Luxury homes sport live-in closets, garages turned into galleries By Lisa Johnson Mandell AFN News Service

Just when you think you’ve seen the ultimate amenities in luxury homes— plush private theaters, walk-in closets, pools with Playboy mansion–like grottoes — the 1 percent kicks it up a notch. Several notches, in fact. Because as soon as most of us start adopting these trends, the uber-rich move on. Now, it’s not enough to have a spa-like master bathroom; the uber-rich feel they need an entire spa. And a built-in espresso maker in the chef’s kitchen no longer suffices; the wildly wealthy need a coffee bar that seamlessly flows into an outdoor, climate-controlled cafe in order to sip their lattes in comfort and style.

Specialty bars

and more. The spec home that Markus “Notch” Persson famously outbid Beyoncé and Jay Z for has three specialty bars: a James Bond–themed tequila installation, one dedicated to vodka consumption, and (our favorite) a $200,000 candy bar for the wee ones.

Multiple kitchens

Why would you need more than one kitchen, you might ask? Well, show kitchens are all the rage. The idea: Why

get yourself all hot and messy when you can have a professional chef come in and perform for your guests? The best way to pull it off is to have one primary kitchen for the family and a separate catering room for parties. Some Jewish homeowners have upscale homes with two kitchens (one for dairy, one for meat) to keep kosher. And then, of course, there’s the full outdoor kitchen, with top-of-the-line appliances, which no pool area is complete without.

Gallery garages

There was once a time when a fivecar garage was considered a luxury. Ah, memories! Now the ultimate garage is a showroom for exhibiting a luxury car collection, with sophisticated climate control and security systems. Of course there’s a turntable so you can observe your Maserati from every angle without having to go to the trouble of actually walking around it.

(Realtor.com/Special to AFN)

The wet bar of yore has made a comeback in a big way, but stools lining up to a counter with a sink, minifridge, and beer on tap are no longer enough. The bars in the big houses have to have a theme: wine bar, sports bar, juice bar,

This large walk-in closet is in a home on Presario Trail in Ahwatukee that recently sold for a little over $1 million.

Some of the rich and famous change their garages into galleries.

>> See CLOSETS on page RE 9

(Realtor.com/Special to AFN)

Walk-in closets were once considered the ultimate luxury. Then wealthy homeowners began converting whole bedrooms into closets. But all that was kid’s play. Closets as big as an entire midsize home — with showroom styling, kitchenettes, fainting couches, bathrooms, makeup stations, and lavish staircases or elevators — are sprouting up like (very expensive) kudzu. Jackie Siegel, aka the Queen of Versailles, is building a 5,000-square-foot closet in her infamous forever-underconstruction home, which at 90,000 square feet will be the largest in America.

(Special to AFN).

Live-in closets

This pool is part of an in-home spa patterned after professional spas.

Page 8 REAL ESTATE | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2016 | Ahwatukee Foothills News | ahwatukee.com