# Hidden bunker entrance - Kitchen



## Jerngen (May 22, 2006)

I thought this was pretty neat. Keep a bunch of large pots and pans down there (with the door closed) and no one would be the wiser. 

I have to post a facebook link because my computer is to ancient to try to save and post pictures. 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...64186442.38443.117021665003296&type=1&theater

Edit: Scroll down to Pam's post to see pic


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## unregistered65598 (Oct 4, 2010)

Thats really cool, I would love to see more pics of this.


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## Pam6 (Apr 9, 2009)




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## beaglebiz (Aug 5, 2008)

would they not look in the basement?? or is this an addition??


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## katydidagain (Jun 11, 2004)

beaglebiz said:


> would they not look in the basement?? or is this an addition??


If you really planed ahead, your "basement" would appear from the outside to be a lowly crawlspace with no windows. Who would know better then?


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## Jerngen (May 22, 2006)

Thank you Pam!


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## wagvan (Jan 29, 2011)

That is very cool!


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## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

Very neat idea.


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## Wags (Jun 2, 2002)

Great idea - you could keep large pots & pans in there as suggested or make a false shelf front that could swing out of the way when access is needed. It could even be closed up to hide it as you were going down the stairs. That way if someone opened the cabinet doors they would be none the wiser.


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## PistolPackinMom (Oct 20, 2012)

I actually wondered about doing this if we ever build a house. Very cool.


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

There was a trap door in the cabin I used to live in,it went down to a brick root cellar. About 3x6 feet. It was in a courner under a rug. noone would have known it was there. I kept canned goods down there.


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## Leister Square (Feb 7, 2010)

That's so cool. We have a large island too. I've actually thought about this sort of thing, but we don't have a basement! But great idea!


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

You could do the same thing in a garage. Most people don't have a basement under their garage, so there wouldn't be square footage missing in your basement. You could easily stack tool boxes in a cupboard that had a false bottom.....


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## mommathea (May 27, 2009)

Wags said:


> Great idea - you could keep large pots & pans in there as suggested or make a false shelf front that could swing out of the way when access is needed. It could even be closed up to hide it as you were going down the stairs. That way if someone opened the cabinet doors they would be none the wiser.


That's what I just told my hubby before I read your post. A couple shelves with a back on them and the doors would look legit and no one would even think about there being a passage behind them.


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## Studhauler (Jul 30, 2011)

Leister Square said:


> That's so cool. We have a large island too. I've actually thought about this sort of thing, but we don't have a basement! But great idea!


Start digging with a small shovel. Take it out in 5 gallon buckets. I have taken many pick-up load out of crawl spaces this way trying to get to utilities under houses when I worked as a handyman. Actually I used a 2 gallon bucket because a 5 was to big to get the access door.


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## PrairieBelle22 (Nov 17, 2006)

Ooo I really want to do this. We know that one day soon we are going to have to work on our flooring in the kitchen because it has a couple of dips. I think it is very possible for us. My problem is I want to incorporate it into our island, but I want to make my island movable too. I might have to decide which I want more.

Belle


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## PrettyPaisley (May 18, 2007)

Realistically, how easy/hard would that be to do? 

We have a decent crawl space, it's much nicer than the one in the old house but still I would need to lie on my belly to get from one side of the house to the other. I would LOVE to have a hidden room that would be accessed through the floor of the house-like somewhere in the back of the closet where you might not think to look. 

SO thinks I'm out of my mind, but if it's easy to do I would start it now. Do I figure out where I want the door from the floor, go into the crawl space and start digging? I really think this is a good idea!


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## terri9630 (Mar 12, 2012)

You could add a towel bar to the door and make it look like its solid. I really like this. We've thought about building something under our front porch with access from the house.


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## Maverick_mg (Mar 11, 2010)

We are buying a house that has the stairwell to the basement in the kitchen. It's open and not kid friendly/safe. I have been trying to think of a way to hide it and make it safer, this just may do the trick. Thanks


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## unregistered29228 (Jan 9, 2008)

You could maybe put a latch under the bottom edge of the door so it doesn't open without a little work. Or put removable shelves in there so you can use it as a cabinet and nobody would guess.

Hubby and I have talked about digging a cellar in our crawl space under the house, with an access in the floor inside. I'd love to have somewhere to hide in an emergency or during a tornado, or if we could get it big enough, to store food. We talked about using cinder blocks around the opening under the house that would look like the footers to any electrician climbing around under there.


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## Studhauler (Jul 30, 2011)

PrettyPaisley said:


> Realistically, how easy/hard would that be to do?
> 
> We have a decent crawl space, it's much nicer than the one in the old house but still I would need to lie on my belly to get from one side of the house to the other. I would LOVE to have a hidden room that would be accessed through the floor of the house-like somewhere in the back of the closet where you might not think to look.
> 
> SO thinks I'm out of my mind, but if it's easy to do I would start it now. Do I figure out where I want the door from the floor, go into the crawl space and start digging? I really think this is a good idea!


Easy is a point of view, I would rather hand dig a full basement than write a collage thesis. A small bunker / cellar (8X8) would take MANY weekends of hard work. First is to look under the house to see what utilities are in the way, where you want the trap door to go. Water lines, electrical wires, sewer lines, heating line. Most can be moved, but how easy??? You will have to cut a joist and sister the ones on either side.

Now you are ready to start digging. Try laying on your belly and filling a bucket with dirt. Now if you are working alone you will have to crawl all the way out to dump it. When you get down about 4 feet you should have some kind of temporary support to keep the dirt from caving in on top of you. When you get down six feet you will find out how high your water table is. 

The whole is dug, now you get to build the walls. Will they be wood or cement? 

PM me if you want some more information, I'll be glad to help as long as I don't have to use a shovel.


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## JJohnson (Jun 7, 2012)

Thats really cool! I would like to have a secret room like that to hide guns, or other valuables in case my house was ever broke into. No burglar would ever find it.


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## Wolf mom (Mar 8, 2005)

People down the road built a safe room/cold cellar into the floor of their garage when they built their garage. Really well done & hidden. Sorry - no pictures!


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## Chuck R. (Apr 24, 2008)

Wolf mom said:


> People down the road built a safe room/cold cellar into the floor of their garage when they built their garage. Really well done & hidden. Sorry - no pictures!


Like this?



















The vault door was delivered yesterday, and installed today, fire resistant with panic button lock. 800 SF of storage, AC/Heat with its own zone, 8â reinforced pour walls and ceiling. Man-cave/storm shelter/storage. 


ZERO hand digging.


Does not have a hidden entry, but you have to go through the downstairs storage to get to the door. Right now it's camouflaged as a 3 car garage.


Chuck


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## AtomicFarmer (Sep 16, 2012)

Very good ideas.


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## haley1 (Aug 15, 2012)

Chuck R. said:


> Like this?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Tell us more about vault door and panic lock


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## Chuck R. (Apr 24, 2008)

haley1 said:


> Tell us more about vault door and panic lock


Sure thing&#8230;.


One surprising thing I learned when shopping for a vault door is that most are not designed to be locked from the inside. Which since a lot of them were advertised as a panic room/storm shelter was sort of strange. There are quite a few, that will make a custom door, but they&#8217;re often in the 4-5K range. I also was looking for something with an inswing, incase debris blocked the outside we could still get out and with a mechanical lock. Again a lot of vault door folks didn&#8217;t make an inswing model, some lockable from the inside required an electronic lock. There are a couple manufactures in TX and CA, that were reasonable, but neither had stellar reviews (actually both had bad reviews).

What I went with was a &#8220;Sturdy Safe Company&#8221; vault door with fireproofing, inswing, mechanical lock, panic button, and SS reinforcing plate. It came out very reasonable at a little over $2300 delivered.

http://www.sturdysafe.com/vaultdoor.htm

It arrived yesterday, and installation following their instructions was a breeze. Well, as much of a &#8220;breeze&#8221; as moving a 650lb door can be. 

Chuck


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

I think under the island would be a good place to store a kitchen cart that you could use for your cooking then get it out of your way. A cart is a really handy thing to have. It wouldn't look odd for it to be out in the room and it could be got out of the way quickly for someone who is bolting for the panic room under the kitchen.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

not necessarily a bunker , but many a old farm house had a basement only under the kitchen , in the middle of the kitchen floor was a hatch to get down to it , it looks like this person just built and island over the stairs to replace the hatch


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## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

Since 319 guests are currently looking at this thread, I thought I'd post so it would appear on the front page for our current members, and the guests that missed it.


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## Ann-NWIowa (Sep 28, 2002)

We have a ranch house with a full basement. I've often thought it would be good if we could find a way to camouflage the door to the basement. It wouldn't be a perfect solution, but assuming someone breaking in would be in a hurry and not willing to search for a basement door it would at least help. Unfortunately the way the door to the basement is set up does not allow for camouflage.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

Yea, if I were bulding new with a basement, I'd put the basement right under a garage and this would be the safe room or hidden pantry.

I might also have tunnel to a hidden entrance so I can get out if going back into the house is a problem.

The house we are moving too has a full basement under a little house. The stairs to the basement are in the one car garage. I'm thinking the stairs were an oversight in the planning. But, it does give us a larger basement. But, you could fall down the stairs when you come in the garage door.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

Hey, Anne, what if you had a second door that was a pantry? You get the kids in the basement, close the basement door, then close the pantry up against the door. Bad guy opens basement door, see's it's just the pantry.


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

Be careful using a hidden, inside only access room for a storm cellar in case of storms, if the house comes down you may not be able to get out and if no one knows you are using it for that purpose you may not be found in time....James


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