Small kitchens have to get smart about their use of space, and this often means hiding appliances or kitchen tools. Then, surprise! They pop up, slide out, or emerge from an unexpected place. We love kitchens that have secrets and surprises. Here are a few great details from our archives. There are hidden vents, an oven that opens in a very unexpected way, and a genius cutting board installation.
TOP ROW
• 1 Spiral Wine Cellars - A kid's dream! A trapdoor under the floor, leading to a secret spiral wine cellar.
• 2 Pull-out cooktop from Kittie's kitchen - A turntable? No - a cooktop! Such a great idea for a tiny kitchen.
• 3 Pull-out cutting board & trash can - A genius idea from Sara Moulton's kitchen. Pull out the board, chop, and brush clippings straight into the trash.
• 4 Built-in food processor - A startling detail from Louis Armstrong's kitchen. We had never seen this before!
• 5 A surprising oven - From a sleek city kitchen. This oven actually opens by lowering the shelf. Space-age!
BOTTOM ROW
• 6 Spices! - We've seen a lot of spice drawers, but this one in Lupine's kitchen is especially well-executed.
• 7 Refrigerator/freezer drawers from Laurent Tourondel's kitchen - We had never seen fridge drawers until this chef's kitchen came along. What a great space-saving idea!
• 8 Washing machine & dryer - Yes, washing machines are fairly normal in city kitchens, but we liked how integrated this one was. It's right there under the countertop.
• 9 Video: Secret Surprise Kitchen Appliance - A surprise from my own kitchen. Too bad it doesn't work!
Do you have anything surprising or unexpected in your kitchen? Anything that slides out, pops up, or unfolds? Tell us all about it!
Related: The Kitchn's Top 20 Kitchen Tours Of All Time (So Far)
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My spices are the same way in a drawer by the stove, only in metal tins turned to their sides with labels. Super easy to grab what I need and keep organized.
We had one of those built-in blenders in our kitchen when I was a kid. It was awesome.
I know my kids love having a wine cellar...?
I like the spice drawer but you can keep the rest. I remember the blender thing from the 60s-70s in a lot of kitchens and bars-in-the-den and they were usually broken.
the cutting board/trash can combo is SUCH a winner... wow! great idea! now if only i had a "real" kitchen...
You can have very close to the cutting board trash can combo with one purchase: an insert for any base cabinet that pulls or swings out a trash can. I have one, and keep my great big cutting board on the counter-top above it at all times -- slide the cutting board toward you, open the cabinet door hiding the trash can, and sweep all the garbage in. A super investment of $50.
I love the pull-out cooktop idea! That would be awesome in my kitchen, as we have barely any bench space.
I think having the washer/dryer in the kitchen is pretty common outside the US. The laundry in my apartment is in the kitchen. The only downside is that I don't have enough water pressure to do laundry and wash dishes at the same time.
I love that idea for spices!
shawnamuffin, I think it's more the whole 'secret hide-away cellar in the floor!!' than the wine bit that would make it a hit with kids.
I, for one, think it's awesome. I don't drink wine, but I'd do something cool with the space.
In a similar vein as #3, my roomies and I built a large counter-height table recently with a opening near the back to push food-prep-remnants into a trashcan below. The table took us from having almost no counter space, to having tons of it. Such a great kitchen upgrade.
My brother in Dublin, Ireland is planning to put in a tube-like wine cellar beneath the floor - only rather than going down a trap door - it pops up with the press of a botton. Pretty cool!
Pull out cooktop - most clever, especailly for NYC kitchens!
As for washer/dryer in kitchen - quite common but I never understood the concept of bringing dirty clothes into the kitchen - I'd put stackable unit in the bathroom!
I'm so glad you included the blender from Louis Armstrong's house--the whole place is decorated in a quirky, loving way that really captures an aesthetic moment. It's now a museum (in Queens), and even though it's kind of out of the way for a lot of New Yorkers, it's worth the visit!
I don't like the built in blender... What if you need that bench top space for something? Things should not be nailed down to bench tops.
I retrofitted a pullout trash and recycle bin in my kitchen and I love it. Very, very worth it. I can just prepare stuff on the countertop and brush waste directly into the trash/compost/recycle part and viola! Helps me with cleaning which is good, b/c I'm not so hot at it.
The blender jar is not permanent. If you are not using the blender, the jar can be stored elsewhere. The base is then flush with the counter top. There were other attachments, like a mixer, that could use the same base.
My grandmother had a blender built into her countertop. Very 60s. (50s?). I think it really predates our appreciation of planned obsolescence -- today we all look at that and say "uhh, but what happens when a better blender comes out?" She thought she'd keep that blender forever, no doubt. It *was* the future, why look beyond it?
Nutone Blenders! They no longer make them...my father was an appliance repairman and he made sure my mother's kitchen had one. (He made sure she had the first dishwasher and the first self-cleaning oven on the block, too!) It had the BEST meat grinder attachment. However, all the attachments had to be stored somewhere so it really took plenty of space, and if something broke you had to wait for a service call.
In my second apartment the washer & dryer was in the kitchen. It was so perfect, so convenient, that if I ever build a home or remodel, the laundry room will be IN the kitchen.
Actually, my current apartment has the W&D behind a partition wall in the kitchen and I frequently wish I could tear the wall DOWN!