Pocket doors can also be used as part of a run of kitchen cabinetry, we often recommend using pocket doors for breakfast stations.
A breakfast station usually contains shelving and plenty of electrical points for coffee machines and toasters, and tend to feature a hard surface, often the same as your worktop, at the base.
Designed to accommodate everything required for making tea and coffee, together with breakfast goods, they can also include a separate boiling water tap as opposed to a kettle. Because it is used regularly, the breakfast station is located away from the main food preparation area and cooking zone so as not to get in the way of the cook. Pocket doors are are also ideal for pantry larders, because the cook can then easily access all herbs, spices and condiments when required.
All you need to know about Pocket Doors
What is a pocket door?
Unlike a standard cabinetry door that opens and closes on hinges, a pocket door features an additional runner system at the base and the top of the door so that it can open outwards and then slide into a side recess (the pocket) leaving the interior on show and making everything inside easy to access.
What sizes are pocket doors?
They can be any size if they are made bespoke with our Novelle collection OR they can conform to specified measurements if made by our furniture manufacturers, 1909 or Crown Imperial.
Pocket doors can be full-sized from the floor to the top of the cabinetry, or they can comprise doors to a cabinet with drawers beneath.
Depending on the amount of available space in your kitchen, they can also feature the full door that pulls out and slides back into the recess. Alternatively, a space-efficient option is to have a bi-fold door that folds first and then slides into the pocket at half the depth of the actual door size.
What can pocket doors be used for?
Because the doors open and slide into side pockets, they enable you to access the cabinet’s interior fully and easily. With full pocket doors, this can mean concealing a complete utility area in a kitchen until it is required.
Are there any disadvantages to pocket doors?
The main consideration is that the space for the internal cabinetry will be smaller than having standard doors because of the need to for a recessed ‘pocket’ to accommodate the door.
With double doors that recess will be on either side of the cabinet. If you have doors with handles, we will design the recesses to take the handles into account and we will recommend the best handles to use so that the doors can still be concealed.
Alternatively, you can have a pocket door that will only slide inwards until it reaches the handle or the knob, leaving a few centimetres of door on view on either side.
In fact, the latest fashion in European kitchen design is to completely conceal the kitchen altogether in order to purely have a beautiful and uncluttered social or workspace.
You then have the opportunity to open it up, by pivoting the pocket doors back into recesses to reveal a fully functional kitchen with all appliances on show, but only when they are required. This is why pocket doors are now becoming the ‘fashion essentials’ in the kitchen, whether it is ultra-contemporary or a more traditional bespoke option.
Pocket doors & why they are trending
The open plan kitchen and living space has become a very fashionable option for homeowners that can either knock-through from one room to another or who have been able to extend their property, and many kitchens have been designed as part of open plan cooking, dining and living spaces, all in one large lifestyle area.
This is fantastic if you have the luxury of space where there are specific zones for cooking, dining and living, but many home extensions only allow for a larger open plan kitchen and dining area.
This then becomes a homework area by day, but a dining room by night, when you might want to feature an open bar, if you have guests.
Or, it might be a home office to use by day, but that will need to be hidden from view when it becomes a working kitchen the rest of the time. Space, or lack of it is always the major issue, and many innovative European kitchen furniture companies (and ZodiaKitchens) have found ways to ensure that you can have a fully multifunctional room, whatever your requirements.
How? By using pocket doors…
How do they work?
Using a special pivotal runner system, most pocket doors in kitchens are featured as double doors when closed, but single versions can also be used. When the doors are opened, they pivot into carefully measured side recesses to be completely out of sight, leaving an open area for your bar or for your cooking appliances, or your utility space.
As soon as you want to conceal it, just pull the doors back out and close them. Voila!
Alternatively, you can also have bi-fold doors created that double-back on each other first and then the folded doors withdraw into side recesses, which is ideal for use with a freestanding dresser with limited depth. This is a great option if you have a concealed TV screen integrated within the furniture.
Pocket door options from ZodiaKitchens
As pocket doors have become more fashionable across European kitchen design, our kitchen furniture partners, 1909 feature a number of contemporary options within their portfolio.
Alternatively, for those of you seeking a handmade kitchen with contemporary twists, our Novelle Bespoke collection features pocket doors made to any size and style.
We design kitchens and workspaces with all types of pocket doors to suit you and your lifestyle, whether for tall cabinetry or for smaller freestanding pieces.