Pull-out larder, tall unit with internal pull-outs or pantry: where do your provisions belong?

Rusi KolevArchitect & Founder
Real Estate Economist (ebs)

Last updated: September 2026Rusi Kolev, Architect (AKH)Reading time: about 10 minutes

From 1.5 m² of floor space, a pantry beats both.

What a pull-out larder is and what it really holds

A pull-out larder is a narrow tall unit 15 to 60 cm wide whose entire front pulls out and makes the trays accessible from both sides. A widespread system for this is the Kesseböhmer DISPENSA: widths 150 to 600 mm, heights 900 to 2,300 mm, up to 6 levels, up to 100 kg in total on around 0.15 m² of floor, a maximum of 18 kg per tray. Anyone who wants a modern pull-out larder almost always means the 30 cm one: narrow enough that the front does not tip, wide enough for tins and packets of pasta. Capacity is the honest limit: around 0.10 m² is usable per tray, so a good 0.6 m² over six levels at best, and realistically around 0.5 m² with five levels and the frame of the pull-out. The decision hangs on three factors, floor space, how often you reach for things and how much you stock. The storage area ranks the solutions: a 30 cm pull-out larder around 0.5 to 0.6 m², a 60 cm wide tall unit with five internal pull-outs around 1.2 m², a pantry from 1.5 m² of floor space around 6 m².

*Cost index: 1 = a tall unit with doors and fixed shelves as the baseline. The index rates the unit, not the area. Internal pull-outs sit at 2, DISPENSA and the door with an extending carcass at 3.

Tall unit with internal pull-outs: more load, more visibility, the same front

For a family’s weekly provisions the 60 cm wide tall unit with five internal pull-outs is the better choice: each internal pull-out carries 40 to 70 kg, a larder pull-out 18 kg per tray and 100 kg in total. The internal pull-outs with us run on Hettich AvanTech YOU, 550 mm nominal length, 40 kg per pull-out in class L and 70 kg in XL, tested to EN 15338 Level 3 with 80,000 cycles. One pull-out thus carries two crates of mineral water, a DISPENSA tray one. Five internal pull-outs hold around 1.2 m² of storage area, more than a 30 cm pull-out larder, at double the front width and without a mechanism that has to carry the whole front. Access is two-step, open the door, pull the drawer, and in return you see every level from above instead of from the side.

In a current Kolev project three coupled pull-outs extend together behind one front, with two internal pull-outs above them behind the door: five levels, one surface from the outside. That keeps the front calm while five separate loads run inside. Which pull-out belongs in which cabinet is covered in the guide full-extension drawer or internal pull-out.

Open the door, the carcass extends: the handleless-friendly alternative

In a handleless kitchen with vertical recessed grip profiles a door works better than a whole front: with the Sige pull-out column the door opens, then the inner carcass extends automatically, and the line of the grip profile stays continuous. A full larder front would interrupt the vertical recessed grip profile, because the whole front becomes the pull-out. The door with an extending carcass keeps the calm front surface and the continuous 3 mm gap. Kesseböhmer offers the same mechanism as CONVOY: the door stays a door, the trays extend with it and carry up to 130 kg, at carcass widths of 45 to 60 cm.

The modern pull-out larder: when the narrow front pull-out is right

A pull-out larder is still right when the gap is narrow, access is daily and the goods are light: 30 cm next to the fridge or the appliance wall, pasta, rice, tins, oil. The advantage is the single pull: the whole front comes out, all six levels are visible from left and right, and nothing stands behind anything else. Kesseböhmer grades the runners by load: 24 kg payload for the slim 90-degree version, 100 kg for the full-extension runner VVSx. A pull-out larder for provisions needs the 100 kg runner, or the front sags after two years. Under 30 cm it becomes a bottle and spice pull-out. That belongs as a Kesseböhmer Comfort II with 20 kg on a GRASS Nova Pro full-extension runner in the base unit next to the hob, not in the tall unit. For a family’s weekly provisions, by contrast, the internal pull-outs win.

The modern pantry: from 1.5 m² the room beats any cabinet

A pantry with 1.5 m² of floor space and 35 cm deep shelves on three sides offers around 6 m² of storage area over six levels, five times that of a 60 cm tall unit with internal pull-outs. The arithmetic behind it: a 120 x 125 cm floor plan, a 70 cm door, shelves on the left, right and back, and 50 x 90 cm of standing space between them. Under 1.5 m² the ratio tips, because the standing space disappears and the pantry becomes a cabinet that you pay for twice, with a wall and a door. A modern pantry is therefore not a storeroom with boards but planned like a piece of furniture: open shelves instead of doors, levels at a 35 to 40 cm spacing, crates of drinks on the floor at the bottom, a light at the door frame, and the door aligned with the wall of tall units so that from outside it reads as a front. It wins for bulk shopping, drinks and households of four or more, but it loses when the stock is small and the 1.5 m² would be worth more as a run of units. Anyone who leaves out the wall units needs exactly this area as a replacement: see kitchen without wall units.

The mistake almost everyone makes: buying the pull-out larder for capacity

The most common mistake is the pull-out larder as a promise of capacity: “holds 100 spice jars” sounds like a lot and is 0.6 m² on a 30 cm front at the highest cost index in the table. Three cases where it is the wrong choice. First, heavy loads: 18 kg per tray is one crate of water, 100 kg in total is five. Anyone stocking drinks needs a floor or a shelf, not a pull-out. Second, the wide front: from 45 cm a 2.3 m tall front hangs on the runner as a lever. Kesseböhmer builds the DISPENSA up to 600 mm and, for wide fronts, relies on CONVOY with a fixed door, where only the trays move. Third, retrofitting: a DISPENSA needs a carcass with the right internal dimension and a front that becomes the pull-out. In an existing kitchen that means a new front plus conversion, and then the internal pull-out behind the existing door, or the shelf in the pantry, almost always wins. And in a handleless kitchen there is a fourth point: the whole larder front becomes the pull-out and interrupts the vertical recessed grip profile. Anyone wanting to keep the line of the grip profile uses internal pull-outs behind a door or the door with an extending carcass.

What it costs

The cost of the food-storage solutions follows an index in which the tall unit with fixed shelves is the baseline of 1: internal pull-outs sit at 2, DISPENSA and the door with an extending carcass at 3, the shelves of a pantry again at 1, plus a wall and a door from the plasterboard contractor and 1.5 m² of floor space that carries the real price as living space. A kitchen at Kolev starts from €14,999 incl. VAT, including planning, delivery and installation. The ceiling-height tall unit with internal pull-outs is the norm in it, and a DISPENSA is shown as its own line item. We deliberately do not quote single prices for hardware, because without a carcass, a front and installation they say nothing. In the offer every item is listed with its brand and type.

How we do it at Kolev

With us the food storage is planned as a ceiling-height tall unit: made to the measured room height from the 3D site survey, with no cover panel and no dust gap at the top, on a 10 cm plinth with Hettich Korrekt at the bottom, 3 to 5 mm of clearance to the wall, a continuous 3 mm gap between the fronts. Inside sit internal pull-outs on Hettich AvanTech YOU in the 18 mm carcass, 16 mm bases in the pull-outs, long load-bearing shelves secured with a cross-connector. The typical 30 cm gap that would otherwise take a narrow pull-out larder often does not arise with us at all: because our carcasses are not tied to any grid width, we spread the 30 cm over the neighbouring units. Where a narrow gap does remain, a Kesseböhmer DISPENSA with the 100 kg runner goes in, whose heights of up to 2,300 mm fit under the ceiling. We draw the pantry in when it exists: the shelf spacing, the door aligned, the light. The workshop drawing is archived. An internal pull-out can be remade from it as long as the finish and the fitting are available. Production is in the Manufaktur, our own production facility. From the 3D site survey to the finished, installed kitchen it is 6 to 8 weeks.

Frequently asked questions

What is a pull-out larder in the kitchen?

A pull-out larder is a narrow tall unit whose entire front pulls out and makes the trays accessible from both sides. The most widespread system is the Kesseböhmer DISPENSA, with widths of 150 to 600 mm, heights of 900 to 2,300 mm and up to six levels. It carries up to 100 kg in total, a maximum of 18 kg per tray.

How wide should a pull-out larder be?

30 cm is the usual width: narrow enough for the front to run stably, wide enough for tins, packets and bottles. Under 30 cm it becomes a spice or bottle pull-out (Kesseböhmer Comfort II, 20 to 40 cm, in the base unit). From 45 cm internal pull-outs or Kesseböhmer CONVOY are the better choice, because the door stays put and only the trays move.

How much fits in a pull-out larder?

A 30 cm DISPENSA offers a good 0.6 m² of storage area over six levels, realistically around 0.5 m² with five, and carries up to 100 kg. A 60 cm wide tall unit with five internal pull-outs reaches around 1.2 m², a pantry with 1.5 m² of floor space around 6 m². The pull-out larder wins on access, not on quantity.

When is a pantry worth it?

From about 1.5 m² of floor space, because 50 x 90 cm of standing space then remains beside 35 cm deep shelves on three sides. Below that the pantry becomes a cabinet with a door that you pay for twice. It makes sense for bulk shopping, drinks and households of four or more, not for the two-person stock of twelve tins.

Can a pull-out larder be retrofitted?

Only if the existing carcass has the internal dimension for the fitting and the front can be converted into a pull-out front. Usually that means a new front plus conversion. In an existing kitchen, internal pull-outs behind the existing door are almost always the more economical route, and where there is space, the shelf in the pantry. A pull-out larder belongs in the planning, not in a retrofit.

Pull-out larder or tall unit with internal pull-outs?

For the weekly provisions the tall unit with internal pull-outs wins: a 60 cm front, five pull-outs at 40 to 70 kg each, every level visible from above. The pull-out larder is still right when only 30 cm of front is available and you want to see everything with one pull each day. With a 60 cm front and the wish for a single pull, the door with an extending carcass (Kesseböhmer CONVOY) is the middle way, with 130 kg and five trays.

Does a pull-out larder fit in a handleless kitchen?

A full larder front becomes entirely the pull-out and interrupts the vertical recessed grip profile. In a handleless kitchen with vertical recessed grip profiles, internal pull-outs behind a door or a door with an extending carcass (Sige) are the better solution: the door opens, the inner carcass extends automatically, and the line of the grip profile runs unbroken.

Next step: the first consultation

If you want to know whether your provisions belong in a tall unit, a pull-out larder or a pantry, then let’s talk. In the first consultation we look at your floor plan, your wishes and your budget, directly with the architect, 45 to 60 minutes, for Frankfurt and the Rhine-Main region.

And a piece of advice no kitchen studio likes to give: get three offers and compare them. We are one of them.

Made to measure always also means the made-to-measure kitchen (Maßküche).