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Original poster

Considering no door on our kitchen. Thoughts on this or a pocket door?

58 replies

Grasping · 05/04/2022 15:11

To save space really.

We would open it up to be wider/higher so it doesn’t look like we’ve just removed the door.

OP posts:
AwkwardPaws27 · 05/04/2022 15:15

Check if it'll meet building regs for fire safety.
Our architect said we had to have a door to the kitchen when planning our extension, & we'll be having a fire door due to the location of the stairs.

Original poster
Grasping · 05/04/2022 15:20

Thanks
Yes, I did read about that but found it quite confusing!

OP posts:
SolasAnla · 05/04/2022 15:21

It depends on how open plan you what the house to be and if you have other rooms that would be effected by the cooking smells and cleaning sounds
You can loose a cabinate behind a traditional door.
But knowing dinner is ready by the fire alarm going off can get old very quickly.

Original poster
Grasping · 05/04/2022 15:24

It means the kitchen would be open onto the hallway/stairs/landing. All other rooms have doors.
It’s the cooking smells that possibly are putting me off, but we rarely close the door we have at the moment anyway

OP posts:
ChocolateHelps · 05/04/2022 15:25

If you have a loft conversion then you need a protected fire corridor to escape the house. It's normally means you must have a door on all habitable rooms in the house. So this means the kitchen will need a door. You can plan for a pocket slider door, obviously it needs to be constructed as part of the extension or build.

Best to check with your building control department in advance as some require the pocket door to be fire rated including the mechanism and some are happy with just the fire rated door

Original poster
Grasping · 05/04/2022 15:28

No loft conversion and just a normal door, not a fire door, currently on there.

OP posts:
Original poster
Grasping · 05/04/2022 15:28

It’s not an extension, just a kitchen revamp/fit

OP posts:
Marblessolveeverything · 05/04/2022 15:33

Would a pocket door with glass be a compromise - dampen sound, smells etc but let light in ?

Considering no door on our kitchen. Thoughts on this or a pocket door?
Hels20 · 05/04/2022 15:33

It won’t meet fire regulations. Will someone even do this for you?

Twizbe · 05/04/2022 15:37

We don't have a door to our hallway from kitchen / living room.

One of our upstairs windows needed to have the hinges replaced so that it opened fully to comply with fire regs (this was 6 months ago so recent)

We have a good extractor fan which we use whenever cooking as well.

It works for us. We couldn't figure out which way to hang a door and we'd never close it anyway.

whirlyhead · 05/04/2022 15:39

I would recommend a pocket door. I always find open doors take up a ridiculous amount of space, so I put a pocket door on the main bedroom and it's made such a difference space-wise. It also looks really good and doesn't slam in the wind from the window!

theemmadilemma · 05/04/2022 15:40

@Grasping

It means the kitchen would be open onto the hallway/stairs/landing. All other rooms have doors. It’s the cooking smells that possibly are putting me off, but we rarely close the door we have at the moment anyway
Our kitchen/diner is like that. The living room is also off the hall, but has a door.

I'd lose some really useful space if the door had to open into the kitchen, but I'll be honest, I cannot tell you the amount of times I've quietly wished there was one there for a varity of reasons, including cooking smells etc.

Fitterbyfifty · 05/04/2022 15:40

We took our kitchen door off to get more room. Why not take it off and see what you think before deciding if you need a pocket door?

Furball · 05/04/2022 15:54

I don't know if it was ligit or not but our last house (and our current house) had no door to the kitchen. It was taken off by the previous owners as the door would open onto a wall with the light switch on so you couldn't put the light on without shutting the door again - bad design by the builders. We just continued with no door, which was open to our hall and directly opposite stairs (and landing)

And our current house doesn't have a door either.......(not our choice) and again no issue. Occasionally you can hear the dishwasher swishing away if the tvs not on etc. But I'm not fussed about it, it would only be open all the time if we did have one.

Original poster
Grasping · 05/04/2022 15:56

Thanks for your honesty @theemmadilemma
It’s like anything else I suppose, there will be times I wished I had one and others I’m glad it’s not there.

Yes, the original plan was for a glass pocket door but do they look ok?

@Hels20 I’m not sure it won’t meet fire regs.
Not all kitchens have doors do they?
There’s loads of open plan homes

OP posts:
findingsomeone · 05/04/2022 16:01

Our kitchen is open to the hall/stairs/landing. Was like it when we bought and not flagged on a survey 🤷🏽‍♀️

Apandemicyousay · 05/04/2022 16:02

We got ours hung in the opposite directions, so it opens into our hall rather than into the kitchen. Game changer. I basically only shut it at night for fire reasons

Hels20 · 05/04/2022 16:02

You may well be right OP / I am just having our house done and was told quite categorically that our door had to be replaced as it wouldn’t meet fire regs. I just think you need to check this out - or at least be aware of it. I think “open plan” kitchen/diners/lounges” still need to have some door between them and the bedrooms but I am not an expert. Just going on advice I was given 3 months ago!

Nothappyatwork · 05/04/2022 16:09

You would definitely want a door between the kitchen and the bedrooms my daughter bought an ex-rental and the first thing I did when she moved in was put the two doors on that the tenants are taking off because I don’t want her cooking alive.

Original poster
Grasping · 05/04/2022 16:09

You may be right @Hels20.
If you are, I should start closing it really!

Thanks for ideas about removing, hanging the other way and pocket doors.

Has anyone any experience of pocket doors on a kitchen?

OP posts:
Nelliephant1 · 05/04/2022 16:11

We don't have a kitchen door and we passed all planning, building warrant and completion certificate no bother at all so it won't be a problem from that point of view.

thisonebreath · 05/04/2022 16:14

We took the kitchen door off for similar reasons - there was no way to open it without it using up valuable space either side. I've never considered the fire regs aspect tbh, but I can close all the other doors as it just leads to a hallway. It's not a problem for us.

Twizbe · 05/04/2022 16:18

Not on a kitchen. We have on between our master and spare / dressing room. It's really cool as it doesn't take up any space. I wish we'd gone for a barn door look now though.

tpmumtobe · 05/04/2022 16:20

We have a pocket door between our kitchen and hall. Building control were adamant we needed one for the refurb to be signed off (traditional victorian terrace). Advantages are it takes up no room, gives us more flexibility on cupboard layout, looks neat and tidy. Disadvantage is the door has become quite grubby where it slides in and out of the pocket space, sort of scratched on the mechanism. We could probs pop it out of the frame to redecorate properly, but we can't be faffed!

Next time I'd consider one with a window because our hall is soooo dingy.

Mytholmroyd · 05/04/2022 16:20

Only if you have a very efficient and quiet extractor!