1/ I would leave the cabinets all aligned and butted back to the wall.
2/ I would extend the overhang of the countertop in front by a lot more than anyone else would.
3/ I would only start the extra overhang a few inches away from the sink, to let sink workers get close to the sink and not to make the overhang recess puny or tight right at the sink.

This makes the countertop front go in a zigzag or offset line. Good. Bully for you. Something semi custom that looks like you wanted it "just so".

Doing this presumes you have either 2cm or 3cm counter without any extra built up edge. Doing this with an extra edge piece added in front to thicken the counter is extra work, and then adding a couple offsets just makes it "that much more complicated" and costly.

That is what I might do, if I had my way.

Later, if I see your kitchen (images) I might have something else to say, totally different, or almost the same.

Remember that Ikea cabs with drawers already have a bit of wasted space in the back. The cabs are 24" d and the drawers with softclose dampers only need about 21". On one run of counter in my kitchen, I cut 2" off the Ikea cabs and the drawers still have lots of extra air space behind them.

hth

The install of the IKEA base cabinets is fairly simple. The adjustable plastic legs on the bottom, and there are metal-reinforced holes in the back panel (two on the back of each cabinet) that allow you to affix the cabinet to the wall. A screw goes through the hole (about 1cm in diameter, IIRC) and then a slightly angled pieces goes over the screw and grips into the metal plate as you tighten the screw. This holds the cabinet to the wall. As for cabinet-to-cabinet, there are simple Chicago screws that fit through the holes in the sides of each cabinet (once you drill them through).

We did what you are considering, but actually added the width of a flat 2x4 behind the cabinets. We wanted a deeper countertop. It also allowed us to have wood all along where the cabinets needed to attach.

1/ I would leave the cabinets all aligned and butted back to the wall.
2/ I would extend the overhang of the countertop in front by a lot more than anyone else would.

I would not.

First, you get yourself full extension drawer glides and then you extend the counter overhang by the inch or 2???? You've just lost yourself all the advantage of "full extension drawers".

First off: excellent brilliant idea to get a deeper counter. Mine are 4 or 6 inches to get me a 30" deep counter - unf. only on one side of my galley kitchen. It is great enough to make me wish I'd moved the doorway so that I could have extra deep counters on the opposite side also LOL!

Anyhow, to do this, here's how you do so: have the contractors first attach some lumber to the wall at the right height to attach the base cabinet hardware and in such a way that the lumber is level (or just below) the top of the cabinets. At this point in time, they should determine the level height for the cabinets. This lumber should be attached to the studs (or whatever you have) at that height making sure that the top of the lumber is no higher than the top of the cabinets when they get installed so that it is at or lower than the counter height. The cabinets should then butt up to this lumber and the hanging rail (if you're using this for the lowers) or other securing bolts should then get secured to this lumber offset.

The lumber can be 1x2s, 2x4 or 3x6 (or more) depending on the offset you want. If you really and truly want just 1" (you can go more, btw, with this method, if your room will support it), have them attach plywood of suitable thickness to the wall.

Finally, if you use lumber, I'd have them attach the members one at the top height of the cabinet (where the cabinet hardware attaches) and the other of the same thickness towards the bottom of the cabinet - just so that the cabinet is securely backed up against supports top and bottom.

I had the contractors do this to get myself the 30" deep counters - and I did both uppers and lowers. So this really and truly works.

David, what on earth did you shrink the cabinet depth for? The drawers glides are shorter than 24" tis true - it is so that you have room for electrical, gas and plumbing etc. If you don't have those constraints, shoot, I'd have got the extra deep Blum drawer glides and got myself extra deep (front to back) drawers in the bargain. Puzzling. And you've cost yourself cabinet integrity in the bargain (IMO).

lots of rebuttal. Methinks the woman doth protest too much. To be more productive, try not to parse apart my post, ask not why I did such and such, re-read the OP post and answer the OP's question, and leave me out of your answer.

Hi Diana!

That is what we did! We screwed 2 X 4s to the wall studs at the height of the cabinets and attached the cabs to the 2 X 4s (using the regular IKEA brackets) to get deeper counters. I also wanted more room around my cooktop, so we had an even thicker piece of lumber on that wall, so I could get close to 30" counter depth.

As long as the wood is screwed to the studs and your cabs are attached to the wood and each other, you should have enough stability.

OOh thank you everyone! I was hoping it would be simple. A 2 x 4 would get us a full 2" and be plenty deep. I'd not want to go much further because my sons are young and our micro will be on shelf a foot over the counter. I also will have open shelves that they will need to reach and the faucet, which is a wall mount. I expect to be the shortest in the house (by a lot, lol) at 5'5", so reach won't be a problem for too long, but they are 7.5 & 9, with the younger one being taller by a half inch. The older one is normal sized and the little one is a moose who is expected to reach 6'6" (hubby's side of family runs tall). Soon enough, they will both be bigger than me. ;)

I have 48" across the aisle to my island, so I figure I can give up 2" easily.

BTW - we decided against the built up profile for the counter edge. It will be Corian, so they can make it deeper easily. I'd just pay the extra square footage.
I still have to see how it works for our sink setup but could bump in since we have a simple edge to the counter.

If this works out, I will be quite happy. I don't need the fridge and freezer flush on that run, but a few inches less out and more counter would be nice.

I'm planning to do this along one wall of the kitchen, so this is very useful information.

We don't have IKEA, but we do have frameless cabs with blocks behind them---thought we would have to make a wall deeper for some vents, but ended up moving them out of the kitchen all together so we had extra space and it was too late to modify cabinet specs at that point. Cabinetmaker just fastened boards to the studs and fastened cabinets to the boards, and that was that. (He didn't even ask me about it---just did it, so I think it's a relatively normal thing to do.) Looks great and solves the problem, plus our counter is ever so slightly deeper on that wall. I expect that would work fine with IKEA's system, too.

Oops, I see Jakabedy had already given you the same answer. Sorry for the repeat post. And by now you have plenty of reconfirmation of it!

To be more productive, try not to parse apart my post, ask not why I did such and such, re-read the OP post and answer the OP's question, and leave me out of your answer.

Uh, that's not how an online Q&A forum works, old chap. If you wish to be able to go unquestioned, you should privately email your answers so only you and the OP knows of your existence. Else, if your responses are public, they're going to be open for debate, questions, rebuttals, criticism and endorsement. 'Tis what it is.

It is worth saying that almost all of the above answers completely ignored your sink issue - you have an unusual situation with your sink.

You might post exactly which sink you're using and an updated plan for just that area. I've seen a couple that have integrated backsplashes but I don't know which one you have.

bmore - ours is a vintage Kohler with a backsplash of its own for a wall mount sink. We may be able to have it sit to the back of the cab somehow..... I am just not sure how much space we'd have in front of it. I think it is something that may end up as a game day decision but since pulling forward is relatively easy, I am glad that it is a possibility. I was also thinking if it got pulled forward, there could be a ledge behind it and the wall. It might be handy for setting the soap dispenser and filtered water filler.
The sink is wrapped in blankets in our garage at the moment, facing the wrong way underneath other things. I will see if I can find a picture somewhere.
Thanks again for all the help ;)

As best as I can tell, this is like ours. I thought ours tapered down in the bs behind the drainboard, but it has been literally years since I had it visible to check it.{{!gwi}}
We'd have to figure out what to do with the gap between the sink and wall if we pulled it 2" forward. It may be easier to leave it set back. As long as I can pull the dw and drawer stack that flank the sink forward, it could work, although I am concerned about the sink cabs doors opening if the other cabs were more forward. This shows 42" between the sink cabs and island but I will have 48" in reality. It also shows a 24" sink cab and 24" drawer stack. I changed those to 30" sink cab and 18" stack.
Our virtual sink wall, without pulling cabs out:
{{!gwi}}

We also did this with Ikea cabs in our old kitchen. They were installed like "regular" cabs, i.e. not using Ikea's wall hanging system on the uppers. No problems at all. We used 2x4s like previous posters.

OP,

Check out the sink in arlosmom's kitchen. I think that is the one I am thinking of. They have a HUGE vintage sink and it seems to me, from the pictures, that it might be pulled out from the wall a bit with a bit of creative framing. I am pretty sure it's their sink I am thinking of. I will try to dig up the pic and link to it in a later response.

It might solve your sink issue.

Rene

I hope arlosmom won't mind this posting. I LOVE their kitchen and have TOTAL sink envy just looking at it so it is perpetually in my mind when I think of good use of a vintage sink. At any rate, if I am not mistaken, it seems they built their sink out just a bit from the rest of the run of the wall. You hardly notice. Just look carefully behind the splash and you'll see it.

Maybe you could do something like that to solve your sink depth (from the wall) issue and still get to bump your cabinets out to suit your fridge.

Hmmm... so a shelf can be on top of it... I can see the possibilities! That could work in several ways. It would give me a good place for a kitchen timer, or other decorative items, and would keep the sink accessible for our sons. It would fit well with our faucet because it has a low spout:{{!gwi}} I think the shelf would be too high for the filtered water filler, but that is ok. I'll now have more counter space so that is reward enough...

I will definitely show this pic to the contractor and see if he can do something like this.

Thanks so much for the tip! The only bad thing is I now have sink envy too! I love how her sink comes down in the front like a true farm sink. In my next life, I get the big double beauty with 2 drainboards and the whole shebang ;)

Glad it may have helped. Yeah, I LOVE arlosmom's sink so much that if I dropped it on my foot I wouldn't even cry. Not to mention the cabinet below. It's just plain SEXY!!!!!!!! :)

Yeah, it sure is. That's the kinda of thing I was thinking about - but with a little tile... Glad doggonegardener remembered arlosmom.

I did this too! It's super easy. I needed an extra 3" to accomodate a retractable downdraft. I also did this with a wall of floor to ceiling cabs to get an extra 2" so the fridge was more flush with the cabinet faces. I don't think any installer would have a problem doing this.

dianalo what is the status now?

Anyone else with "full extension drawer glides" can confirm that extending the counter overhang is not going to be a space killer.

If you get extra deep Blum drawer glides you will spend more (losing the Ikea advantage), and a few other minor differences need to be known, but I can advise since I did this on one of the two runs, in my kitchen. It gives you more volume (front to back) in your drawers.

Also good to know with Ikea cabinets: the back panel does not guarantee squareness, so your installer needs to be aware, measure this, and get them all square when he installs.

Diannalo,

I'm with mindstorm 100%. 100%.

Did I say 100%?

I did want to add that putting in a 2x4 will only move your cabinets forward 1.5" not a true 2".

I have a similar bump out for one of my rows of cabinetry. It's SO nice.

M.

I contacted the cabinet installer (from IKEA, their regular go to people), and they responded to ask about my timeline for install but not really to discuss the ins and outs about pulling the cabs forward. They install IKEA kitchens day in and day out, and came well recommended, so have faith they are handy with them and experienced enough to pull it off.
I was so grateful to have the pics to show dh tonight and he likes the idea of bringing them forward too. I had planned on finding out feasibility before killing him with details, but it seems like it is doable, so brought him on board.
So, if a 2 x 4 gets us 1.5", do we do 2 and go to 3" or use another size board?
I have to thank GW because over time, I'd see people talk about going with deeper counters and loving them, but not so often lately, and I had it filed in the back of my head, just in case. This is the only run that backs on a wall, and we did not think we'd have the room until we had the extension on and we marked on the floor where things will go. Our architect was a loosey goosey on measurements (a nightmare!), so I was operating blind in some regards when planning the new layout. I was careful, so I am ending up having bigger clearances than my worst case scenarios and it opened up new possibilities. Without GW, my kitchen would function half as well and would have missed out on some of our fave parts! You guys rock!

I found a photo of our range wall that shows what we did. We used the flat dimension of a 2x4 (3-1/2") to bump out our cabinets. But keep in mind that you'll need to line up that 2x4 with the holes on the back of the cabinet -- this will make it lower than the top of the cabinet so you will have to add blocks, shims, etc. for countertop support along that strip. We didn't use a second piece at the bottom, but I think that is a good idea to help make sure the cabinets are square.

Thanks! Another clipping to show the cabinet people ;)

My plumber is here today and said it is no big deal plumbing-wise, so another potential concern put away...

Pretty soon my planning work will be done and I'll be up to my elbows in paint... I am doing a special treatment in our bedroom and will also paint our living room. I still need to hire someone for our ceilings and extension (it goes too high up for yellow-bellied me, lol). Of course, first the building inspector needs to come back and ok the work before they can put up sheetrock...etc... I think painting will be more physically challenging, but will give my brain a rest, which is sorely needed. I was up late again, this time shopping for switchplates.... I must be getting near the end, right?