Hi! I've been wrestling with the same dilemma. I actually prefer the look of the slide back doors, but my architect is pushing the garage door style. He says we will lose 3 inches out of each cabinet in width and that the mechanisms on the pocket doors tend to fail over time. Not sure that's much help, but just wanted to share....

Seems the garage is more practical but not as pretty.

what do you think of this?

I am not a fan of appliance garages, but I love the looks of the last picture (I wouldn't classify that as an appliance garage anyway).

I was going to do a Hafele lift door for this purpose, however it's size limitations were not ideal in my situation. In the end I opted for a 2-door cabinet, in a wall of full-height cabinets. It has a pull-out shelf, if I wish to pull it out. It's for the toaster, which is only used occasionally.

" middle doors go all the way down to the counter and open"

That means you have to clear the counter off to open or close the doors.

The lift up or "TV armoire" door style would not have those problems.

agreed live_wire_oak. the cabinet designer drew that. thank you!

@lazy_gardens that is true, didn't think of that.

What about a library/barrister type door that lifts up and slides back on top? Like the type on old time glass front bookcases. That could look like a regular door instead of like the common appliance garage type door (name escapes me right now). Let me see if I can find a pic.

Okay this is a little ugly but it shows them open and closed. The appliance garage type are tambour doors (I think!). IMO they look a little 90s :)

I'm planning on an appliance garage that has doors that swing up like nancyjwb is picturing. However, I've had a heckuva time finding those hinges. Here's a link to the only ones I could find. I have no idea if they're a quality hinge or not. If someone knows of a better source, I'd love to learn of it.

Oh, wait, after I typed the above, I found this photo Houzz and they say that the hardware can be found at Knape and Vogt. Note that you will lose a couple inches at the top so it will limit the height of the items you can put inside. My location will be very similar to what is pictured and I think it will be perfect my needs. I poked around Knape and Vogt and couldn't find it there. I think I'll email them this photo and see if I get a response.

I can also see this being a good solution for your space, Dietitian.

I simply like the idea that it doesn't block the uppers. I'm sure I'll have to clear things out of the front to gain access but this wouldn't be a concern for you.

If the above doesn't work for me for some reason, I'll go with a tambour door. I don't think they look dated. I think they're timeless. Roll-top desks are as beautiful now as they were 100 years ago, imho. The main reason why I'm interested in the other design above, instead of the tambour, is because I think tambours are more prone to sticking. I want something with smoother operation.

Many of the vertical lifts lift up like this one which then blocks the cabinets above and that would drive me crazy.

Or this which could be a head-banger:

When it comes down to it, I'd choose any of the above over having my blender, food processor, and toaster out on the counter. Yuck! And I think an appliance garage is so much quicker and easier than doing what I'm doing now, which is pulling them in/out of the cabinets.

BTW, with or without a door, that is going to be a beautiful wall of cabinets. Especially with LWO's excellent tweak of the rails.

I have the roll top desk look to hide my microwave. It has functioned perfectly the last 12 years. I like the look, and I like that the door is not in the way of anything when it is open.

When I mentioned the recommendation of my architect, I was referring to the style posted in the picture by funkycamper, not the tambour style. Thanks to all for posting the pics, they are very helpful in the discussion.

So my husband prefers the lift up & recess door (like the first pic funky camper posted). I like the side doors that open sideways... gonna have to compromise lol. I wonder if we could do the upper recess door with a very small or inset handle so it didn't block the cabinet above it? I plan on putting the mugs up there for the coffee machine, and how ridiculous would it be if you had to close the door to get to the mugs? I notice on a lot of them the knob or pull sticks up past the upper doors.

in case this helps:

my double decker app garage:

- I love it. Mine's extra deep (to match the depth of the standard depth fridge.

- I had to do a pull-out because my husband has no problem using the toaster under cabinetry, COOKING/heating my upper cabinets. so now, if he wants to use the toaster, he has to pull the drawer out.

Amanda's app garage

questions?

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Note: warning: check your heights/dimensions.

my gf put in a 'shallow' one (same depth as an upper cabinet): a vertical life (like above picture: "Many of the vertical lifts lift up like this one which then blocks the cabinets above and that would drive me crazy.") and she found that it wasn't tall enough for what she wanted, (?her blender and keurig).

She's so annoyed.

--

Amanda

This probably won't be advice for you, because it sounds like you really want to hide your things. But... I was all set to put in 2 appliance garages in our remodel. I like them and have had them before. I was very careful to make sure I had the height and width clearances I needed - but my only true door option was the lift up in order to get the height clearance and door not in the walkway... & then I decided I was spending too much money on cabinetry. I thought hard about my usage of the things I wanted to hide & realized I use some of them ALL THE TIME - they earned their counter privileges... and the others, once/week -- really not an issue to pull them out. What I truly wanted was a place to corral the appliances - making it look orderly. Hiding would be nice - but expensive and in the case of the toaster oven -- it created problems as well. So.... I will be doing some after-market "corralling" -- I'm going to put corbels and a beadboard backsplash under the cabinets that I wanted the garages. This way, it gives a definite space/boundary... and an organized look. Yes, I'm not hiding them anymore. But hopefully it'll still look good. It does in my mind and on my graph paper. ;-)

in case this hasn't been suggested, how about recessed doors?

you'll lose square footage, but doors will be out of the way:

recessed door

measure the space for MW well

be sure to allow the extra space for the fat outlet (some sticks right out the back, causing the MW to stick out of cabinet 1-3" further).

Or recess the MW into the wall.

Can we take a vote of overhead recessed vs side doors that recess?

I love the look of the recessed doors, but for some reason I think it's more likely you'll actually close the door if it's recessed overhead (that's probably irrational, though).

I think it depends on the size/shape of the opening. For your wider and shorter opening, I think a door that recesses overhead makes more sense. If your cabinet was taller and narrower, then I'd go with side doors that recess.

How wide is that opening anyway? I'm guessing 4-5 feet? I think anything over about 30" wide should have two doors that open and recess overhead. I suspect that anything much wider than that would get a bit heavy and unwieldy. And if you only need to use the toaster, why open up the whole thing?

It's hard to tell from your photo if your base cabinets are deeper than the uppers. Or are they all the same depth? If they're the same depth, I think you need to do what huango did with a slide out shelf or it would be difficult to actually use the appliances. If the base cabinets are deeper, then you could pull them out to gain the clearance to use them. Of course, I agree that you'll want to measure to ensure that there is enough height for your small appliances. Remember that recessed overhead doors will take up a few inches, not sure how many.

Upper & lower will be 18" I like the idea of the entire upper opening, with mugs above, & sugar, teabags, etc all being open to grab while making coffee. My husband doesn't like that he likes the door that recesses above & just shows the appliances. Either way I think I would do a pullout shelf counter below the counter.

Either way you do the doors, I think a pull-out counter will be useful.