Build a Pantry Wall With IKEA PAX Frames in 9 Steps for 35% More Storage

PAX frames come in 50cm and 35cm depths, and for pantry use the 35cm version is the one to look for. A standard tin of chopped tomatoes is 11cm tall and fits two-deep on a 35cm shelf with enough space to read the rear label. At 50cm deep, the back row becomes easy to lose track of, which is how three-year-old chickpeas gather at the rear. Run a 200cm tall frame from floor to near-ceiling and you get roughly 35 percent more shelf area than the typical 90cm freestanding larder cabinet on the same footprint, since the PAX uses the full vertical run where the freestanding cabinet stops at counter height and leaves unused space above.

Why a wardrobe frame works for pantry storage

The larder units sold as kitchen-range items follow worktop logic: a 60cm or 90cm box, a fixed plinth, and a carcass depth shaped around a hob and a sink. PAX leaves that layout behind. The 100cm wide, 236cm tall frame is a single tall void you subdivide yourself with KOMPLEMENT shelves on 32mm increments to fit your specific food packaging.

Shelf pitch is the main advantage. You can customize clearance for 14cm spice jars, 32cm cereal boxes, or 36cm oil bottles, then keep a dense band of short shelves at eye level for everyday tins while reserving one taller lower bay for the slow cooker and stockpot. A fixed larder usually gives four or five preset positions; the PAX side panel is drilled along its full height, so a 236cm frame offers more than seventy shelf positions per side.

The freedom brings a load issue. A KOMPLEMENT shelf is rated for distributed load, and that rating assumes weight spread across the shelf surface. A full case of tinned beans leaning on the front edge is a different stress, so keep heavy glass and dense cans low. The frame is particleboard with a foil finish, and the wall anchoring carries the structural job that keeps a loaded pantry from pulling forward.

Step three is the anchor, and it decides the build

IKEA ships PAX with a wall bracket and a single anti-tip strap, sized around a bedroom installation on carpet and the risk of a child climbing. A pantry loaded with 80kg of cans changes the problem. Before the frame goes up, find the studs with a Bosch GMS 120 or any capacitance detector, mark them, and confirm the positions with a 2mm pilot hole. On a timber-frame wall, the brackets must land on studs at 400mm or 600mm centres; a 100cm PAX frame will usually catch two.

Masonry and dot-and-dab plasterboard create a predictable failure point. Dot-and-dab leaves a 10 to 20mm air gap between the board and the blockwork, so a standard plasterboard plug spins and a short screw fails to grip. Use a Fischer DuoPower or a frame fixing long enough to pass through the void and bite at least 50mm into the block behind. The screw needs solid masonry engagement.

Level the frame on its adjustable feet before touching the wall bracket. PAX feet provide about 20mm of travel, enough for a sloping floor within that range. If the floor falls away more, shim under the feet. A racked frame will bind sliding parts, and any fitted doors will sit out of flush.

Keep the plinth gap breathing

Leave the 20mm gap under the frame open at the back for air movement, then close the front with a plinth strip. A sealed cavity behind a pantry traps humidity from stored vegetables and gives silverfish the kind of hidden damp space they settle into.

Sequence the nine steps so the frame stays true

Assemble the frame flat on the floor first, on cardboard, because a 236cm panel flexes badly and a corner block can crack during vertical assembly. Fit the four corner brackets and the back panel before standing the unit. The thin hardboard back is what keeps the rectangle square.

Stand the frame with two people. At 30 to 35kg empty it is awkward to handle, and once it goes vertical the top wants to lead. A foot can go through the back panel if the lift turns sloppy. Walk it up against the wall, drop it onto its levelling feet, then check level on both axes with a 1200mm spirit level laid across the top edge.

Fix the wall bracket next, then the anti-tip strap, then load shelves from the bottom upward. Loading the upper shelves first on an unstrapped frame is a common route to a PAX lying face-down on the kitchen island. Run the KOMPLEMENT shelves in at the heights you marked, clip the shelf pins fully home, and fill only after the frame is secured.

For two or three frames in a row, bolt them together through the side panels with the connecting hardware before anchoring. That makes the run behave as one rigid wall. A ganged run of three 100cm frames gives a 300cm pantry wall, and the combined mass puts real demand on the anti-tip straps. Check that the floor under a three-frame run can take 250kg loaded; a suspended timber floor near a joist span midpoint may need noggins added below.

The worktop sequence can catch people out. If a counter run butts into the pantry wall, scribe and fit it after the frame is anchored in its final position. A 5mm shift during anchoring leaves a gap that cannot be closed later.

Doors, light, and the finish inside the frame

Most pantry PAX builds skip doors and use open shelving, which is faster, cheaper, and makes stock visible at a glance. If you want a closed front, hinged doors seal better than sliders for keeping dust off food. A soft-close hinge also prevents the repeated slam that can walk tins toward the shelf edge over months.

The interior finish helps the wardrobe frame blend into a kitchen setting. The white foil interior is fine and wipeable, though a timber surround or built-out reveal changes the feel of the run. Exposed softwood can be finished with Osmo TopOil in the walnut tone, which is food-area rated and leaves a matt surface that takes oil splashes without showing a ring. Use two thin coats, apply the second after 8 to 10 hours, and buff back with a non-woven pad between coats.

A 35cm shelf loaded two-deep leaves the back row in shadow under a ceiling pendant, so lighting earns its place inside the frame. A strip of warm LED tape, around 2700K, run vertically inside each frame edge and wired to a door switch or a PIR, lights the contents from the side and avoids throwing the front row’s shadow over the rear stock. The colour temperature matters; 4000K daylight tape makes packaging look clinical and often gives away a rushed finish.

If the pantry wall faces an open-plan kitchen, the outer face becomes a colour decision. A muted Little Greene shade such as a soft green-grey on the door fronts or the surround lets a white-foil interior recede and gives the run the feel of joinery. Treat the 16mm raw particleboard edge, because leaving it exposed makes the wardrobe origin obvious. Facing or painting that edge is the detail that moves the build toward fitted pantry work.

The limits of the converted wardrobe

PAX gives you depth, height, and shelf-pitch control, and it anchors solidly once the fixing matches the wall. It will not become a sealed, pest-proof, climate-stable larder. The frame is permeable particleboard, the back is thin hardboard, and the same plinth gap that keeps air moving also gives anything that walks a route in at floor level. That leaves one thing the build never resolves: anything in the house that genuinely needs cool, stable temperatures still has nowhere to go in a ventilated frame like this.