became more challenging to keep them clean for entertaining,” says Jill Schafer with Kentwood Real Estate.

“We’re seeing people take a larger walk-in pantry and make it a caterer’s kitchen or butler’s pantry. It’s a place where you can do the prep dirty work and then close the door.”

No longer just a luxury

Although the space, sometimes more of a second kitchen, was once considered a luxury in large houses, they now are more common and attainable.

Some features of a butler’s pantry include counter space, shelves, cabinets, drawers for storage, and room for larger items like appliances and bulk food storage.

“The butler’s pantry became popular in the past 10-15 years,” says Melanie Melanie Madden with 8z. “They’re primarily intended as a prep space to keep the kitchen less cluttered.”

The expanded pantries provide space to store food and other supplies and small appliances. “It’s nice to have a secondary space so small appliances like mixers and other kitchen gadgets don’t clutter up high-traffic areas in the kitchen.”

Making homes more functional

In a survey conducted by the Research Institute for Cooking and Kitchen Intelligence, 64% of homeowners want to spend more time at home, and they’re paying to add wine and beer storage and coffee brewing stations, all of which can fit conveniently in a butler’s pantry.

“As people came out of pandemic lockdown, they had a new-found appreciation for how they think about thief living spaces and how they want to use them,” Madden says.

In some homes that don’t have space for a separate pantry, homeowners choose to leverage the area under a kitchen island for storage space or to add a small refrigerator or oven.

“It’s about creating efficiency,” Madden says. “Homeowners are reevaluating what makes the most efficient home layout.”

With the ongoing popularity of buying in bulk, the pantries provide more convenient storage space, Schafer says.

“Having this space makes it easier to store all kinds of things that you don’t necessarily need in the kitchen,” she says. “With the butler’s pantry, it’s more convenient than to store items in the basement or the garage. Then you can easily bring what you need into your regular kitchen.”

The news and editorial staffs of The Denver Post had no role in this post’s preparation.