kitchen cabinets end panels

[vince dale]

Building new cabs for my daughter's kitchen and not sure which is correct choice. These will be painted. There will be two 31" w base cabs of drawers, with 12" uppers above, and a 25" deep floor to ceiling pantry on this wall. I'll be using prefinished ply for the boxes and will use a 3/4" slab end panel on both sides of the pantry.

So do I make the pantry width, including the end panels, 32 1/2 or 31 to match the two cabs beside it? Will it look odd and look like it was added on later? I'm having a hard time visualizing this one.

Thanks for all and any help

[Paul F Franklin]

In a kitchen, I tend to favor function over form in most cases. To me, that means the widest pantry that will fit to provide as much storage as possible. It's so common to see varying width cabs in a kitchen I don't think it will look odd at all.

And if it's not too late, let me put in a pitch for 14 or 15 deep uppers. I put 15 deep uppers in mine and they are wonderful. A kitchen designer I talked to said they are becoming very common.

And if you're still unsure about the width of the pantry, a few hours doing a rendering in sketchup or the like would be worth it. In sketchup's 3D warehouse, you can find most common cabinet boxes so all you have to do is plunk them into place and you have a nice 3D rendering to help you decide.

[Jim Becker]

And if it's not too late, let me put in a pitch for 14 or 15 deep uppers. I put 15 deep uppers in mine and they are wonderful.
^^ THIS!!!!!!!!! I'm truly missing the deeper cabinets I built at the old property as this one has the "old standard" 12" (really 10" usable) cabinets that just don't fit stuff very well.

I'll also agree with "form over function" and with custom cabinetry, you work with the space you have and make things like the pantry to fill out the space, even if it's an extra inch wider than adjacent "more standard" width cabinets.

[John TenEyck]

I agree, no one is going to notice if it's 31 or 32-1/2" wide. Do whatever makes more sense for the situation. I also vote for the deeper uppers. I like tall ones, too, with enough room above the counter to accommodate appliances. I think mine are 18" above the countertop, and run up to about 2" below the ceiling, where I thought about installing some lighting but never did. I'd still do it that way again. The upper molding finishes off the top of the cabinets w/o having to be fitted to the ceiling. I did install undercabinet lighting and highly recommend it so you can actually see what you're doing. Ceiling lights are blocked by your body when working at the counter; the undercabinet lighting fills in that void.

John

[vince dale]

What moulding did you use at the top? My daughter wants crown moulding.



I agree, no one is going to notice if it's 31 or 32-1/2" wide. Do whatever makes more sense for the situation. I also vote for the deeper uppers. I like tall ones, too, with enough room above the counter to accommodate appliances. I think mine are 18" above the countertop, and run up to about 2" below the ceiling, where I thought about installing some lighting but never did. I'd still do it that way again. The upper molding finishes off the top of the cabinets w/o having to be fitted to the ceiling. I did install undercabinet lighting and highly recommend it so you can actually see what you're doing. Ceiling lights are blocked by your body when working at the counter; the undercabinet lighting fills in that void.

John

[Paul F Franklin]

What moulding did you use at the top? My daughter wants crown moulding.

I used crown with space above for displaying "stuff". If your uppers are taller and come close to the ceiling, the crown can go up to the ceiling.

497981

[Rob Sack]

The distance between the countertop and the bottom of the upper cabinets generally has been a "standard" 18 in. I usually recommend to my clients that they increase this distance to at least 20 in. in order to accomodate taller appliances, which seem to be more and more prevalent. In my own kitchen, the distance between the counter and the bottom of the uppers is 21 in. and I have never regretted it. As far as 14 or 15 inch deep uppers instead of the usual 12 in. depth is concerned, this makes a lot of practical sense. However the increased capacity also increase the amount of weight in the cabinets as well as increasing the cantilever action of the added weight in conjunction with the greater depth. Whether the cabinets are attached to the wall via solid back or the use of nailers, the additional weight and stress should be taken into account structually.

[John TenEyck]

What moulding did you use at the top? My daughter wants crown moulding.

Not crown moulding. I used a 1-1/4" bullnose, same as on the bottom of the uppers, and on the granite countertop. But I did a job for someone who wanted crown moulding on cabinets set below the ceiling. Working with prefinished molding with no touchup paint increased the fun factor.

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John