What Are The Benefits Of Using A Pocket Door?
Pocket doors are a timeless classic in terms of interior design. They were very popular in Victorian times and have had something of a renaissance in the 21st century as people re-discover and enjoy retro fashions, but also because we have started to appreciate the practical qualities they possess. Pocket doors have become a popular element of home improvement projects and are also used as an innovative solution in business environments, so why has this renewed interest in pocket doors occurred and what are their benefits? First let’s look at the pocket door concept and understand what we are talking about.
What is a pocket door?
Traditional hinged doors will open with a push or pull motion and will then follow either a forward or backward arc, depending on how the door has been installed. Instead, a pocket door opens by being pushed along an overhead rail in the same orientation. By opening a pocket door we are sliding it along the rail and into a ‘pocket’ in the adjacent wall, which is a recess in which the door disappears and can sit until it is required to be closed.
The benefits of the pocket door
So the major benefit of the pocket door is that it does not encroach into a room when it is opened, in fact it does not invade any space in a room. With a traditional hinged door, the opening arc takes up approximately ten square feet of space in a room, so this space becomes redundant and can’t be used for anything.
By installing a pocket door we are opening up this space and making it available for storage or for extra pieces of furniture or fittings. This means that a room can be redesigned to have a different purpose by installing a pocket door, or it can have multiple purposes which weren’t possible previously.
Other benefits to the pocket door are that they can very easily be installed in a new home, by incorporating them into a stud wall construction, but they can also be retro-fitted on an existing solid wall by creating a ‘new’ stud wall adjacent to the existing one. Pocket doors can also be retro-fitted with accessories to ease and enhance their operation. These include soft-close/anti-slam fittings, double-door co-ordination and self-closing fittings.
Pocket doors can be fitted with no architrave and hence can look sleek and minimalist in line with contemporary fashions, and they can also help to link rooms and open them up temporarily. So in a home you can fit pocket doors to link a dining room and living room, and when you are entertaining or on Christmas Day when there are lots of people around, you can open the doors to create a bigger space. In a work environment this is also useful for creating larger temporary spaces for exhibitions or meetings.
How pocket doors are regularly used
The primary benefit of the pocket door is its space-creating quality. This has seen the pocket door become a key feature of many home improvement projects. So the pocket door can be used for creating:
- An en-suite bathroom – the pocket door can create just enough space to fit a sink, toilet and shower in a space you previously couldn’t.
- A home office – you can now fit a desk, chair and cabinet in a small room
- A guest bedroom – now there is space for a bed and a wardrobe in a room
- A multi-use room - you can combine a home office with an occasional guest bedroom or kids playroom
- Downstairs toilet – you can adapt that redundant space under the stairs and create a functional downstairs toilet
- Utility room – you can make better use of a large kitchen by sectioning off a wall and creating a utility room, so the washing machine, dryer and freezer are out of sight.
In a work environment there are also many uses for pocket doors:
- Office – creating a small office from an otherwise redundant space, particularly if you use a glass pocket door to create more light and ‘space’
- Storage – sectioning off part of a large room for some vital storage
- Computer servers – creating a small server room which needs restricted access but doesn’t need to be large
- Canteen – creating a small canteen or kitchen for employees to make drinks, store food in a fridge and have a sit down at a table
- Meeting rooms – double pocket doors can create a prestigious entrance to a boardroom or a meeting and visitors room.
These many benefits of a pocket door go some way to explaining why they have become so popular in recent years, and how pocket doors are a versatile and adaptable addition to interior design possibilities.