Translation guide
A pantry is a small room or closet where food, dishes, and kitchen supplies are stored. In Japanese homes, this concept is expressed with specific words depending on the type and location of storage.
A small room or large closet dedicated to storing non-perishable food, often with shelves.
Loanword from English, commonly used in modern Japanese homes and apartments to refer to a walk-in pantry or dedicated food storage room.
The new house has a spacious pantry.
Literally 'food storage room'. A more formal or descriptive term, often used in larger houses or institutional settings.
I organized the canned goods in the pantry.
Similar to 食料庫, meaning 'food storage'. Slightly more common in everyday speech.
A tall cabinet or set of shelves in the kitchen used for storing food, often with doors.
A small closet or storage space under the stairs, often repurposed for food storage.
Literally 'under-stair storage'. In Japanese homes, this space is frequently used as a pantry.
A multipurpose storage room that may include food, but also other household items.
A traditional Japanese storage room, often used for clothing, bedding, and sometimes food. Can function as a pantry in older houses.
パントリー is widely understood, especially among younger generations and in modern housing contexts. If you're unsure, describing the function (e.g., 食材をしまっておく部屋) is also effective.
There's a small room where we keep food.
食器棚 is a cabinet primarily for dishes, but often doubles as a pantry in smaller kitchens. パントリー implies a separate space or closet dedicated to food storage.
Let's check the ingredients we have stocked in the pantry.
Literally 'dish cabinet', but commonly used for any large kitchen cabinet that stores both dishes and dry food items. In many Japanese kitchens, this serves the function of a pantry.
I keep pasta and canned goods on the bottom shelf of the pantry cabinet.
General term for kitchen storage, often used in interior design contexts to refer to pantry-like cabinets.
I added more kitchen storage to use as a pantry.
I'm using the under-stair storage as a pantry.
At my grandmother's house, they keep preserved food in the storage room.
A shed or storage room, typically for tools and outdoor items, but sometimes used for bulk food storage in rural areas.
We store rice and vegetables in the shed.