It feels like it's every day that a new kitchen appliance is trending, and many of our countertops are beginning to feel the toll. Navigating around toasters, air fryers, and kettles when cooking just slows everything down — and extra clutter never looks good.
Cue: the appliance garage. This nifty hack gives smaller kitchen appliances a dedicated space in the kitchen, which makes cleaning and cooking easier all around, but also keeps them at hand, so you actually use that ice cream maker you received as a Christmas gift.
This kitchen storage idea can function in many different ways, so there’s plenty of adaptability to your kitchen design. To make things simple, I've broken down what exactly an appliance garage is and the variety of ways you could incorporate one into your space.
So, What Is an Appliance Garage?
As the name implies, this is a small garage-like spot for your appliances, to store them while not in use. The door is designed to replicate a garage, using a lift mechanism, folding doors, or even tambours, which gives you easy access compared to piling everything in one big drawer.
The great thing about appliance garages is that they can be adapted to any size kitchen. If you're limited for space, a small garage can be constructed on the sides of your countertop or even in an existing cabinet. Having your appliances tucked away not only reduces clutter but also allows you to enjoy your beautifully designed small kitchen without unsightly interruptions.
Alternatively, if you have more space, or just a lot more you want to hide, then mini-larder style cabinets can house a lot more. These larger features can also store dry goods and non-refrigerated food alongside. You can even make a mini coffee bar with teabags, coffee, and sugar ready to go next to the kettle.
The great thing about this idea is how adaptable it can be into different spaces. Beyond size, where you place an appliance garage in a kitchen can make a big difference in how easily it functions.
Here are five ideas for how you could bring one into your own space.
1. This Tambour Door Design
This appliance garage uses tambour doors for seamless access to whatever you need. Olivia Botrie, principal designer at Dart Studio, explained to me why this choice works so well.
"It’s incredibly easy to access day-to-day, while still allowing everything to be neatly tucked away when not in use," Olivia explains. "The countertop flows straight into the garage, so there’s no lifting or shuffling appliances around. It’s a simple detail that makes the kitchen feel calmer, cleaner, and far more functional."
While some doors open outward into your kitchen, considering how much space you want this to take up in daily use is important. If you're limited for space in your house, then creating a door that doesn't interrupt the flow of your cooking is essential.
2. This Garage Designed for an Airfryer
Air fryers often require a large amount of space, and aren't typically the most stylish of small appliances. This garage was designed by No.54 Interiors specifically to fit the client's large, dual model air fryer. It sits on a sliding drawer, making the appliance easily accessible when needed but just as easy to tuck away to maintain a clutter-free kitchen.
The heating nature of an air fryer means safety has to be considered when storing it or using it in an enclosed space. "We walked through the ergonomics to ensure safety and ease of use, created suitable ventilation, and ensured power was placed appropriately within first fix," Zoe Perks, from No.54 Interiors, explains.
Lift mechanism doors ensure that even when the air fryer is pulled out and in use, there's no extra space being taken up.
It's not only mugs than can be stylish and colorful – your kettle can be just as fun too. This green option from Next is a great shade that isn't too garish but still brings a bit of color to kitchen.
A dual zone air fryer makes cooking so much easier as you have different temperature balances for each area. The clear screen also to helps make sure your food always comes out just right.
I love the color of this oven so much, but beyond aesthetics, the six cooking modes make this a handy tool to have in the kitchen.
3. This Kitchen's Toaster Drawer
Appropriately named a 'toaster drawer', this appliance garage stores a toaster away day-to-day, but has a sliding drawer so you can easily pull it out during a busy morning. That means no having to drag your toaster out from under cabinets every morning to use, and it acts as an automatic crumb catcher.
Home and lifestyle influencer Aimeé Richardson installed her toaster drawer after realizing she didn't have enough room for a pantry. She used pre-made cabinets from IKEA and added a sliding drawer. Placing this garage next to a plug socket is important as you want to eliminate as much moving around of appliances as possible.
This effect can easily be recreated in existing cabinetry by either screwing in sliding drawers or using stick-on sliding drawers like these, available on Amazon.
4. This Sliding Door Garage
It's not only drawers that can slide — using sliding doors to create your appliance garage is a great way to seamlessly incorporate one into your kitchen, without requiring swing space for the door. And when they're closed, your guests will be none the wiser.
"In the kitchen of this Californian Eichler house, appliance garages are hidden behind the splashback. This appliance garage uses sliding glass panels on either side of the range to conceal the client's mixer, coffee makers, blender, and toaster, all of which get regular use in their kitchen, and can remain plugged in and ready for use," architect Megan Blaine, co-founder of Blaine Architects, tells us.
By building this garage into the wall, and not on top of the countertop, no space is sacrificed, and the kitchen maintains standard-depth counters. Plus, it's big enough to act as a stand mixer storage idea.
5. Use a Pull Out Shelf
Installing a pull-out shelf is a great way to create easy accessibility to your appliances. Even if your garage is located in a hard to reach corner, having a pull-out shelf means anything tucked away becomes much easier to reach.
A shelf that's wider than the appliance also means you can store relevant items around it. Anna Popov, principal designer at Interiors by Popov, explains, "The coffee station is hidden behind a flip-up door. The coffee maker is plugged in and is on a pull-out shelf, making it very convenient for daily use. Having additional shelving above the appliance provides the required storage for the additional attributes to make a great cup of coffee."
This same method can be applied to other parts of your kitchen, such as storing baking ingredients and scales around your mixer. Larger garages also offer space to store other items that don't get frequent use. Keeping things like placemats, serving dishes, and table decorations stored away can help to reduce clutter and easily clear away mess for when you are hosting guests.
Even when you're limited for space, small kitchens don't have to feel cluttered or crowded. Have a read of these small kitchen ideas that make the best use out of the room you have.