Help - Rethinking cabinet size

16 years ago

Oh my goodness - I am getting really distraught over my last minute decision on the size of my cabinets that flank my sink window. I ordered 23" cabinets with 2 11.5" doors. The layout is s follows:

21" cabinet with single glass inset door

23" cabinet with 2 - 11.5" doors

70" bay window over sink

23" cabinet with 2 - 11.5" doors

18" single glass inset door (angled at a corner)

Demolition started 2 days ago and the cabinets are already in. I think I made a huge mistake with the skinny double doors. Originally the plan was to have them be single 21" doors, but I thought that 21" would be too big and bulky. So instead I made them double doors, making the cabinets 23" which is as large as possible, right up to the bay window.

In hindsight, I think instead of making the cabinet larger into double doors, I should have made it a single 18" cabinet doors. Why didn't I think of that BEFORE?!!!

I think my choices are:

1. Live with it. Do you think they are too tall and skinny? If it doesn't look right I'll be sad every time I look at the cabinets.

2. Order new 18" on both sides of the sink. I have no idea how much this will cost. DH will be so upset with me. It will also hold up the project.

3. Keep the 23" cabinet, but order single 23" doors. If I was worried that 21" was big and bulky...23" is going to be huge, but is that better than 2 skinny doors?

Please help me with my decision. The bay window area over the sink is the focal point of the kitchen and I think I really screwed it up. I need a glass of wine, but its only 9 am!

Oh, if it matter, the doors are full overlay with a raised panel in the middle. On the rangetop wall, the other upper cabinets are 30" with a double door and a single 18" cabinet. The 3rd wall is made up of 30" and 36" pantries.

Thank you,

motherof3

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Comments (3)

homechef
16 years ago
First of all, don't panic. Have your glass of wine, it must be 5 o'clock somewhere :).

I happen to like narrower doors, especially if the ceilings are low. You didn't mention how high your upper cabinets are. Most sample doors you see are 12" wide and if you liked the door at the showroom, chances are you will like it in your home. 11.5" is negligibly smaller.

I think you should wait for the cabinets to be installed; you can always get a 23" door later if you still think that the doors are too narrow, but I think that would be a huge door. It sounds like your 23" cabinets will nicely frame the window, and I don't think the doors will look bad.
motherof3
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks homechef. I actually don't know the height of my cabinets, but my ceilings are 8 ft. The cabs will go to the ceiling and have crown molding plus some other flat piece.

Thank you so much for the advice about the sample door. The sample is actually 11.5, just shorter in height. I went crazy measuring every single furniture door in my house to get a sense of how wide 11.5 looks! I'm just hoping the 11.5 doors won't look even smaller next to the wider doors.

Instead of a glass of wine at 9 am, I ate a large piece of crumb cake :)

motherof3
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homechef
16 years ago
Crumb cake is good too, although not as good :)

I know what you are going through as I'm driving myself nuts with the same questions - would the doors look too wide? would the cabinets be too narrow? I have become so paralyzed with indecision, and on top of that, I can't pick the color of the cabinets. So I keep going back over my plans debating the door widths while the cabinet guy is making a new color sample door.

I've got to tell you though, other than you NO ONE will be scrutinizing your cabinet doors to such extent, not even the people on this forum, and no one but you and your cabinet person will ever know the difference.

...Now, if only I could take my own advice :)