Kibble Time! Clever Cubbies and Drawers for Your Pet Food Station
See the many ways you can incorporate a food and water station for animals in your kitchen, laundry room or mudroom
Julie Sheer
February 7, 2018
Houzz Contributor; journalist with more than two decades of experience as a graphics editor and writer at the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune; outdoor guidebook author; lover of all things outdoors, nature and wildlife. Follow me at https://westcentric.wordpress.com/
Houzz Contributor; journalist with more than two decades of experience as a graphics... More
Our pets are treasured family members, so why not provide a special feeding and watering area just for them? If you have the space, built-in feeding stations in the kitchen, laundry room or mudroom are ideal places for pets to dine. The bowls can be placed at a height comfortable for animals to use and off the floor to reduce clutter, tripping hazards and mess. When tucked into islands, cabinets and benches, they can add to, rather than detract from, a room’s good looks.
Here are examples of built-in dining stations in kitchens, laundry rooms and mudrooms, with a look at how designers included them in the room’s design.
Here are examples of built-in dining stations in kitchens, laundry rooms and mudrooms, with a look at how designers included them in the room’s design.
When creating a dedicated pet feeding station, consider an area with easy-to-clean flooring that can withstand spills and drooling. If possible, incorporate storage where pet food can be kept in tightly sealed containers to ensure food stays fresh and pests can’t get in.
If you put a water bowl in a drawer, be sure to provide your pet with an additional water source that is accessible when the drawer is closed. The laundry room above includes a separate built-in water fountain for animals.
Cabinetry: Wood-Mode Fine Custom Cabinetry; dog food storage containers: Rev-A-Shelf
If you put a water bowl in a drawer, be sure to provide your pet with an additional water source that is accessible when the drawer is closed. The laundry room above includes a separate built-in water fountain for animals.
Cabinetry: Wood-Mode Fine Custom Cabinetry; dog food storage containers: Rev-A-Shelf
Kitchen Convenience
With plenty of storage for food and a ready water supply, the kitchen can be an ideal location for a built-in pet feeding station, whether in a nook or a pullout drawer.
On a shelf in an island nook. A kitchen island nook can be a particularly handy spot for a feeding station. This pet dining area in a home in Vermont’s Champlain Valley is located at the end of a stained white oak kitchen island. Food is stored in an adjacent pantry cabinet. The bowls are recessed into a piece of stainless steel that underwent a special staining process to match the white oak finish, says Dan Morris, founder of Roundtree Construction, which oversaw the project.
“That spot was chosen because, as is the case with many homes, the kitchen is the hub of family activity and the owners of this particular project consider their two dogs to be integral family members,” Morris says.
With plenty of storage for food and a ready water supply, the kitchen can be an ideal location for a built-in pet feeding station, whether in a nook or a pullout drawer.
On a shelf in an island nook. A kitchen island nook can be a particularly handy spot for a feeding station. This pet dining area in a home in Vermont’s Champlain Valley is located at the end of a stained white oak kitchen island. Food is stored in an adjacent pantry cabinet. The bowls are recessed into a piece of stainless steel that underwent a special staining process to match the white oak finish, says Dan Morris, founder of Roundtree Construction, which oversaw the project.
“That spot was chosen because, as is the case with many homes, the kitchen is the hub of family activity and the owners of this particular project consider their two dogs to be integral family members,” Morris says.
The bowls inset into this kitchen island designed by Intimate Living Interiors in a home in Rancho Santa Fe, California, are backed by colorful tile that matches the oven’s backsplash.
Location was a key consideration when designing this pet feeding station in a Sunnyvale, California, kitchen. “Pet storage is so fun to incorporate in cabinet designs,” says Ralph Saviano, whose company, Via Builders, worked on the project.
Created for a small dog, the station was placed in an island next to the breakfast nook. “We located it close to the exterior door,” he says. “One of the reasons we placed it here was because it’s at first hidden from your first impression of the kitchen-great room when you walk in.”
Created for a small dog, the station was placed in an island next to the breakfast nook. “We located it close to the exterior door,” he says. “One of the reasons we placed it here was because it’s at first hidden from your first impression of the kitchen-great room when you walk in.”
The dog-centric station in this kitchen in Centerville, Massachusetts, was constructed by Artisan Kitchens for three dogs. Over the years, the count went down to two, and now the outer bowls are for food and the center one is for water.
Treats, leashes and other supplies are kept in the drawers with dog bone cutouts. A pullout cabinet nearby contains dog food. The designer used wood as the bowl base for this project and says it’s held up, but she’s also used stainless steel for subsequent feeding stations.
Treats, leashes and other supplies are kept in the drawers with dog bone cutouts. A pullout cabinet nearby contains dog food. The designer used wood as the bowl base for this project and says it’s held up, but she’s also used stainless steel for subsequent feeding stations.
The kitchen in this traditional Atlanta home, which Pineapple House Interior Design modernized, contains an island with a bottom shelf holding dog bowls. In the background on the left, a pet barrier of tempered glass in the doorway restricts the dogs from the hallway but allows them to see through the glass.
Pet feeding stations are often incorporated into kitchens designed by Architecture in Formation, says principal Matt Bremer. This pet station with a stainless steel shelf in the kitchen of a downtown New York City loft “integrated seamlessly with the contemporary pared-down industrial aesthetic,” Bremer says.
On the floor in an island nook. A dedicated cat feeding area in the bottom of an island was part of the transformation of a formerly cramped kitchen into an open-concept space in a Dorchester, Massachusetts, home. New England Design & Construction also included a custom pullout drawer with a kitty door that leads to a litter box.
Pet bowls for a family’s beloved pit bull fit neatly in a nook of this attractive white cabinetry in the island-bar of a bright Vermont kitchen.
An open-concept kitchen contains a sleek island with room for dog bowls in this home near Los Angeles.
On a shelf in a peninsula nook. Dog bowls can fit neatly into a sleek design, as do the stainless steel ones in this contemporary kitchen in New York City’s Greenwich Village. “We love tucking in a fully integrated feeding station so a gorgeous kitchen is not undermined by bowls sitting on the floor,” says Bremer of Architecture in Formation, which worked on this project.
On a shelf in a window nook. Residual space between the kitchen and dining area ended up being a perfect spot for shelving that holds feeding bowls for a San Francisco family’s small dog, says Hingman Chan of building Lab, which worked on the home’s renovation.
In a drawer under a bench. If space is at a premium, keeping food bowls in a drawer might be a good solution. A drawer in a bench seat like this one in a Redondo Beach, California, dining area is even more space-smart. Just make sure there’s a water bowl available somewhere that pets can access at all times.
In a cabinet drawer. Canines and felines alike enjoy the feeding station that pulls out from the base of the sleek cabinetry of this kitchen in Schweinfurt, Germany.
Photo by Andrew Freedman
This nifty Corian drawer pulls out and retracts to be fully concealed. There’s room for dog food storage in a space within the drawer behind this feeding station created by Architecture in Formation.
This nifty Corian drawer pulls out and retracts to be fully concealed. There’s room for dog food storage in a space within the drawer behind this feeding station created by Architecture in Formation.
Laundry Room Solutions
Not everyone wants pet feeding stations in the kitchen, so a laundry room with storage and its reliable water source could be a good solution.
On a bench. The laundry room in this Sacramento, California, home has a bench for a cat’s food bowls and storage drawers underneath for food. The bench is made of Dekton, a composite material of quartz, porcelain and glass. The space includes a lockable cat door and a tiled corner for the litter box.
Not everyone wants pet feeding stations in the kitchen, so a laundry room with storage and its reliable water source could be a good solution.
On a bench. The laundry room in this Sacramento, California, home has a bench for a cat’s food bowls and storage drawers underneath for food. The bench is made of Dekton, a composite material of quartz, porcelain and glass. The space includes a lockable cat door and a tiled corner for the litter box.
In a drawer under a bench. The smart dog bowl drawer shown here pulls out from a bench seat built into wall cabinetry that also includes a canine sleeping nook and dog door. The cabinet is in the entrance area of an English Tudor cottage in Phoenix designed by Jack M. Smith Architect. The thin brick flooring is a durable choice that can be cleaned by sweeping and vacuuming.
On a shelf under a sink. What could be more convenient than placing pet bowls under a sink, for easy water bowl refilling and food storage? The owners of this Glenview, Illinois, home wanted the space to function as a laundry room, while also acting as a mudroom and family workshop, says Anthony Perry of A. Perry Homes, which created the space. The oversize farm-style sink is used for cleaning muddy paws, as well as for art projects and gardening.
On the floor under a sink. This large laundry room in Brookfield, Wisconsin, that was renovated by Highland Builders includes a sink with dog bowls, built-in lockers, a window seat and a laundry chute.
On a shelf in an island nook. If you’re lucky enough to have space for an island in your laundry room, this could be the ideal spot to tuck in some pet bowls. The multifunctional laundry space shown here has cabinets from Schuler Cabinetry.
Mealtime in a Mudroom
On a bench. Dirty, wet paws come with the territory in Montana, so Tim Rote, owner of Dovetail Construction, created this dog dining and lounging space in the mudroom of his own Bozeman home for chocolate Labrador retriever Rupert and black Lab Hazel, shown here. The barn board bench with dog bowls is heavy-duty enough to store 40 pounds of dog food.
Behind the opaque doors is the laundry, convenient for refilling water bowls. The floor is natural slate and has radiant heat, which the dogs love for napping after a meal. “This is all about minimizing tripping hazards and keeping dirt and moisture from getting spread around the house,” says Rote. “It’s a happy place that’s right near a door they associate with happy outdoor activities.”
On a bench. Dirty, wet paws come with the territory in Montana, so Tim Rote, owner of Dovetail Construction, created this dog dining and lounging space in the mudroom of his own Bozeman home for chocolate Labrador retriever Rupert and black Lab Hazel, shown here. The barn board bench with dog bowls is heavy-duty enough to store 40 pounds of dog food.
Behind the opaque doors is the laundry, convenient for refilling water bowls. The floor is natural slate and has radiant heat, which the dogs love for napping after a meal. “This is all about minimizing tripping hazards and keeping dirt and moisture from getting spread around the house,” says Rote. “It’s a happy place that’s right near a door they associate with happy outdoor activities.”
On a shelf in a cabinet unit. This pet feeding station incorporated into custom cabinetry built by Bell Kitchen and Bath Studios near Atlanta accommodates a kitty feeding counter up high and a doggie bowl area on a shelf below.
The built-in dog bowl shelf in this rustic mudroom in a town west of Denver is made of the same stone as the cabinetry top. Reclaimed barn wood lines the coat hook walls. The room is off the garage and used as the home’s main entrance, and the dog nook was built for a new puppy, says Jennifer Jelinek, of JJ Interiors, who oversaw the design.
On the floor in a cabinet unit. This handsome mudroom cabinet holds dog bowls and supplies for family dogs Timber and Ouzel. It’s in a ranch home on the Yellowstone River that was rebuilt by Dovetail Construction.
This mudroom with cubbies in a cabinet for each family member, including the family pet, is adjacent to a door to the backyard of a home in Slingerlands, New York. The space also includes a closet, a relocated powder room and a built-in home office.
This catch-all cabinet by Closet Factory includes a nook just for dog bowls and cabinets for pet supplies.
In a room just for a dog. Gracie the goldendoodle poses for a photo in a dog-dedicated closet built in a new home in Oak Ridge, North Carolina. Designer Maria Adams suggested the builder turn the closet off the mudroom into a doggie room, and now the cozy space includes a sleeping and feeding area and shelving for supplies.
Your turn: Share a picture of your pet’s feeding station in the Comments!
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Your turn: Share a picture of your pet’s feeding station in the Comments!
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Readers Share Options Galore for Cat Litter Boxes
Find pet dining and drinking stations and supplies
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@Coastal Radiance Lighting: No you are not. I have several neighbors with cats & dogs and other vermin. One has 8 cats and 6 dogs and a bunch of ducks and chickens. Another has 7 dogs and 4 cats, 1 horse, 2 burros, 3 pigs including a guinea and two ribbon snakes. A friend of mine has several horsies, 5 doggies, 6 cats, a squirrel she is rehabbing, bunch of chickens (I get fresh eggs!), and a couple cockatiels that yak a lot. And to top it off, my brother is a cat man - he rehabs feral cats, gets them fixed after making friends (lots of patience there), then puts them back outside again. In the winter he renovates his garage (he lives in an apt complex) into a winter cat haven complete with climbing fun, warm beds, heaters, plenty of food and toys to play along with a radio. Seems they don't want to leave him after he releases them cause every day they hang out at his back patio waiting patiently for some din din and a scratch or two or brushing. So much for wild. He did fine homes for all the babies before mamas and papas were fixed. And the complex has plenty of dogs around and ducks and geese. :)
I'm not as concerned about a dedicated feeding station as I am about storage of pet supplies. One hundred year old houses didn't plan for this! I liked seeing the pull out cabinet with plastic containers for food. I've also considered having a carpenter build storage that looks like the old potato / flour bins. I'd like the storage to be convenient but look like it's been there forever!
Put the water and food bowl in a kick toe drawer. Takes up zero room and it can be closed when visitors arrive. EFM