Pros and Cons of Hidden Doors in Your Custom Home Design
April 19, 2022Whether you’ve always dreamed of having a bookcase that opens into another room or you want a space for privacy or security, hidden does in your custom home design can help you get what you want. But, hidden doors are not necessarily a good fit for everyone or for every home design. Here are the pros and cons of hidden doors in your custom home design to help you determine if they might be the right feature for you:
3 Pros of Hidden Doors
There are plenty of benefits of hidden doors in your custom home design. Here are a few pros of hidden doors:
1. Hidden Doors Are Seamless
From a design standpoint, hidden doors are seamless. They are designed and built to be unnoticeable when they are not being used. This means that you don’t have to worry about a hidden door affecting your interior design, to an extent. Although you do need to work with your builder on how and where to include a hidden door, you can rest assured it will fit in with whatever interior design style you like.
2. There Are Plenty of Options
The purpose behind a hidden door and other factors may limit your options, but there are still plenty of options available to help you get what you need. There is more flexibility with novelty doors than with security doors.
So, the range of options available will be determined by the purpose and type of door you need and where that hidden door leads. If you add a safe room to your custom home design, a safe room with a hidden security door will be more complicated than a bookshelf or seamless door that hides more shelves.
3. Hidden Doors Don’t Have to Take up a lot of Space
Although a hidden door leading to an entire secret room will take up space in your home design, hidden doors don’t always need to take up a lot of space. A hidden door can cover a walk-in pantry or a set of shallow shelves for a seamless kitchen design with a little extra storage.
If they’re not leading to an entirely different room, you can work with your builder to include one and a small space without sacrificing too much square footage. Also, if you’re already planning to have things like a walk-in closet, walk-in pantry, etc., and want a more seamless design, hidden doors can help you get that look. This type of seamless, low-profile look is one of the modern kitchen design ideas and can help you get a modern look in other rooms too.
3 Cons of Hidden Doors
As with anything, there can be drawbacks to having hidden doors in your custom home design. Here are a few potential cons of hidden doors:
1. Hidden Doors for Security Can be Challenging
There are pros and cons of a safe room for your custom home, and many of the challenges also apply to hidden doors meant for security. Security doors require a lot more design, more engineering, and more materials that can be difficult to find than novelty doors.
Plus, the pool of expertise for people who excel at hidden doors for security is smaller than that for novelty doors. Unless your builder already has a relationship with someone who has this expertise, it can be challenging to find. This is not a concern if your hidden door doesn’t need to be reinforced or designed specifically for security reasons.
2. They Increase Costs and Time
Adding a hidden door into your custom home design increases the overall cost and also adds time to the build. This is particularly true if it will lead into an entire room.
Not only do you need to consider the room itself, but you also need to figure out communication, another way out, what needs to be in that room, etc. Depending on what you’re looking for, the added costs and time can be substantial, which may limit your options in other areas or could be prohibitive.
3. Hidden Doors Take up Space
Although they don’t need to take up a lot of space, you will be sacrificing some square footage to make room for a hidden door. You have to consider how much space is needed for whatever is behind the door as well as including enough space to properly operate the door. Depending on the purpose of the hidden door, what it’s hiding, and its placement, you may need to give up a little or a lot of space in your floor plan.
These are some pros and cons of hidden doors in your custom home design to consider before deciding to add one to your home design. Evaluating the pros and cons, and working with a custom home builder you trust, can help you determine what you want and need in a custom home.
If you’re ready to bring your dream home to life, contact Custom Home Group at 717-284-4090!