I have a built-in china closet in the dining room of my house built circa 1900. It has glass doors. I don't know whether it is original to the house or not.

A built-in buffet would be very in keeping with an older home. Presumably you only structurally need a post and maybe a cross beam...you could work around the rest with sheet rock, trim molding and add cabinetry, perhaps with glass fronted doors and even a stone or marble work surface, maybe a mirrored back splash. I think it could be lovely.

I would make it seamless with the rest of the room and have it not recognizable as a closet- invisible. if that means lots of trim, wonderful, but make it work with the house so it looks like a wall.

What's on the other side of that wall? Is it entryway? Could you access the closet from that side?

A built in buffet would be very pretty, and appropriate. If that's not the type of storage you want, or the structural work prevents that, I would look for a couple of pretty antique doors that match the age/style of your house, and then design the front of the closet to fit them. I'd make sure you can match the existing baseboard and other moldings to wrap around the closet and make it look seamless with the rest of the room.

I'd probably do this and make it look like a paneled wall and built ins:

We built a china cabinet into ours of similar size, but it was inset into a niche. In your case, I like the paneled front idea that palimpsest suggested, and her idea about flanking the doorway on both sides is brilliant.

I was thinking pretty much the same thing as pal, but do keep in mind that 2 ft deth is wonderful for some things (allows platters and serving pieces to be stored and linens to be folded less (or you could create a hanging space - even better), but 2 ft deep cabinets can be a pain for reacing into and letting things get lost in the back. Think about how to build out the space, even if it means adding the post and living with it there while you plan. Decide whether a step in closet, drawers, hanging inens, deep shelves or perhaps a hutch or other option will best use the space.

We built a hutch into a recess that was about 27 inches deep. We used regular 24 inch base cabinets and set a deep counter over them, then used uppers down to the counter on the sides and an open shelf across the middle -- just to give you a better idea what I am talking about. With a larger span, you could have a significant sideboard or buffet space. You might even addd a wine fridge, fridge drawers or a warming drawer if they would be useful to you. If the budget isn't there for something unplnned like that, plan the space for the size adn power needs (power will be great or a warming tray, lamps and other tings you might want on a buffet too. If you are going to do it, do it well.

Thank you all for your ideas and suggestions. It would be great to be able to access this space from the entry, but the wall is full of duct work and plumbing, so cutting through the wall is a no-go.

The sag will be fixed by putting the weight back over the area in the basement where it belongs. We're fixing something was done incorrectly a long, long time ago.

I like the idea of making this look like a hutch, at least in theory. It's good to know that china closets were common in the past. The main issue with doing a hutch or glass doors is that the things that we need to store aren't very view-worthy: the vacuum and cleaning supplies, wrapping paper, seasonal storage, toys and games, yada, yada. Stuff that goes with family life, rather than beautiful dishes that look lovely, but need regular dusting. ; )

I'll have to talk to DH about doing the thick wall like Pal suggests. I considered that too, actually. I have a secretary desk that's to the left of the window on the 14' 10" wall, so it would need to move if we did that. (I don't know where....)

Those pictures are gorgeous, Roarah, I bookmarked them.

Finding used doors is a good idea, Jlc, why didn't I think of that, LOL.

Hmmm, Lacatx, doing a huge buffet there is an interesting idea, too.

I want to do this well, but I have to admit, I'm awfully tempted to get a pair of sliding doors, enclose it and move on with the million other projects here! Has anyone got a big ole closet in their dining room?

We did that in our LR and it looks nice. The closet is about 7' x almost 4'. We needed the space just like you do. It's full of shelves except to the far side where all but the top two shelves are gone, that way I can store my Christmas tree and ornaments.

The key to it looking good and blending in is the door. We have double doors on ours.

Does it look like a closet is there? Sure, but it looks great. If I say so myself. :)

That's helpful, Oakley. Do you have pictures of your closet? I'd love to see!

Here are some pictures of the wall in question, as well as the room itself.

have never had a closet in a dining room, but it would be great if it could be built something like the pics roarah posted!!

are you able to move the opening into the entryway down as close as you can to the corner and maybe narrow the opening to 3 1/2' so you have another ~ 1- 1 1/2' or so to work with?? that would eliminate most of that ~18"(?) piece of wall to the right of the opening and also give a little more privacy in the dining room from the entryway...

but, then you could configure that space however works best for you (tho I think some lighted glass doored cabinets would look really nice in a dining room-- even if they're only narrow ones at the very top near the ceiling...) with cabinet doors and drawers so it doesn't look like a coat/utility closet in your dining room...

Here you go. The closet is wider than the doors, and we have a light inside. The door to the left is the ac/heat unit for this room. I think doors here and there adds character to a house. You can get all sorts of different hardware. Glass knobs might be neat for a dining room!

I wonder if you might be able to build something that looks like the closets in Roarah's pics (which I love) but actually functions in way you want it to. For instance, use doors that are glass on the top half, but cover the glass for now with window film or fabric on the inside, so no one can see your vacuum and such, but later, you (or the next owner) could use the storage for dish ware or other pretty things. Also put in the supports for shelving inside even if you don't use the shelving for now. I don't know if that makes sense...I haven't finished my coffee yet...but I can see it in my head!

My first thought was like Pal's -- built out the opposite side of the door too.

My childhood home had long walls of closets just like what Pal mocked up. My mom needed the storage space and the dining room was large.

The doors were integrated into the wall, you could not see them. They were push to open latches.

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Well, that's not where I was going to stick this picture, but it's where it landed. Anyhoo, here's a picture I just found of a paneled dining room with similarly paneled closet doors. Wheee...

We can't move the opening to the entryway, busybee, since the heat and plumbing chases are in the way. I do like the idea of doing glass near the tops of the closet doors, though! : )

Wow, Palimpsest, thank you so much for drawing up an example of the paneled wall on each side of the door. (I must also say, besides the paneled closets, that it's so good to see a white ceiling in the dining room again! While I like "rustic", the particle board on the beams isn't quite doing it for me, LOL.) I'll have to show the drawing to DH and see what he thinks.

I'll admit I'm still struggling with loosing the airiness of the room by putting up those closets that make the room 2 feet narrower. But airiness + clutter (or, should I say "homeless items") really doesn't equal airy, does it.

Thank you for posting a picture of your built-out closets, Oakley. That is very helpful to see them in your space. Now, I don't feel crowded when I look at your cozy room, so that's encouraging. : ) And glass knobs...those are some of my favorites.

Sueb, I wonder if glass doors would help the closet feel... less invasive in the space. I think I'd need to do curtains inside, but maybe they'd feel less solid and imposing that way??

Really Localeater, your mom had a great wall of storage in the dining room? Hooray! That's good news. How cool to have integrated doors that blended into the wall. I looked up the push to open latches. Goodness, they were less expensive than some hardware I've looked at. How often does that happen??

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. My brain is feeling weary from lots of decision making on this house, so it's good to get some fresh eyes and ideas on this one.

I would prefer it being some sort of wood cabinetry vs making walls with a door in it - wouldn't have to be glass doors or even a traditional dining room hutch specifically. It could even be a tall pantry type cabinet.

The problem with making a typical closet with walls/doors is that then your room has all these DOORS which lead every which way - at least three. Rooms with a lot of doors always look a little unsettled to me - gives it kind of a Grand Central Station feeling. Also I think something well designed with shelving is going to have more functionality and useable storage space than a big ole closet.

Kasha, she needs space for a vacuum cleaner and other household items that can't really be on display. In an 1897 home, I think an extra door would fit in.

The old house I grew up in had 3 doorways in the DR. I still dream of that house.

Good points, both of you Kasha and Oakley. We have friends that keep their vac in an old pantry/armoire style cabinet, so I have seen that done. A free standing unit would be nice(!), but it won't support the upstairs, which is where a built in unit of some sort would come into play.

Is there a way to take the formality of the paneled room (above) down about 5 notches? These rooms appeal to me quite a bit more:

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I certainly think you can play with less formal options. Beadboard would allow you to do hidden doors that go all the way to the ceiling or crown. The wainscoating would seem to suggest a shorter door, but it could be applied to a plain door and blended in. I could also see a barn door treatment or sliding doors like you might see on a bookcase in your room.

Something you might want to check out. Look at Murphy Door. I was on a flight returning home and saw an add for Murphy Doors. They had several variations, but it might be a way to have a decorative shelving/cabinet facing the DR and have hidden storage behind it. I'm going to look into it for space where I've had my computer -- it's basically a 2 ft deep built-in that was designed for tube televisions and I'd like to be able to have books double deep.

I like the idea of "hidden" doors as localeater and lascatx mentioned. We have a closet door that blends into our shiplap wall, it did need special hinges and a touch latch. Here are some images (none of these is our house):

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And here are a few additional photos of closets in traditional dining rooms:

An Easy Elegance · More Info

In The Country · More Info

Park Slope Brownstone · More Info

Crow's Pond House Dining Room · More Info

I like Pal's idea of building the cabinets on both sides of the entry. It maintains symmetry in the room better. You could have the shorter side be the full-depth closet for vacuum and with slots for platters and things.

And for the longer side, consider having some deep sections and some shelves on hinges in front of more shelves.

Open shelves like this:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/210754457536356547/

Or hidden like this one

https://www.houzz.com/photos/interior-of-large-pantry-cabinet-eclectic-kitchen-boston-phvw-vp~558095

Ooh, thank you for the new comments and pictures everyone. I've been chewing on the idea of doing 30 in. Closet doors with a 42 inch wide electric fireplace in between them. The wall would extend above the doorway as drawn by Pal, and access to the cleaning closet would be in the wide doorway on the right hand side of the opening. This would give us just enough room to keep the secretary desk next to the window. The desk has sentimental value. It was my grandparents. I refinished it for them as a high school art project, and they couldn't get over how much nicer it looked (it was very dark, and the finish had gone soft.) We don't really have another spot for it.

*Does it look too squishy to include a fireplace?

I just watched some videos on Murphy Doors, Lascatx. Those are really neat. There were also some videos on DIY versions that made them look doable to make. I'm wondering how you manage to swing those open and shut without all of the decorative objects toppling off??

Double deep books? We may need that someday.

Swing gently and don't slam shut. Also look into what they call earthquake wax for securing them to the shelf.

My dr looks just like yours, laughablemoments, and we have a closet with double bi-fold doors just where you are considering putting yours. I couldn't get along without it. I love the bi-folds, love the storage, love the convenience and the look of it, and bi-folds give you great access to everything in the closet. My doors are four-panel wood and have worked perfectly for the 21 years I've lived here, but I don't know how old they are. They were added by a previous owner.

Earthquake wax, that's what that stuff is called. I remembered that being mentioned over in kitchens, but couldn't think of what it was beyond the "earthquake" part. :-) Thank you. I cannot 100% guarantee gentle door closures. We have 7 Littles at home, and hefty breezes, so slamming doors aren't always child induced, even.

I've been looking through the pics that Oaktown posted (so helpful), and I do like the one with the blue doors. Would something like that be too simple?

Doing batwing storage on some of the doors is a good idea, too, lazy gardens. That would be great for cleaning supplies on the cleaning closet door.

You love your closet, sheesh? That's comforting. If we put this in, I want to be happy with it and not regret cutting in to the openness of the room. Dh has another, more complicated way of supporting the upstairs that would leave the space open, but then where does all the cr*p go?! You'll get a star for posting a picture of your dining room closet. I'd love to see. : )

I saw this tread on my way to my Mom's house and thought of her dining room. She had these cabinets built during a remodel in 1964, but I think they still look good. She uses the storage on the left for China and the right for silver, etc.. In the far right cabinet she has built in slots for table leaves. Also included is a pic of another wall to show how the trim matches.

I like your sketched idea, but I think I'd leave out the electric fireplace. Unless you can afford to get a really, really expensive one (and at that point you may as well get a ventless gas one) they generally don't look very nice. I think it would look better to leave a plain wall, or do the center section as a counter/serving surface. You could do a cabinet below and display shelves above.

Choose cabinetry finish, door style & sizes appropriate to era & your needs.

I was afraid you'd ask, laughable. I can't post a picture. I don't have a smart phone or a digital camera. Embarrassing, I know. If one of my kids comes home tomorrow, we'll do it then.

Thank you very much for thinking of us and posting pictures of your mom's beautiful dining room, mojomom. I certainly hope that the choices we make for our home will age as gracefully as your mom's. : )

Thanks for the pictures mdln. Those are very nice.

Awww, no worries sheesh. This technological stuff is so hard to keep up with, isn't it. Our video screen for watching movies is hooked up to a speaker cabinet from 1978 (the record player is even still in it) because neither dh nor I are up to figuring out the new sound systems right now, LOL.

We'll leave out the electric fireplace, jlc712. In fact, we've had an about face with the whole project...Now why I didn't do this earlier, I don't know. I drew everything out on graph paper (always better than doing math in your head-oy!), and with the other furniture in the dining room, I was stunned (smacking forehead, here) that there really is only room for an 8' table. Ummmm...we're outgrowing our 8' table already, and 1/2 of our kids are under 10.

That lead to a whole house evaluation, and a complete rearrangement of furniture and room functions. As a result, we flip-flopped our living room and dining room today. (Fortunately, the kitchen is smack dab in the middle of the house with the other rooms on either side of it.) The living room (I mean...new dining room) is 15.5' x 25'. It can handle a dining room table, a big dining room table. Like 16' long big. And that's with putting a closet at one end of the room (so all these closet ideas? They won't be wasted!)

For DH, this means doing the longer, more extensive project of supporting the ceiling with beams rather than a closet, but it will make for a wide open and airy living room(yay, I love airy!), and a long dining room with plenty of room for a larger table. Phew. Since we often have large groups of people over, this should work very well for us. We were even able to work it so that we got more couch and chair seating in the 14'7" x 17' room than we could logistically work in the 15.5' x 25' room. It all seems good.

It is so true that it pays to live in a house for awhile to see how the space functions before making major changes.

Thank you one and all for helping us think this project through. You have been incredibly kind and helpful and I love the creative insights and ideas that you brought forth.