Well, miacometlady it looks as though they have already begun to build what they want. Is that correct Rivka?

Yes, we've already built the structure for it (unfortunately for me). I gave up a gorgeous wood Italian china cabinet to make my husband happy, but so far I can't imagine liking this when it's finished. He wanted it built out of sheet rock with glass doors that are flush with the outside. This style is too boxy and sharp for me. I like carvings and detail. Any suggestions on combining our styles with what we've started?

If one or both structures are built out of sheetrock laid over some 2x4s, DO NOT load good china or glassware into it. Not sure how you plan to support shelves, or whether the sides and floors in these boxes are plywood or sheetrock. But I can see these coming apart under a load pretty easily. Just the weight of 3/8" tempered glass (about the minimum thickness I'd recommend for doors) will require at least 4 hinges on the larger one. That much weight might cause the frame to "rack." Racking is when a rectangle becomes a parallelogram. Sheetrock is not suitable for holding shelf standards or shelf pins. It's also not suitable for bearing a load when the load is dynamic (moving or shifting), as would be the case when a door is opened or plates are added to or removed from the boxes. Loading china or anything heavy onto glass shelves requires a calculation of the load, and glass to be sized and supported for that weight. There IS a way you can make the front of these look like a cabinet, and you can probably hang wood or MDF doors on the frame. Message me if you'd like to discuss, but it's too much to describe here. However, the carrying capacity of your "cabinets" will be minimal.

If he gets what he wants inside the house, I'd decorate all the man spaces starting with the garage. But seriously you can add wood frame or molding on the cabinets and fabric or wallpaper inside the cabinets. It does not have to be flowers just soft or textural to balance the sheet rock and soften the straight lines and glass.

The photos didn't load onto my Ipad when I responded. Nothing like wasting every ones, including my time. Oh well. The joys of the internet! You have two floating boxes that are pretty much going to read modern. Even if you were to be able to salvage vintage doors for them, it wouldn't work anyway. This isn't a compromise for me, its an either / or. Fill it with what makes you happy and focus on that. I let my husband pick the design of our outdoor fireplace and now I have to look at it every time I do dishes. Live and learn. Although I planted I've planted on all four sides the FP this spring, so I least I have a long term plan. Good luck.

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. There is definitely plywood underneath the sheet rock. I hope that will make it sturdy enough to support the glass doors and shelves and everything else that's supposed to go inside.

1karol thanks for the suggestion. I think this might be our only option for combining our styles somewhat, and miacometlady, I think you hit the nail on the head with what's bothering me most. The look of it just reads modern no matter what I'll do to it. I hope I'll be able to come up with something so that I won't want to puke everytime I walk past it!

Now for the buffet...What should we do with this? I originally wanted to have a shelf on one side and drawers on the other, and my husband, of course, wants them hidden behind doors. Now I'm thinking of just doing drawers on both sides, but I'm afraid I'll find it annoying to have to open a door every time I want to get to the drawer. Your thoughts on this? Also, nothing was made to "standard" measurements (we had a designer when we started remodeling who was repsonsible for getting us into a mess we didn't plan on in the beginning. Those floating boxes on my wall were her bright idea, as we had no need or intention of building a china cabinet when we started the project. Needless to say, she's no longer working for us.). Does anyone know where to order doors or drawers made to custom measurements that aren't crazy expensive and what material is best to make them from?

read your note in "houzz" and realized i'd better not slop paint on the kitchen cupboards -- but think long and hard then tackle it the right way!!!! thank you SO much for great advice!