Dining Room Cabinet(s)

[Dave Richards]

I've been thinking about building some new cabinets for our dining room. The following drawing is what I've got so far. I added some color mostly to represent a mirror in the center, under cabinet and inside lighting. The short upper doors in the center would have glass.

Overall length is 12'. Four units of 3' each. the center two base units would be 24" deep. The side two would be 20". Uppers would be 15" deep. The heights match existing cabinets in the kitchen. These cabinets would have no toe kick space.

At each end there would be a sort of column giving the appearance of supporting the uppers. These would be perhaps 16" deep and extending from the wall forward. I thought I might hinge the front of the left-hand column and hide light switches in there.

I'd like to use a sort of A&C style and add a few details. I'd really like to work more along the Greene & Greene lines but don't think the rest of the house would make it.

The existing kitchen cabinets are red oak with a mahogany colored stain. I can get more stain to match easier than redoing the cabinets but will probably end up making new doors for the kitchen.

The dining room and living room are effectively one big space with a vaulted ceiling. The dividing line between the rooms is the line between maple flooring in the dining room and carpet in the living room. This falls roughly under the peak.

Any ideas? Suggestions?

http://hamiltonwoodworks.com/drichards/Misc/dining1.jpg

[Todd Burch]

Dave, sounds like you have it under control. My only comment would be with a typically built cabinet, you would not be able to put the center under cabinet light where you have it drawn.

Something that looks nice too, if you are putting crown on it, would be to uplight the wall above the unit.

15" deep upper cabinets are pretty deep (for being in an open room) - but if you need them that deep - then that's what you need!

[Dave Richards]

Thanks Todd. You made a couple of good points. You're right about the light. I expect there would probably be four of them under there anyway.

I do want to do something along the top. I wasn't thinking of crown molding at least in the typical sense. I need to do a little research into cabinets of this sort in the A&C or Mission styles. I was also thinking of some sort of lights on top.

[Dan Mages]

I put a simple rope light above my cabinets in the space between the sofit and the crown. It adds a great effect to the room, especially with the reflection off the tin ceiling.

Have you though about having the two end cabinets go all the way to the counter top? You can give them glass doors & shelves and put in puck lights. That will make two great places to show off your fine china and collectables.

Dan

[Dave Richards]

Dan, how's this?
http://hamiltonwoodworks.com/drichards/Misc/baseunit9b.jpg
I'm not sure about the tall doors on the ends but they were quicker to draw in Sketchup. (Golly, is that cool or what? I did this thing less than an hour without any prior experience with the software. Don't want to waste my free time and I'm not sure I can afford to pay for the license right now. :( )

I didn't draw them that way but I think overlay doors/ drawer fronts may be the way I'll go.

[Dan Mages]

Dan, how's this?
http://hamiltonwoodworks.com/drichards/Misc/baseunit9b.jpg
I'm not sure about the tall doors on the ends but they were quicker to draw in Sketchup. (Golly, is that cool or what? I did this thing less than an hour without any prior experience with the software. Don't want to waste my free time and I'm not sure I can afford to pay for the license right now. :( )

I didn't draw them that way but I think overlay doors/ drawer fronts may be the way I'll go.

That pretty close, why dont you try bringing both of the end cabinets down all the way. You can then separate the end cabinets into four doors, the top two doors being at the same level as the middle cabinets.

2 bits

Dan