A Hidden Walk-In Pantry: A Magical Surprise
Starting with a blank slate, a brand new floor plan like the one from the Garman Homes for their 2011 Home-A-Rama home is a challenge that we love.
This particular challenge? Create a highly efficient, very functional, elegant kitchen in a defined space. While this might sound like a common dilemma in kitchen design, it’s all about how the details are handled. Here, it’s especially essential to have options for storage that make the homeowner’s life easier.
With any kitchen, we want to make sure that every detail makes sense for the homeowner and fits in with the rest of the house. In the Garman Builders’ Home-A-Rama kitchen, we saw an opportunity to transform a pass-through—the giant window into the kitchen—to serve an essential purpose. Instead of just installing cabinetry for storage, we looked at the entire floor plan to see what we could do to enhance the space and make it more functional. With a large great room leading to a generous outdoor entertainment area, we felt the home was designed for entertaining and that the pass-through would be better served as a wet bar.
Now, what looks like an unassuming wall cabinet, like magic, opens to a hidden walk-in pantry! We love to see the reactions to this unexpected feature.
The magic pantry was probably one of the biggest challenges of the project. Each measurement had to be absolutely precise to cover the opening so it looks like a standard cabinet. Garman has built this into previous homes and it’s become a popular and unique feature for them. We visited and measured some of these existing pantries after framing and again after the drywall was installed to get the perfect fit.
The best part? The light is automatic when you open the door!
Continue reading about the Garman Home-A-Rama kitchen here.