Upper Cabinets, Soffit, Crown Dimensions and Ceiling Height Issues

9 years ago

Experts,

I am planning cabinets for our kitchen. We removed a wall between two rooms with different ceiling heights and our architect planned a kitchen to go across these two rooms (11' to 9'-11" ceiling height change). Any advice on the following would be great!

- We want cabinets to go all the way to the ceiling. For the 11' ceiling space, base cabinets are standard at 34.5" and 18" distance between the upper and base. What recommendations do people have for upper cabinet dimensions with 2 rows of stacked cabinets? Also, we may need to put a soffit for the range, but would like this hidden in the crown, if possible. What height should the crown be to hide ducting and act as a soffit?

- Does extending the countertops across the 11' to 9'-10" change look odd? The ceiling does not slope. Currently, the architect has a very large frig in the space, but I could use more countertop space. I also will only have a 36" frig. I believe the soffit will also have to run through this room.

Thanks!

Featured Answer

Buehl

9 years ago

Your actual base height is 36" because you need to factor in the 1.5" counter thickness.

Note that if you also have light rail to hide under cabinet lighting, you need to also factor the light rail's height.

So:

34.5" base cabinet height +

1.5" counter thickness +

1" light rail (or whatever is the actual height) +

18" backsplash =

55" to bottom of upper cabinets.

- - - - - - -

Next, plan your crown molding...probably 6" would be best.

So you have 55" + 6" = 61" used, the rest is for upper cabinets. The crown can be adjusted up or down to accommodate the upper cabinet heights available.

Now, plan your upper cabinets. I suggest the first one be a minimum of 36" tall, 42" might be better. Then add stacked cabinets above.

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Comments (7)

Buehl
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I need to get on a laptop to see the design better, but not now as I'm on the way out the door.

I'll check back later. Maybe others will chime in!
future materializes thanked Buehl
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kitchenchemist
9 years ago
What is the transition going to look like from one ceiling height to the other? We have a transition from 10' kitchen ceiling to 8' breakfast nook ceiling. We cased out the opening and it helped make the transition look more defined. We have cabinets and counter in the breakfast nook space and while very similar to the kitchen cabinets, we painted them a different color but used the same hardware. This helped the spaces not look as if we were trying to make both spaces identical but they complement each other well.

We also stacked upper cabinets. The upper cabinets are 36" high, then a 3" spacer where we hung a rolling ladder rail (to reach the highest stacks--if I had anything at all to do over, a minor thing, I would have increased this spacer, probably to 5-6"). The "upper-upper" cabinet stack is 18" high. We built up the molding with a 3" filler piece, egg and dart molding topped by crown molding (too fit other molding in our old house). We didn't go tight to the ceiling because we had issues with walls, floors, and ceilings out of square. That enabled us to cheat a bit to keep the dimensions looking square.
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future materializes
Original Author
9 years ago
Kitchenchemist - thank you. To answer your question, I'm not entirely sure. I guess it would look off for the ceiling to change all of the sudden. We need to check with the architect.

We were thinking of attaching a rolling ladder. Did you have a soffit? I was thinking of using a 1' crown to cover a soffit, but maybe that's just too much.
kitchenchemist
9 years ago
Maybe whatever your architect recommends for the transition could help drive the crown decision. We matched our molding to what was original to the house, so it cases the transition opening and makes up our crown molding on the cabinets. We don't have a soffit. What kind of style are you going for? Simple crown could work with most things. Me personally, I think the crown on our cabinets actually draws the eye up and emphasizes the height of our ceilings.
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PRO
User
9 years ago

I'd personally prefer the kitchen where the dining area is located, and the dining where you have the kitchen. That would have better flow, and better separation of spaces and functions.

If you keep this layout, I would take the opposite tactic and leave off any upper cabinets in the 11' area. Stuff the 9' area full of cabinets. Turn the desk area into a walk in pantry with even more shelving for stuff.
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chellefnp
9 years ago
I thought the same thing Linda. You'll have a traffic path right through the middle of kitchen. Anyone watching TV and needing a beverage will have to cut through the middle. Been there, hated that.
future materializes thanked chellefnp