What would you use the shallow (high) closet for? Wouldn't it be too shallow for hanging clothes? What about just an open bookcase type of thing to house a collection or books, etc? But why necessarily to the ceiling if you already think it's high itself? And what about finding a table you like and then adding the skirt? Try drawing out the components in the room, leaving appropriate room for walking, and furniture depth. Play with the pieces (use cut-outs) and see what works, and what doesn't. Kitchen cabs? I think if you go to somewhere like Ikea, or Home Depot and talk to their designers you could be steered to lighter and more attractive options, plus ideas on arranging everything - that part's free until you buy things!

i'm going to use the shallow depth for my medicine/supps/ health stuff. ( i have a lot of stuff!)
the current hall closet is simply too darn deep, and i lose track of things.
having only 9" depth will prevent that, especially since the space is 3' wide and who knows how high.
the bottom will be dh's pull out landry slot, since his wardrobe is fairly sparce.
on the other side of the dressing table the cab will look similar, but be much deeper for my stuff hanging above and my laundry tipout below. i'd like to hang my robe, sweats, barn clothes etc on pegs rather than hangers for ease of use. (well, dirty barn clothes should get left in the laundry room i guess...!)
right now we have two dressers along that wall, the man's chest is pulled away from the window so the depth isn't bad. my dresser is a little deeper, and we both have laundry baskets on the floor in between the dressers. those have got to go!
thanks larke, i hope this will be more fun than the kitchen remodel!

the plan is to have it all behind doors, so it's out of sight.

I know that a certain store called aeki (spelled backwards) sells narrow shelves you can fit in a corner. I don't have a catalog handy, so I can't give you the name of it, but they sell a wooden shelf that is suitable for holding VHS and DVD tapes (movies). I bought it, put it up in my bedroom near the TV in a corner. While I was assembling it, I noticed there were some pegs for the shelves missing. I went back to the store (aekI) with my receipt and went to the service desk. They handed me a package of pegs.

Why the cryptic name?
Just say IKEA if that is what you mean...

The reason I spelled Ikea backwards is because I once posted a link to get a free Ikea catalog, some moderator deleted my post and sent me a warning Email that I might get banned for future plugs. I swear I wasn't spamming.

That's weird.

There are other posts here mentioning IKEA...