Eliminating kitchen clutter has never looked more stylish

One of the joys of undertaking a home renovation is getting to build the kitchen of your dreams. Once that kitchen is in use, though, clutter often finds a way of spoiling the look of prized counters. Some of the biggest offenders tend to be small appliances — coffee makers, toasters, microwaves.

“Years ago, the kitchen was a place that was tucked away, closed off and not for guests,” said Elizabeth Bennett, who with Mallory Robins runs Kobel & Co, an interior design firm in Kansas City, Mo. “But now that the kitchen is usually a showpiece that expresses the personality of the owners, you don’t want all the appliances on the counter, looking messy.”

Blenders can even be the source of marital strife, added Robins: “There’s typically one spouse who’s a heavy small-appliance user and the other says, ‘I can’t stand to see it on the counter.’ But somebody still needs their smoothie maker.”

Fortunately, with a little planning, it’s possible to conceal small appliances while keeping them easy to use. Here’s how Bennett, Robins and other designers do it.

It’s easy to accidentally amass an arsenal of plug-in kitchen tools dedicated to different tasks: immersion blender, food processor, juicer, rice cooker, pressure cooker, mixer, waffle maker, toaster oven, ice cream maker, coffee grinder and more.

The first step to preventing these products from overrunning your kitchen is considering which you really use, and how often, said Sara Swabb, founder of Storie Collective, an interior design firm in Washington, D.C. “We talk to our clients a lot about what they’re actually using, and ask if they can cull some items,” she said.

Then Swabb studies how often the remaining appliances get used. Everyday items such as kettles, coffee makers and toasters get priority placement. Appliances that are used a few times a year usually can be stored deep in cabinets that aren’t necessarily the easiest to access.

Many small appliances have an appealing look when seen on their own, and only begin to look unsightly when grouped among mismatched gadgets. So, consider which appliances you might want to leave out on the counter as decorative elements, suggested Adam Hunter, an interior designer in Los Angeles.

For instance, some espresso machines “look like an art piece,” Hunter said, adding that he especially likes a model from AnZa that is made of concrete: “It’s so beautiful that it’s something you would like to put on your countertop.”

The same can be said for many teakettles, which are routinely transformed into pieces of countertop sculpture by product designers.

Another way to take pressure off kitchen counters is to build additional functions into cabinetry, much like wall ovens. Hunter often uses built-in microwaves, which sometimes come as drawer-based models or have drop-down doors that lend them a more integrated look.

Caren Rideau, principal of the Kitchen Design Group in Los Angeles, occasionally uses built-in coffee machines to reduce the number of small appliances on counters.

“It’s one machine that consolidates,” she said, noting that it can grind beans, froth milk, brew coffee and provide hot water for tea. “It gets all those tasks off the counter.”

An increasingly popular way to store small appliances while keeping them available is to park them in an appliance garage. Typically, that’s a cabinet that sits on a kitchen counter, or at one end of the counter, and opens to reveal the appliances inside. Some also have pullout shelves.

Swabb often designs kitchens with different types of appliance garages, depending on the layout of the room. In one home she designed, the garage is integrated into a wall of cabinetry and opens onto one end of the main kitchen counter. In another home, the garage is a tall, stand-alone countertop cabinet. In yet another, it is part of a storage wall positioned across from the kitchen island.

Many appliance garages use pocket-door hardware that allows the doors to slide back into the sides of the cabinet when open, so they’re not in the way. They’re almost always equipped with multiple outlets that allow appliances to remain plugged in and ready for use, and some include in-cabinet lighting.

Some designers are building larger, floor-to-ceiling concealed areas that serve as supersized appliance garages, where tall cabinet doors open and slide back to reveal a stand-alone counter for appliances as well as shelves and drawers for dishes and supplies.

“We call it a bento box,” said Robert Edmonds, who runs Edmonds & Lee Architects in San Francisco with his wife, Vivian Lee.

The couple has designed such spaces for clients, and in their own kitchen. “It’s essentially a cabinet that can be opened for day-to-day use, but is easy to close up when we’re having company and entertaining,” Edmonds said.

“We love secret doors,” added Lee, “because it’s a great way to maximize space. In our kitchen, in addition to the bento box, we hid the powder room behind one of the door panels.”

British company deVOL Kitchens frequently does the same, even with traditional-looking cabinets, by concealing a counter and storage shelves behind regular swing doors.

“That means you can just buy a cheap microwave from the superstore that’s not posh or fancy, but does the job,” said Helen Parker, creative director at deVOL. “It’s quite economical to keep appliances in your cupboard, because you can hide them away,” she said, rather than splurging on models with upscale finishes.

If you don’t have room for an appliance garage, or if you simply desire a place to spread out more, it might be possible to borrow space adjacent to the kitchen. Swabb and Rideau, for instance, have designed dedicated coffee bars in corridors running off larger kitchens.

A walk-in pantry is another option. “The back pantry used to be where we did floor-to-ceiling open shelves, where you could put a lot of bulk food and extra pots,” Rideau said. “But I find that people don’t necessarily stock the bulk items they maybe did years ago, so we’re adding countertops, and it becomes a place to put the toaster oven or coffee maker.”

In one home, Kobel & Co concealed the door to a walk-in pantry within a long run of cabinet doors so that it functioned almost like a hidden bookcase door. That homeowner wanted a professional-looking kitchen for entertaining, Bennett said, not one that was cluttered with appliances.

“So, the pantry became a mini kitchen,” she said. “She has a steam oven, coffee maker, toaster and everything else she might need right there, easily concealed by the swing of a door.”