My pantry doesn't have air conditioning, and recently I noticed (using a cheap wall-mounted liquid thermometer) that the pantry itself got up to 85°f degrees (it was >100°f outdoors). I don't know what temperature it got within the cabinets, but it got high enough to melt some home-made lard.
I'm guessing the fluctuating heat in there isn't good for long-term food storage. Is there something I can do that'll magically make the cabinets cooler than the rest of the room? Maybe some kind of insulating interior liner, or a special interior paint? The cabinet doors aren't airtight.
Currently they are regular kitchen cabinetry, though I coincidentally am tearing out those cabinets and putting in home-made floor to ceiling cabinets next month (mostly so I can re-purpose the kitchen cabinets in the kitchen itself), so if the "fix" happens to require more intensive work on the cabinets, well, now's the perfect time.
(I wanted to tag this question 'pantry' but that tag isn't available and I lack the rep to create it)
Best Answer
There is no magic; you are fighting thermodynamics.
You may be able to cool individual containers somewhat by wrapping damp cloth around them so evaporation takes away some of the heat. You could arrange some sort of drip or pump to keep those moist, and a fan to improve the evaporation and heat removal... And you'd basically have reinvented the "swamp cooler".
Or you could insulate thoroughly and reinvent the icebox (assuming you have a source for ice). Or insulate and run an air conditioner, reinventing the refrigerator.