flask rack?

Remove the door and add a piece of cut to fit cork board, aluminum (with magnets) or even chalk board to make it a place to put pictures, notes, lists, recipes, etc.

I know you are not interested in a spice rack, but I had shelves installed in mine and it is amazing what you can fit in that depth. In addition to spices, I store jars of jam, condiments, boxed pasta, snack boxes...

I also fitted the inside door with sheet metal (the kind that they sell in a roll at HomeDepot) and it has become a wonderful magnet board for all kinds of notes, recipes, coupons, clippings. I don't have to keep it tidy because it's on the inside of the door, but it also gives me quick access to everything at one glance instead of sorting through a pile of papers.

Line the back with peg board and use it to keep all your awkwardly shaped kitchen tools (sieves and barbecue tongs etc) under control?

Magazine/mail rack?

whatever you decide to use it for, PLEASE paint or wallpaper the inside with something totally bold and insane.

I love EsmereldaAtHome's suggestion! It's a perfect organizing solution that's hidden away behind the door for a tidy look. I now wish I had such a cupboard in my home!

if it were me, i would remove the door, paint it/wallpaper it with something fun, and put in shelves (not necessarily spice-sized!) for smaller pantry items. you could leave the door on if it's to store anything you want out of the way (or unattractive things). it could also be a nice little display case for your nicer things you might want to show off!

I really like your current use of it as a place for your Margaret Thatcher.

It's surprising to me that no one has actually commented on what they speculated the original purpose for this cupboard to be. The reason why cupboards were so shallow in old homes is because there used to be a tax on any "room" that a person could fit in standing. I'm not sure as to the exact name of the tax, but you can imagine not wanting to be taxed for an entire room, when all you have is a closet. I agree that this would be a great place for a pantry, especially if you do glass canned goods like we do, and I also agree that this should be wallpapered something totally insane. Without sounding like too much of an art teacher, this would be a GREAT place to either keep storm/emergency supplies or TOOLS! put a bunch of hooks in there and hang up your tools and put little drawers for smaller things. You could also use it as a place to store your gift accessories, such as wrapping paper, bags and ribbons. Martha Stewart has many an article on accessories that can be used to condense a wrapping station. You could stand up your wrapping paper, hang your bags and ribbons, etc. You can hang things vertically like tissue paper by using mail-catchers (those things you hang on the wall to dump your mail into). Best of luck!

Loose the door and shelve it.

Vertical junk drawer. Get cup hooks, pocket style storage pieces, cut a shoe bag to fit, whatever. Part of the problem with a junk drawer is that all that not used every day but you really want to keep stuff is that it is a jumbled mess in a drawer.

this is an ironing board cupboard. the board is attached inside the wall & folded down on one support, so it is skinny but fully functional. these are removed b/c the mechanical leg has failed or tastes change. another use of space between studs is a bath medicine cabinet.

remove the door.. skinny shelves with a bold color background and display funky collection of some kind..

I agree with the idea of spice rack, provided this little cupboard is close enough to the stove and food prep areas. You could make it a zippy spice rack with a bold paint or wallpaper choice inside the opening.

An olde-timey apothecary cabinet theme might also be interesting if that fits better with your style.

If you don't like the spice idea, the shallowness of this cupboard would make it a great place to display a collection of salt-n-pepa shakers, snow globes, gilt candlesticks, beaded evening bags, or whatever you are obsessed with.

Yeah, my vote is that it was for a built in ironing board.

I like the idea of hanging up pegboard and storing weirdly shaped items in it.

5" deep; not wide. Could have been a drop down ironing board; perhaps it was taken out & inside wall redone. Or was a broom closet.

If you put shelves in, could be for canned goods, cleaning supplies; multitude of uses depending on what storage you need the most. Leave the door on but get a more interesting handle of the house era.

I thought it was a broom closet. Was there a hook on the "ceiling" part of the closet? That's where the dustpan went in a similar spot in my old, old, old apartment.

I believe of course it was an iron board closet originally.. I know this is boring and not anything too showy or different - but I would use it as a broom closet. That was my first thought. Nothing exciting, but... I never know where to put my broom, mop, dust pan. You don't ever want those ugly things out in the open, why not have the perfect fitting space for them? Then they'd take up less of your closet space where you can put coats, etc.

why not a mini bar - fit in a slim rack and vertical bottle holders, add lights and wallpaper - maybe even a couple of folded bar stools!

A spice pantry would be great and save you so much room elsewhere.

That's a broom closet.

Remove the door, install shelves and line up Campbell's soup cans, a la Andy Warhol.

http://triciacanonico.com/2012/02/a-little-update-to-the-cabinets/

I had an ironing board in one of these small cabinets when I rented and I too was going to pull it out. I'm so glad I didn't. It's a great space for the original ironing board.

If you don't want to do the spice rack thing, I do like the suggestions of making it a stand up work station.

my vote would be for a wine rack. (or, if you are boring, use it as storage for pans and cutting boards.)

What a great idea!

Is it deep enough to put paperback books into?

Looks like a nice place to hide a broom!

A bar would be fun. You could hinge a fold-down table to the inside of the door (with locking leg hinges) and install shelving inside for liquor bottles, glasses, and supplies.

Yes, where are you mop and broom right now? Wouldn't this be a better place for them?

Remove the door, add some shelves, voila! Easy access mini pantry

I would add hooks to hang aprons and oven mitts. You could even add a small shelf at the top to store recipe boxes.

Store all the royal family in it - Elizabeth could use a bit of company, so far away from her dear windsor castle!

Do you live somewhere cold? It might be a good place to hang up a few coats (or 1 puffy coat!) Just put up a few hooks and you're done. I don't know about you, but I'm always looking for a way to make my jumble of coats and sweaters look nicer...

i say change the door and hardware so the cupboard is "hidden" in the wall, and it opens up to a secret bar cabinet! how cute would that be.

Glass door! down light on the ceiling, glass shelves. store coloured glasses!

Sure, one could come up with all sorts of ideas that look cool or are useful storage - but the real question is, what do YOU need to store or display?

Is it deep enough to hold CDs? Do you have enough to warrant using it as a CD rack? My friend had something this deep hidden taking up much of what looked like a big closet. It now holds hundreds of CDs. It wasn't in his kitchen but...

I think it was meant for pull down ironing board. My daughter used to live in 1930's apartment building. It was charming and retained many of the original architectural elements. Her apartment had a pull-down ironing board in a unit like that. Her kitchen also had an "Ice door" that opened out into the hallway. It was a little door that was originally used receive deliveries of blocks of ice when people had those old-fashioned ice boxes. She was skinny in those days, and once, when she locked herself out of the apartment, she managed to squeeze in somehow throw the "ice door."

: )

I vote broom closet as well.Ive lived in places that had had built in ironing boards,and they were never this long.

It was probably a broom/mop closet. The house I live in was built in the late 1930s and it has one---and I keep my broom, dust pan, assorted dusters, et cetera in it.

I think that you'll find out what you need to store in it by equipping it to be available as storage. Seems to me the place to start is to cut a hanging shoe rack to fit the space (as Lampeam suggested) -- like this, perhaps.
Then see what fits in the spaces. See if you find yourself going to that closet often, or if it's not really a good part of your work triangle. That will help you know whether to store often-used, -sometimes-used, or rarely-used items.
Once you know that, you'll be able to figure out what's best to store there.
Once you know that, you can equip the closet with the perfect storage configuration.
Try things out and observe your own behavior: is this working? Could it work better? until you get a seemingly-sudden idea that will be perfect.

Why wouldn't you want to use it as a shelf to display a small collection? Use glass shelves and display a collection of brightly colored glass dishes, bottles, and jars. Use lights above and below to bounce the light all over the room. take off the door. doors can be boring.
Or make it a long and tall shadow box. It's already got a frame around it!

I love the cork board and the magnet board ideas. And the wine rack idea would be great with simple wood shelves and dowels (to keep the wine ON the shelves like they do on boats) - with a great back ground color. Fun!

I'd love to see an "after" on this project.

i would install some shelves and put some organizer shelves and make it a junk closet. depending on where this is located in the kitchen and house, i would take the top portion of the door and install a tablet holder/window. you can conceivably control a lot technologically, by housing a tablet there.

take a picture of your weird friend smooshed up against some glass then blow it up to life size and cut it to fit in the door. every time someone opens it they'll be all "wtf?" and you'll be all "yeah, that happened."