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North Carolina Home

Everything About Our Beverage Station and Hidden Appliance Garage

August 24, 2022

Okay, it's impossible for me to choose a favorite part of my kitchen, but right now? This is it. This is the thing I'm most excited to show and tell our guests because it's just so brilliant. And it's officially done! Now that our long awaited refrigerator drawers arrived, and the mirrored tile backsplash is installed, I'm resting easy. It's just nice to cross something off your list that's been in the works for over a year ya know? Introducing our beverage station and hidden appliance garage!

Cutting Board Gallery Wall | Pendant | Sconce | Cabinet Hardware | Faucet | Mirror Tile

This used to be a kitchen desk area, so it was a very deep-set part of the kitchen. We had no need for a desk area in the kitchen, so Stoffer came up with the most genius use of this space. A beverage station.

Before

After

We don't drink alcohol but that doesn't stop us from having fun with our beverages. We love making fun drinks, plus we're daily smoothie, protein, and supplement drinkers. Stoffer made sure to design a designated place for our beverage lifestyle and that's just one of the reasons why Jean is the best.

Beverage Station Components

Our beverage station would not be complete without a nugget ice maker over on the left. Ours is the Scotsman Nugget Ice Machine and it works like a dream. For some reason some people were DM-ing me, warning me that their nugget ice machine is super loud, but this one is has hardly made a peep–really quiet and discreet.

The refrigerator drawers took a hot minute to get here, and we actually hung a temporary cafe curtain for a few months to curb the long wait. The day they arrived felt like Christmas, probably because it's also when our freezer arrived. We went with the Subzero Wolf brand, along with the rest of our appliances and they live up to their name–top notch quality. The drawers hold all our favorite drinks including almond milk and coconut water for making smoothies. The last appliance we are waiting on is the Fridge. September cannot come soon enough!

We had to go all the way and make this "bar" a "wet-bar" with a sink! We chose the Strive Undermount bar sink because of how well it paired with the sink at the island. Clean lines, premium stainless steel, plus it includes a bottom rack to help prevent scratching. I especially love the small size of it, while still being deep enough for me to set my Stanley Cup in it for a fill-up. The faucet itself is a work of art.

Beneath the sink is of course some plumbing, but also where we keep a discreet little trash can for convenience!

Appliance Garage: Movable Backsplash

Shop Our Beverage Station

I never tire of showing this appliance garage over on Instagram. It's a genius way to store those commonly used appliances without taking up precious countertop space. But I always get so many questions on exactly how it works. It feels like an illusion when you look at it. Like where is does that gliding backsplash go? Tbh, I didn’t understand exactly how it was going to come together until it actually came together.

You can see more photos demonstrating how it was built, but here's basically how it works!

First, let's get some dimensions straight.

The depth of the full countertop slab from the edge to the mirrored backsplash is 38-in. A standard countertop is 26-in so this leaves plenty of space for storing the appliances.

The depth of the actual garage space where the small appliances live is 12-in.

And the depth of the upper cabinets that are mounted in front of the garage door is 13-in.

So basically, the upper cabinets are deep enough to fit all of our glasses and drink mixes and such, but shallow enough that the appliance garage can glide up behind.

The frame that was built for the upper cabinets to mount on to is not actually the full height of the cabinets. It starts up at the ceiling and only goes down about halfway to leave room for the garage door to glide up behind the cabinets. Here's the exact gliding hardware we used.

At first it was incredibly hard to open, and easy to close. We played with the tension a bit so that it’s much easier to open, and a hard to close, but it has gotten easier! The tension needs to be tight enough that when you lift the panel up, it stays put, rather than sliding back down. The heavy-duty brass pull was't actually in the original design but (with Jean's approval of course) we added it to make it easier to lift!

Mirrored Tile Backsplash

Speaking of things not included in the original design... this mirrored tile backsplash! When you opened up the garage “backsplash” before, all of our appliances were against a white wall and it felt a little lackluster in contrast to the magic of the gliding backsplash. Now when you open it, it’s like opening a little jewel box, rather than a bread box ya know?

We DIY'd the antique mirror backsplash and in only 3 hours time, we now have this beautiful camouflage backdrop to our small appliances. I love it so much I want to use this tile somewhere else in my house.

Upper Cabinet Storage

The open cabinet really demonstrates that the upper cabinets don't go all the way back to the tile backsplash. Again, they had to be shallow enough so that the garage door could slide up behind it. This is where we store all of our mugs and glasses, both for daily use and hosting.

In the other cabinet we have protein powder, supplement powders, pre-workout, and all of our Stanley cups and shaker bottles. It's quite possible this corner of the kitchen gets the most use!

What other questions do you have?

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  1. I would like to know the exact measurements of the depth of the counter please. How did you manage to keep the original space the same without having to extend the walls of that area. I’m not sure if I’m explaining my question correctly.

    1. The depth of the full countertop slab from the edge to the mirrored backsplash is 38 inches. The depth of the actual garage space where the small appliances live is 12 inches. And the depth of the upper cabinets that are mounted in front of the garage door is 13 inches.

  2. I love this what did you do with the floors they look like Brazilian cherry originally and now they are very light and warm? Also what color are the cabinets?

  3. Thanks for the great post! Can you clarify if the space behind the cabinets is sort of a "dead space" now, or if there is something on the back of the wall/behind the beverage station, that takes up that space? Hard to visualize without a floor plan. Thanks

  4. Love it! Great to be able to hide the small appliances if you have the space. Wondering about the mirror effect on seeing double to plug cords though? I might have picked a more serene backsplash but I know you like a '90's throwback!

    Would also be a great space for a "kitchen drop zone" - you know - that place where all the daily stuff of life (kids papers, mail, things that need to be dealt with) could go. In my kitchen, I don't mind having the appliances out, bout I would LOVE a way to hide the daily life clutter when someone is coming over for dinner!

  5. Did you consider ditching the kettle and adding an instant boil tap as part of the sink? I'm guessing that the aesthetic would be wrong, but I do long instant hot and cold water.
    Also - is there a step stool hidden away somewhere? I know you guys are really tall, but those cabinets are really high and I'm pretty sure I'd struggle to get things off the top shelves.

  6. Thanks for this GENIUS idea, and we're planning to do a smaller version on the side of our stove for our blender and food processor. Do you think it would work with open shelves above, rather than cabinets, assuming you can still hide the garage door when it goes up? Our HVAC is requiring open shelving instead of closed cabinets.

  7. Would kill to have this in my home. Seriously- ugly appliances (and honestly even the pretty ones) are such an eyesore and cluttery looking. I'm constantly moving them to photograph the kitchen and would kill for something like this!

  8. That 38” counter is everything 🤩
    I’m wondering if you can share any additional info on your pantry doors? I can’t find anything on Milgard interior doors.
    Thanks Julia!

  9. Absolutely love this idea! It looks so gorgeous even with all the appliances out! Just wondering - do you find you leave the 'garage door' open or closed more often?

      1. If you leave it open…doesn’t that defeat the purpose of this whole garage? Hiding the “ugly” appliances? So much money wasted in this house it’s disgusting.

  10. Hi Julia! Did you grout the tile and if so which grout did you use? Also do you think Musselbound tile mat adhesive would work instead of the Gorilla tube adhesive? Thanks so much!

  11. Love it so much. When we were making building plans we planned a beverage center but we chucked it all and moved to a mountain home. Is the coffee maker behind the sink?Or do you have one out not shown here? It looks so clean and styled. Beautiful.

  12. Just amazing! Love following this kitchen transformation. Have to say that your interesting content, distinctive voice and quality photography are let down by these blog posts with so many proofreading errors.

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