Excellent idea Karenseb! That would be a great place for cookbooks.

I'd do a filler if you need the closed storage. A 2" piece against the wall to push the cab out so it doesn't interfere with the window casing would be fine I think.

You could remove the drywall behind the cabinet, to gain 3/4" - but that's not quite enough. Easier than hacking the cabinet, though.

I don't think a filler would look terrible.

Thanks for your responses so far!

Interesting idea Karen. I have exactly two cookbooks (Joy of Cooking and Alton Brown), but open shelving for either wine racks or dry goods I store in half gallon mason jars might work. I have to explore what semihandmade offers there.

So at least some think that it wouldn't look too odd with a filler strip there, which is good to know. I was kinda digging the idea of a smooth wall of flush bamboo doors :-).

Since you don't have enough cookbooks to fill the shelves you could also store cutting boards (or get more cookbooks ;). If you like the smooth, uncluttered look, I think the filler will be fine.

Deliberately vary the depth and height of the cabinets on that run to make a shallower cabinet work visually. All frameless cabinets need fillers next to walls, but being shallower than the cabinet box will give it an odd shadow line. Maybe that's a place to lose the window trim and tile the whole thing.

I've ripped the sides of IKEA cabinets to make them shallower. It's not big deal. Push 'em through a table saw or even a circular saw with a fence. Redrill for the cams and done.

Here's a photo from our walk-through with the previous owner's stuff 5 years ago, though you can't quite see the notched part where the cabinets are set into the window trim. It's not the same situation since our cabinets are on the window wall, but I think the filler strip option would work nicely in your situation. I wish ours had some separation rather than notched-out trim - I think it might have happened when they replaced the windows in the 1990s. Since the cabinets were built on-site, I have a hard time believing this is how the window was originally.

Pull the trim, install cabinet and filler, then fit trim around the filler.

My ikea KD did one of those open 9" cabs at the end (like in Jillian's kitchen) of the cabinet run - it has optional wine rack inserts or you can just leave it shelves for tall skinny storage. Or lose a few inches of cabinet on the side and fill it out with a plinth. I will be putting cookbooks and maybe an antique decanter in mine.

Thanks you all for all the ideas. After all the inspiration, I'm thinking we'll put in a wine rack like this: