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Live-In Closets, Candy Dispensaries, and Other Over-the-Top Luxe Home Amenities

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% 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.

Curious what trends you could be ogling in the homes of the rich and famous next?  We’ve rounded up a luxury list of some of the more outrageous amenities we’ve come across in the past few months. Get ready: If the trickle-down effect still works, they could be coming soon to a McMansion near you.

Live-in closets

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-under-construction home, which at 90,000 square feet will be the largest in America.

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Specialty bars

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, 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.

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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.

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Gallery garages

There was once a time when a five-car 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. Other luxe garages, including this  2,700-square-foot underground showroom that comes with a Chicago penthouse (above), are decked out like the ultimate clubhouse for enthusiasts of vintage Ferraris and Porsches.

“The gallery garage is now the ultimate man cave,” says Realtor® Daniel Stevenson of The Agency.

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High-tech bathrooms

You read that right: We’re not talking high-tech kitchens or high-tech security systems; we’re talking bathrooms.

“The master bathroom has long been known as an in-home sanctuary where you can retreat after a long day and relax in your spa tub or steam shower. Now, you can make that space that much more luxurious with the help of smart technologies,” says prominent luxury Realtor Jade Mills. “Turn your clear-glass shower opaque when someone steps in, warm up harsh, cold floors with radiant heat, warm your towels on cue, and transform your mirror into an LCD television at the press of a button.”

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Superspas

A sauna, a spa tub, and a massage room are no longer enough. Today’s in-home ultraluxury spas often take up an entire floor, and include an indoor lap pool, a meditation garden, a salon, both wet and dry saunas, and a room with Himalayan salt bricks that do something to the ions in the room for ultimate relaxation. Our favorite is the 10,000-square-foot underground Hammam spa at L.A.’s famous Hacienda de la Paz, a palatial private residence listed for sale in 2013 for $53 million—the sixth most expensive listing at the time.

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Imax theater

If you think home theaters with plush seating and state-of-the-art projection systems are great, wait until you see the next generation: the home Imax system. It requires stadium seating, room for a 20-foot-by-12-foot curved screen, and approximately $3 million for parts and labor.

It’s rumored that “Family Guy” producer Seth MacFarlane had the first one installed, and the presence of one in Florida’s Le Palais Royal, a 60,000-square-foot spec mansion listed for $139 million, “sets this residence apart from any other property on the market,” says listing agent Mayi De La Vega of One Sotheby’s International Realty.

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Watch: The Features That Help a Home Sell Fastest

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