I made a built in and made the boxes myself and just bought the doors (frameless). That way they could be the size I want, but the doors are professionally finished. I based it on 36" high upper cabinets (had many options on height with uppers). I went with 12" deep because I didn't have room (and didn't need) anything deeper. These are sitting on toe kicks on the floor.
Oh, I also built my drawer boxes myself and just bought the fronts to put on. It's all been fairly crazy, but I love the results.
Jennifer

Here is a link that might be useful: cabinet links toward bottom of page

Jennifer - What you've done looks very nice!

I could probably fashion what I need from scratch, but I think I could save some money (and certainly some time) going with pre-fab cabs for this project. I just can't believe it's so difficult finding unfinished vanity cabs like I'm looking for.

I read your post and started to wonder if I posted it!!! I'm doing the exact same thing right now!

I'm using standard 24" depth vanity cabs on one part of the L and then 12" deep wall cabinets built up with toe kicks underneath on the side... saved me a bunch on the cabs this way.

Domino - Which side of the L are you doing what, and why?

I hadn't thought of differing depths for different sections, but that might be a solution for me too. My sink is on the short part of the so I would probably need the deeper cab for that section.

How are you working out the countertops? Sounds like you'll have different sized counters for each section.

Vanity counters will have a false panel as the top panel, so as to accommodate the depth of the vanity sink. That renders the top 6" of space unusable. The drawers add on cabinets that you find are darn near useless in 18" depth, if you can even find them outside a custom shop. They're not a stock size in 18" depth. 21" deep is standard for vanities, and while they do make *some* 18" deep ones, they are far more limited compared to their 21" deep cousins. You can get what you want in a custom or perhaps semi custom kitchen cabinet line, but it will be more expensive to select out of standard cabinets rather than less expensive, even if the smaller ones use less material. Out of the norm costs more. Always.

Consider the size of the other components you are dealing with. Built in fridges or ice makers are 24" deep. Ones that are free standing will need that much room, and even more for the equipment to not overheat. Sinks, even bar sinks, would be crowded and difficult to install in a 18" countertop. You'd be hard pressed on a drop in to be able to access the sides for the sink clips, and for an undermount, there just wouldn't be much room for the fabricator at all, much less the plumbing. If you choose to use a standard kitchen sink, then you're guaranteed to need 24" depth. Counters come in 25 1/2" as standard. Any smaller, and you're dealing with an upcharge to rip a laminate, or an upcharge because the solid surface order doesn't meet minimums.

What you're proposing can always be done, of course, but standards exist in cabinetry for a reason, and it always costs more to go outside those standards. And the results are not always worth the extra $$ spent. I'd suggest you contact a custom cabinet shop to price out what you want, as you have little chance of creating it from stock cabinetry. And if that is too pricey (likely) then you return to the land of the standard 24" deep kitchen cabinet for your bar. It'll be cheaper, by far. And more functional.

Great post, live-wire. Very informative and much appreciated.

This is exactly the kind of information I was looking for at this early stage of planning. What you posted will save me a lot of trouble down the road (e.g. the mini-fridge is a long-term idea and won't be part of the initial build...but I need to account for it).

Sounds like I'm back on 24" cabs for this project then. That's not so bad as I really do have the space for it...this bar is going against one wall of a 44'x14' room, so it's not like it's going to cramp anything. With the 3' behind the bar, it's only going to protrude into the 14' of the room by a total of 6.5' (3' behind + 2' of back counter + 1.5' of bar counter) which is not too bad.

There's certainly more of a variety in pre-fab cabs in the 24' length, that's for sure. I can opt for pre-finished or stain them myself...that's a plus too.

The other thing I'm wondering about is securing it to the floor. I have engineered wood (on top of concrete slab) underneath where the bar/cabs will go, and tile in the behind-the-bar area. Can I secure the cabs and bar-studs to the wood surface, or do I need to secure them to the concrete sub-floor underneath?

I am looking into building an L shaped bar in my basement too. I found a link to some pretty good plans at a different site but I need to know what to do about plumbing for the wet bar hookup. Will the plans that I get have that information in there?

Here is a link that might be useful: Home Bar Plans