Modern interior design trends - why pocket doors are back

At the end of the 20^th century you would maybe only see pocket doors in old properties, as a quirky design feature that would be awkward to use and looked outdated. Fast forward to today and pocket doors have been reimagined from the almost obsolete Victorian design curiosity and have become an innovative, 21^st century design feature that works in line with other smart solutions in the home and workplace.

Pocket doors are more popular than ever today because they allow us to save space, create seamless transition between rooms, enable us to use rooms for multiple purposes and are much more sleek, elegant and reliable. Minimalist, flexible living with concealed features and seamless versatility is what modern interior design is all about, and the pocket door ticks every box.

The reasons why pocket doors have made a contemporary comeback

• Space efficiency – Pocket doors open into a wall recess rather than into the room. This makes the space immediately behind the door usable again. Creating roughly ten square feet of space in this way allows rooms to be used as a multi-purpose room (a guest bedroom and a home office, for example) or enables you to create new rooms, such as dividing one large bedroom into two smaller bedrooms. So pocket doors enable us to make good use of all the space we have available, so there is no waste.
• Room flow – Using pocket doors we can link the rooms on the ground floor of a building so that, when necessary, they can be opened up to create a better room flow. On large family occasions or when entertaining lots of people, you can open the doors between a kitchen and dining room, or a dining room and living room, so that people can move freely and engage with each other without any obstruction, rather than having people isolated and shut off in different rooms. So pocket doors encourage social activity and engagement.
• Flexibility – Using the example above, we can make a ground floor property open, communal and welcoming as necessary, but can also change it to become quiet, studious and cosy. Opening and closing pocket doors creates flexible spaces and zones that we can use to suit our needs, such as a home office, quiet study spaces or family TV spaces, or larger open spaces for communal activities such as family meals. This also applies in the workplace where open plan offices can be closed off to create quieter and more private meeting rooms or workspaces as required.
• Aesthetics – Pocket doors have a sleek and stylish appeal with clean lines and unfussy design, with very little detail. Their minimalist appeal extends to them literally disappearing from view when opened. You can’t get much more minimalist than that.
• Reliability – The preconceptions of pocket doors may have been that they used to stick on runners and required a big shove to open and close. This doesn’t apply any longer. Modern pocket doors use lightweight materials, clever design and premium manufacturing techniques to ensure their operation is slick, flawless and reliable over years and years of repeated cycles, and with very little maintenance in between.
• Versatility – Pocket doors used to be reserved for kitchen parlours and store cupboards, but now you can use pocket doors for any room in the home or workplace. Pocket doors can suit bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, utility rooms, living rooms and dining rooms, while in the workplace they can suit offices, store rooms, boardrooms, meeting rooms and training rooms.
• Accessibility – Pocket doors are ideal for people with mobility issues as they don’t have to manoeuvre themselves to open and close the door, they simply open it and pass through. Pocket doors can even be fitted with pocket door accessories, such as the self-close mechanism, so that a person doesn’t even have to turn around to close the door after them.
• Energy efficiency – The flush profiles and thermal properties of pocket doors mean they are excellent for controlling room temperatures and providing a stable temperature profile. This is good for energy efficiency, and when fitted with self-closing accessories this ability is enhanced by ensuring doors are not left open. Glass pocket doors also maximise natural light, which can help to heat and light rooms without using utility energy sources.

So pocket doors suit modern design trends because they are a smart solution with multiple uses. They can fully maximise available space and enable us to have flexibility in how we utilise rooms. This allows us to avoid costs while improving our lifestyle. Pocket doors also conceal much of their mechanics and provide innovative solutions to remove clutter and untidiness, making them an ideal solution for modern buildings which focus on the positivity of what can be used, rather than showing us waste, mess and dead space that we aren’t using.

Pocket doors are a thoughtful design with timeless appeal, and while they have enjoyed a modern renaissance, their essential design elements mean they will now be around for a long time.