How to hide a gas boiler within the kitchen?

Many apartment owners try to protect themselves from unexpected shutdowns of heating and hot water supply and install additional equipment — a gas boiler in the kitchen, since it will be problematic to locate it elsewhere due to the inconvenience of supplying the necessary communications. At the same time, they strive to make the installed unit look aesthetically pleasing or be hidden by decorative trim elements. Consider ways to hide a gas heating device in the kitchen.

Ways to hide gas equipment

Not all models of autonomous household gas boilers look attractive in the kitchen. However, if the unit is functional and meets the requirements, the insufficient level of aesthetics of the equipment is not critical — the device can be either closed or disguised. There are enough ways to do this, we list the main ones:

• Arrangement of the boiler with a hanging decorative cabinet with doors, but without a back wall, which fits into the overall design of the kitchen.
• installation of a boiler in the kitchen in a partition arranged behind a partition made of steel profile and drywall, followed by decorative finishing of plasterboard (gypsum boards).
• installation of a gas unit, based on ease of placement and operation, followed by decoration of the device — painting, applying ornaments, pasting with heat-resistant materials.
• placing the boiler between similar in color and shape to the furnishings of the room, which will make its presence inconspicuous.

It is also possible to perform decorative cladding of the piping (networks and highways) of the gas unit in order to turn it from unattractive wires, pipes and air ducts into kitchen decoration elements.

Let us consider in more detail the ways of aesthetic installation of a gas boiler in a modern kitchen and the rules that must be observed.

Placing a column in a cabinet

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In terms of aesthetics, it is most effective to hide heating equipment using a box that imitates a hinged kitchen cabinet, but in fact is a boiler case made for furniture.

Ideally, such a cabinet should be ordered as part of a kitchen furniture set in order to be included in the architectural layout of the furniture and not differ in the material of execution. But, if such a case is made later, then you can always choose the material in the color of the existing environment or, on the contrary, effectively contrast with it. One of the many numerical examples is this photo.

Choosing a decorative cabinet as a means of hiding a gas boiler in the kitchen requires a number of safety requirements:

• the design of the cabinet should provide free access to control devices and shut-off valves;
• a cabinet for a boiler with an open type combustion chamber should not have upper and lower walls, and the front sash should have blinds or a grate;
• the interior surfaces of the case must be made of non-combustible materials;
• natural air circulation must be provided around the boiler in the cabinet;
• household electrical appliances should not be located under the cabinet due to the possible ingress of water on them after the boiler pressure relief safety valve has been activated.

Important! The distance from the boiler to the side walls of the cabinet must be at least 3 cm, to the upper wall — 35 cm, from the bottom — 25 cm of the gap.

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If it is possible to install a gas boiler in the kitchen in a niche between the existing cabinets, then the unit is made out only with the front sash, which is installed on the door («casement») frame, fixed between adjacent cabinet boxes. The outer surface of the side walls of the cabinets adjacent to the gas boiler is covered with fire-resistant shielding enamel or non-combustible materials, such as ceramic tiles.

Important! Installation of a decorative cabinet or a frame with a leaf is carried out after installation and testing of the boiler in operation.

Hiding the column with drywall

In general, the procedure is the creation of a drywall cabinet, which will be closed from the outside with a sash, like an ordinary kitchen drawer, matching in color and design. At the same time, drywall has a number of advantages: the heat resistance of gypsum and the ease of working with it.

To make a cabinet from GKL you will need:

• metal profile for mounting plasterboard surfaces;
• drywall sheet;
• front sash for kitchen design;
• door hinges;
• self-tapping screws;
• tool for cutting and installation (tape measure, clerical knife, grinder with a cutting disc, rivets with a key, screwdriver or screwdriver, drill with a drill for concrete).

Important! The cabinet must be installed before the final fastening of the heating equipment, since the boiler can be damaged during the manufacture of its frame. But at the place of installation of the boiler, everything should be ready for its placement, so that when the box is ready, all that remains is to fix the device in place and connect the lines.

The technology for manufacturing a drywall cabinet is as follows:

1. Marking is carried out on the wall for the cabinet — the outline of the boiler is applied and its dimensions are added: to the sides by 5 cm, up -35 cm, down -25 cm. the basis for the rest of the frame, mounted on blind rivets.
2. Drywall cut to size is attached to the finished frame — those walls through which the mains will approach the boiler.
3. A gas boiler is being installed and pipes are connected to it through the holes made in the GKL.
4. The facade sash is mounted, in which holes are drilled or slots are made for natural ventilation.

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The result is a cabinet for the boiler, which can even be finished with ceramic tiles, after which it will perfectly fit into the kitchen environment.

Despite the obvious advantages, this method has some disadvantages. Firstly, in this case it is inconvenient to mount the unit itself. To do this, it is necessary to think over the entire communication system in advance. And secondly, it is important to find a good place so that such a design looks harmonious.

Boiler disguise

Another way to hide gas equipment is to design it with finishing materials to match the general style of the kitchen, so that the unit blends with the color scheme of the walls or looks like an artistic, rather than a technical component of the arrangement.

You can achieve this:

• painting the boiler in an artistic way, using the application of patterns and ornaments using stencils;
• pasting with a decorative film (monochrome, in the form of an art panel).

Painting

Not everyone will decide to paint a new boiler that is under warranty. Usually, this method is resorted to in the case of using old units. For painting, it is better to use nitro enamels, which sit well on metal and dry quickly. The surface of the boiler is preliminarily cleaned of rust with sandpaper and degreased with acetone or white spirit. If the unit has dents, they must be puttied with automotive putty and treated to smoothness with waterproof sandpaper.

Painting is carried out in two or three layers according to the instructions for using the paint, which is available on the can.

Important! There should be no open fire in the painting production room, as nitro-paint vapors are explosive. It is necessary to work with nitro-paint using personal respiratory protection equipment.

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Film pasting

Remove dust and dirt from equipment. Apply the film by rubbing it to the surface with a dry, clean cloth or a rubber roller to prevent bubbles from forming. Cutting extra edges is done with a clerical knife with careful adjustment of the joints to each other.

Important! This operation requires certain skills and experience, therefore, for pasting such a significant device as a gas boiler, it is better to contact a specialist. Otherwise, the film overrun will be unpredictable.

Disadvantages of the pasting method:

• it is difficult to find a film that completely repeats the design or at least the color of the kitchen set;
• the coating fades, loses its brightness;
• the film is easily damaged;
• Changing the appearance of the equipment is fraught with the loss of warranty service.

The following photo clearly demonstrates the successful change of the exterior of the boiler by sticking a small area art panel.

The task is often simplified if the visible part of the unit is small in area, and to combine the boiler with the interior, it is enough to decorate only it. Then it is easier to choose a pattern or ornament to increase the aesthetics of the device.

Hiding or masking communications

The mains and communications to which the gas boiler is connected can also be artistically decorated or hidden so that they do not reduce the level of aesthetics of the kitchen or are elements of decoration in the interior.

Important! Monolithic sealing of the gas pipeline into the wall is prohibited — in the apartment it must be accessible throughout.

Many manufacturers of heating equipment in the kit supply special panels with boxes that allow you to aesthetically cover and ennoble the constituent elements of the system; these devices are also easy to remove.

On sale there are also universal cases for mounting on the wall and placing meters, pressure gauges, valves, etc. in them. To better fit into the interior, the material of manufacture can be painted.

In addition, water pipes and air ducts can be hidden in the manner described above — by installing steel boxes with subsequent sheathing with drywall. This technology is universal, designed for use for lining highways of various lengths and allows you to beat any profile, the difference will be only in the consumption of materials.

Conclusion

Ways to hide a gas unit or ennoble the exterior of used equipment that has lost its visual appeal allow not only maintaining the aesthetics of the kitchen at a high level, but also provide significant savings, eliminating the need to purchase a new boiler to replace the existing one, the resource of which has not yet been exhausted.