When customizing our cabinets, there were some features we knew were a bit unique but for our family, they made sense. We worked with our cabinet builder to create a Built-In Hidden Dog Gate!
There are a lot of really great advantages to working with a cabinet builder. One of the biggest is customization. In many ways, the sky is the limit. (Assuming you can afford it.)
In our case, our friend Dave built the kitchen for us – which was an incredible gift. And he had his work cut out for him – because I had lots of ideas. And I also had Pinterest.
Red alert: Danger.
In the end, the way our kitchen was built meant that we could truly make the cabinetry fit the kitchen, instead of just trying to shove all the standard cabinets into our space. And even more exciting was that we could add some unique features that fit our lives and family.
One of those features was the built-in hidden dog gate.
I have received so many questions about this little feature, so I thought I’d share some additional details and photos. The gate was built to extend and block off the mudroom from the kitchen. This is the area where the dogs stay when we aren’t home, so it’s a practical way to avoid the ugly plastic dog gates.
BUILT-IN HIDDEN DOG GATE
Because not only are they flimsy and ugly, they need a place to be stored when they are not in use. I was inspired by this forum at houzz with this image of a built-in gate.
And because I’m really helpful, I just showed Dave and Ryan this photo and asked them to recreate it. No details, no specifics.
And Dave totally came through. He created the gate to slide behind the built-in cabinetry, designing some of the cabinetry to a narrower depth to allow space for the gate. (This ended up being the set of drawers on the far left size.)
The gate needed to span the hallway, so he added some extra length to that measurement. Then, he placed the gate on wheels to slide in and out. Inside the cabinet, they used carpet to hold the gate tight inside. (No drawer slides needed).
Dave notched out the handle in the trim piece, which makes it easy enough to pull out that even Henry can do it.
And when it’s completely closed, it blends in well with the trim work. 
But it’s also super easy to slide out the gate and cut off the kitchen from the mudroom.
Wanna see more of our kitchen? Check out all the details of the process. And check out the other baby gate we created in our last house.
If you were building a kitchen, what feature would you add?
Do you like this? Put a pin on it.
SEE MORE OF OUR KITCHEN!
CHOOSING A TILE BACKSPLASH FOR THE KITCHEN
When the gate is out, did you have a locking mechanism in place to prevent movement?
We didn’t put a lock on this – our dogs are fairly small and the gate is heavy. I would imagine you could include some sort of hook and eye if you need more security.
That is a clever idea. How ever I would need to remove it to clean the wheels/vacuum the pocket.
great point. You could use one of those flat things they sell on tv to go under the refrigerator I guess.
Live the floors. What are they?
This looks like a great idea!
But can your dog’s open the gate by themselves when it is across the doorway? Or is there some mechanism to stop it from being opened except by an adult? My (60lb) dog tends to open regular sliding pocket doors by himself, so I was just wondering if you have that problem with this gate
Thanks!
We haven’t had this issue, but my dogs are pretty small. I think it would be fairly easy to add a hook and eye latch to the gate – that’s what we did for our baby gate in the last house. (https://newlywoodwards.com/2013/02/building-better-baby-gate.html)
Good luck!
I had 100% custom cabinets. I found it was not expensive (but not cheap, either). I worked directly with cabinet builder/designer. No salesman. No management. No showroom. Etc. Indeed, if you compare custom QUALITY and MATERIALS with particle board junk from Home Depot you are comparing apples to oranges.
The quality is definitely a huge difference – and you are right, it’s not a fair comparison. I think there’s a time and place for both types of cabinets, but you make a great point. In our case, our friend built the cabinets as a gift, so the price was less than even IKEA cabinets.
Could you send exact plans and directions? We want our trim guy to build one of these and have thought of using cabinet glides but an actual plan would greatly help. Thank you!!
I’m sorry, Lisa. We don’t have plans. Our friend built our cabinets and he just winged it. We chose not to use cabinet slides because this was pretty heavy and solid and the glides would take up too much space for a small insert. They just used wood and created a spot for it. Good luck!
what are the dimensions (height) of that gate? And what type of rollers were used? Also, do you find that it wobbles inside the cavity when it is pulled out and in use?
What!?! Would work for kids as well as dogs. Thanks for sharing this idea.
Definitely would work for both.
That is Awesome. You would never guess there was a gate stored there!! Nicely done!
It is the little things, isn’t it? Just perfection.
okay, this is brilliant! love it!
Absolutely brilliant! Bad follower, I forgot you had two pooches. Love that they can’t get into any trouble while you’re away!
This is brilliant. I was telling Tim about it and I am SO sending him this post. I don’t know that we can make it work but it would make our new kitchen so awesome!
Great idea! I love it.
Wow! Great idea and execution!
LOVE THIS! So brilliant. Thanks for sharing!!
this is awesome! i need several in my home! 😉