As owner of Wings, Inc. Design, Rita Orland’s practice includes space planning, project management, plumbing fixtures and surface materials specification, lighting, furnishings, accessories and art.
Enjoy Cooking and Baking Again With a Functional Appliance Garage
Is it a chore or too much hassle to retrieve your small appliances from the pantry? Are you bending down to access them from a bottom cabinet? Maybe this is the reason you don’t seem to cook and bake as often as you would like.
You can keep small appliances hidden away but easily accessible, still have a full 24-inch-deep counter and a sleek-looking kitchen with a custom appliance garage.
Custom design, build and install lower cabinetry at 39 inches deep. (This also allows extra depth inside the drawers of the cabinet.) The depth of the finished countertop surface, from front to back with edge detail, should be about 40 inches deep. This gives a sleek look when the doors of the appliance garage are open, and also makes it easier for cleaning.
The appliance garage should be about 16 inches deep and 18 inches high. Or you can customize the measurements to fit your collection of small appliances. This still leaves a 24-inch-deep countertop in front of the appliance garage on which to work.
Install an electrical strip, or individual outlets, behind the location for appliances. Tambour doors that slide up work best for concealing the appliances.
The appliance garage sits on top of the full-depth countertop, butting up to the back wall. Depending on the length of your counter, you can divide the garage into several separate compartments. If so, the division lines of the appliance garage units should line up with the vertical lines of the lower cabinet sections.
You can apply the same design concept to kitchen islands.
Budget Tip:
If you don’t have budget for 39-inch-deep cabinets, use standard box cabinets and install them 14 inches away from the back wall. Substrate and countertop, both 40 inches deep, extend all the way to back wall. The appliance garage then is installed on top of the countertop.
