Hidden kitchens

Creating A Hidden Kitchen

For a more streamlined house, consider concealed kitchens.

Have you ever hoped that your kitchen would simply vanish? Maybe you’re trying to hide a disaster you’re not ready to deal with. Perhaps you live in a tiny place and don’t want it to be seen when entertaining. The good news is that concealed kitchens do exist.

The rust on the imposing wall combination emanates natural warmth and creates an expressive emphasis across a total length of seven metres. A functional oddity of the “Hidden Kitchen” reinforces the casual design: the kitchen run is buried inside an outstanding wall combination and only appears when it is needed.

The middle part of the wall of units — which spans an astonishing five metres — opens up at the push of a button to expose the working space, which includes storage spaces, shelves, an extractor fan, and integrated lighting. Storage units, pull-outs, and electrical appliances are positioned all around the flexible working space and incorporated behind the fronts, allowing them to be used even when the centre niche is closed.

The clever concealment of this kitchen is achieved by way of panelled pocket doors matching the wall panelling. This kitchen’s ingenious hiding is achieved using panelled pocket doors that match the wall panelling. This innovative mechanism glides open and closes with ease, revealing a huge work zone. Not only may cooking take place here, but so can the storage of minor appliances. When the bi-fold door opens, the integrated LED illumination turns on, eliminating the need to hunt for the switch.

“For a historic London mews house and a family that required an efficient kitchen that wouldn’t dominate their open-plan living space,” the ‘Secret’ kitchen was created. The full-height external doors have been hand-painted white to match the space’s walls, yet when they open smoothly — then neatly pushed back into ‘door docks’ through a unique mechanism — they show a bright and vibrant line of kitchen equipment and appliances.”

The Logica System is deserving of particular notice, despite not being as well disguised as the other kitchens depicted. Although the base cabinets are not flush with the wall or hidden, the kitchen equipment and dishware can be completely hidden. “Logica has a super-light lift-up door with a counterweight balancing system that closes with a single touch of the hand, as well as a vertically sliding door that hides below the base units and glides up using a rack mechanism.”