If you tend to host many parties or hate having your larger appliances out for everyone to get their messy fingerprints on, you need a better large appliances storage solution.
Thankfully, sectioning off a secondary kitchen, or butler’s pantry, is the perfect solution. You can hide your dishwasher, oven, microwave, refrigerator, freezer, wine cooler and more.
Instead of a messy main kitchen area, you get a clean, organized look. Plus, you can prep meals without so many people getting underfoot.
Divide Your Kitchen
For larger spaces, it’s easier to simply divide your kitchen using a divider wall. You’d walk around a corner to access the large appliances storage area, which would include your appliances, a countertop and some cabinets. Your main kitchen would have cabinets and likely an island bar/breakfast nook area.
You can even do this with slightly smaller kitchens. Use a divider or even a wall of cabinets to create a cozy corner for your larger appliances. This works well if you want to hide your oven and dishwasher, but leave your refrigerator out. It’s also great as a smaller area for messy meal prep if you have space for an additional sink.
Expand A Laundry Room
If you already have a larger laundry room or mudroom near your kitchen, expand it. Use a small wall to section off your washer and dryer from your butler’s pantry. Then, you have a room specifically for large appliances storage. This also makes it easier if you wash clothes often and cook multiple meals a day. You’ll have everything you need to use right in one area.
Decide What To Include
You don’t have to store all your large appliances in a special area if you don’t want to. In fact, you could opt to only include your oven and dishwasher. You may only include a dishwasher and chest freezer. It’s completely up to you. Ideally, you’ll want to include large appliances that you don’t want most family members and guests accessing easily.
It’s much easier to renovate your kitchen to include a butler’s pantry once you know what you’re putting in it. For some people, the area is all about being able to cook more peacefully, which is why the main refrigerator is left out in the main kitchen space. A smaller refrigerator is placed in the pantry for refrigerated ingredients only.
Hide Without A Second Room
If you’re low on space, you might not be able to build a secondary large appliances storage solution. This doesn’t mean you can’t hide those appliances away.
In fact, you can easily hide a dishwasher inside a slightly larger pantry. Don’t want your refrigerator throwing off the look of your kitchen? Hide it inside a cabinet. A custom cabinet can fit around your refrigerator to make it look like a large cabinet and create a seamless flow throughout your kitchen space.
Ovens are a bit harder to hide, especially since they get hot, but when you’re not cooking, you can hide this large appliance with a stovetop sized tray that matches your countertop. This gives you extra counter space and it’s easy to move to the side when you need the stove.
Redesign Your Dining Room
If you don’t mind a slightly smaller dining room, turn part of it into a butler’s pantry. This is ideal if you host parties often. You can have a small serving window to send out food as it gets ready. A slim kitchen area allows you to have your oven, dishwasher, sink, refrigerator and freezer out of sight. However, you can slip in, cook and send out your delicious food without being seen. Instead of dishes piling up, store them on the countertop in your large appliances storage room and you’re all set.
For more ideas on how to design your butler’s pantry, Elle Decor has 45 incredible ideas.
Ready to store your large appliances out of sight, but for easier use? Contact us today to design the perfect storage solutions for your needs.
Image: Dinh Ng.
