building some cabinets - please help me plan

12 years ago

I've got a 72'' space that used to be an eat in area. I've been using a boos block island in that space but I'm not thrilled with the look so I'm going to build some cabinets to go there. One potential area of sadness is that the windows in this corner of the kitchen are lower than 36'' so I'll likely have a height of 33'' for this area. One plus is that I don't have any material left from our slab so I think the different heights will make the butcher block I plan to use look good.

So, for the planning - I'm going to do a cabinet that will house my microwave and toaster oven. I'm hoping to do some kind of retracting/pocket door - the kind of thing you'd see on a media cabinet (any suggests for where to look for examples would be awesome).

With the rest of the cabinet I'm not sure what I should do. I wouldn't mind reconfiguring some of my existing storage to put some of the glass storage for lunch packing elsewhere. I'm also considering some toe-kick drawers for baking stuff. I could use more room for pots and pans but this area is opposite the range wall so not an ideal placement. I would love to have a knife drawer or potentially drawer within a drawer, whatever the term is for a shallow drawer behind/within a larger drawer front.

I'm really open for any ideas for how to maximize this space. a spice pull out could be nice too.

Thanks for your help and ideas!

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Comments (4)

CEFreeman
12 years ago
Without pics, I can't help with the planning, but I can tell you to check Lee Valley for the media cabinet type hinges.
Rockler and Van Dyke Restoration usually have hardware you don't find somewhere else.

The question you didn't address is how deep your cabinets will be?
I also first picture this as a former dine-in area, yet then it sounds like it's actually behind your work area.
Even a graph paper drawing would help.
Eric Freedman
12 years ago
Hard to picture without a picture. I have also seen roll up doors ie. Appliance garage. But am not sure if those are even used any longer.
Remember when building your cabinet to subtract the height of your toe kick and also the countertop thickness from your overall height.

Also remember that any additional hardware like those slide in doors will take some space away from the rest of the width of the cabinet. You might just want to leave it open if it is a nice looking micro.
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olympia776
Original Author
12 years ago
Hi all, thanks for the suggestions! It's actually a galley kitchen (slightly bigger) and on one wall the cabinets stop short. I think I got it wrong - it's actually 7 feet not 6. They'll be standard depth so 24ish (I think mine are 24.25'). I'm just hoping for it not to be a missed opportunity to do something cool. I did think a little about keeping plates in a drawer but I'm not sure if we'd really like that or not.

So, I'm thinking probably a cabinet with the pocket doors for the micro and oven and the rest is open. I would like a knife drawer so I could ditch the block. I thought a little about a mixer stand but I very rarely use the mixer. I also think a cool pot/pan storage solution would be neat but it's on the sink wall not the range wall so I think that could be weird.

It'll be pretty straightforward. I hope to add toekick drawers but the complexity might get the better of me. I'm planning on using Ana White's plans for base cabinets and will most likely have the doors made but hope I can make the drawers myself. We'll see. Doing the shiplap might kill me first.
three3apples
12 years ago
About the ship lap, I'd keep it away from the dining room because the difference in sizing would be noticeable and drive me nuts.

I rarely use my mixer, but hauling it from the pantry to my island is a pain. I strongly regret not doing a pop up stand from insude the cabinet. Sadly we cannot retrofit one in now.