Do you have a sink grid in the sink? I think I would try that before making the decision on the counter height.

I'm 5'5" and my old kitchen had 38" high countertops and that's what I'm doing in the new one. Countertops have been getting higher in kitchens,according to 3 kitchen, designers I've talked to, because people are taller than when the old 36" standard height was set. When I work in someone else's kitchen with lower counters than mine I get lower back aches in a hurry. Maybe just because I'm getting older but I think you should do the height for comfort and it won't look odd.

Alku05, I don't have a grid right now. I've never used one and wonder if I'd like it. What's the advantage?

flseadog, that's exactly what happens to me, it's really only minutes before I feel the low back strain. It's really true about the height of people. We bought a 1930s bathroom sink and if we had chosen the one with a pedestal it would have to be built up on a platform to be comfortable.

How does one go about doing this? Do you have the cabinets made taller, or do you just put some sort of platform on the bottom to shim them up?

I also was thinking of higher cabinets around 38-39 inches because that's comfortable for me, but what do you do with the stove? My range measures 36 inches high.

Carla in Sac

The sink grid will make the sink feel like the bottom of it is about an inch higher. Also, they're particuarly useful in a single sink because it holds dishes off the bottom of the sink so water can drain easily even with a very full sink.

In my old kitchen the range and dishwasher both sat on built raised platforms. The base cabinets were custom built at 2 inches higher than normal and this gave extra room in the drawers (toekick stayed at normal height although I've read that the usual way to add height is to add height to toekicks) When we bought the house I thought it was weird (20 some years ago)but the husband and wife we bought it from were both over 6' tall so they really didn't want anything low. I came to like the extra height, especially for the dishwasher and the range. In our rented condo while waiting for the re-build to finish I'm amazed at how much I have to bend down to load the dishwasher.

So, just to re-iterate for comprehension purposes...

One could have standard cabinet heights and put them AND stove and DW on top of 2 inches of plywood?

I think you could but then I'm notoriously unhandy and have been set straight a number of times by DH or contractors on the exact was to accomplish something. In my old kitchen with an L-shaped arrangement the range sat a one end of the short leg on a raised platform. The sink was in the middle of the long leg and the dishwasher sat next to it on a raised platform. All of the base cabinets were built with a standard toekick and an extra 2 inches in the useful space so that the countertop sat at 38" high. I don't see why the cabinets couldn't also sit on a raised plywood base along with the appliances but you're probably better off asking the cabinet maker as they would have the practical knowledge of how to do this.

does anyone have pics of the range on a platform? i can't imagine how this works. my range will have a stainless "apron" running along the bottom. wouldn't you see the platform under the range and won't this look odd ...as in bad? i would love it if it looks ok as i had 38" counter height in my last house and would love it again. TIA.

Yes, I'd love to see a range on a platform/plywood too. It would be nice to build my counters up 3/4".

Is it ok for a range (i have an ag wolf) to be sitting on plywood (combustable?)

In my case, I don't have cabinets yet at all. They will be built in place so I'll build whatever height I decide on. I'm not sure about standard bases but the suggestions sound reasonable.

Also, I have a wall oven that is going in a base cabinet so the range height isn't an issue for me. I would think if you raised the range you would need a filler piece to cover the bottom. It would look bad if you could see the plywood.

My old range, dishwasher, and cabinets were white. The bases (I'm not sure how they were constructed but must have been really solid at least for the range to hold up that old time over/under combination with a microwave on top). For the range the raised platform was flush with the front edge of the appliance because that's where the "feet" of the range were, for the dishwasher it was recessed to line up with the toe kick. In both cases the raised platform was covered with a panel that matched the toe kick. All of it blended together seamlessly and didn't look odd at all. Now that I look back on that old kitchen I realize what a great job that unknown someone did to put it all together.