Let it slide

Innovations in hardware don’t come around all that often, but this hardware for sliding doors that fit seamlessly flush within a wall. Cool!

Because I frequent woodworking sites and Facebook groups, I get targeted ads related to all things woodworking, home improvement, and building. I get these a lot, so it’s rare that I see something new. But last week I got one for something I’d never seen before.

Imagine a flush door in a wall, with nothing but a thin outline surrounding where the door is. No handle, no hinges, no real hint it’s a door at all. Now, push on the door and it depresses slightly into the wall and to one side, then just slide it completely out of the way. One minute it’s a plain wall, the next it’s a fully open door to a closet or another room.

The hardware uses a double dampening method that provides both a soft open and soft close, and all the hardware mounts at the top — no rails or grooves in the floor. They come in left- and right-opening versions, and the doors can look like doors, if you want them to, or can be covered to match the surrounding walls like in the above photo.

Available through several U.S. distributors, the flush sliding door system is the brainchild of Sugatsune, a Japanese maker of furniture and architectural hardware, and won a iF Design Award last year. It’s not particularly inexpensive (around $1,200), but then, a lot of upscale hardware and installations aren’t cheap these days. It all depends on what your customers are looking for with upscale furnishings and built-ins.

While I won’t be installing these doors in my home any time soon, the coolness factor is off the chart for me. There might be a good chance that a lot of potential customers will feel the same way.