I agree with you and love the look. But do not currently have the counter space to give up.

I like the idea of having more drawers but hve a small counter area that begin with. I’m also irvhasonh new granite countertops and, for the price paying, wanna see all the granite I can- ya know?

Had them in last house, loved them, added it to this house too.

Last house:

Left side was where I kept my KA and other baking tools. I’d open the doors, slide the KA out, use it, and put it back.

The right side drawers held things like measuring cups and cooking utensils, and also kitchen linens, like dish clothes and towels.

These were only 13” deep, and I had a solid foot of counter in front: plenty of room to prep, make sandwiches, whatever. (We did do the majority of prep on our island, though.) I wouldn’t have stored anything like eating utensils in them.

Our new kitchen, sans doors/drawer fronts:

The only cabinet that goes to the counter is this one on the far left, below the microwave. It is a drawer that holds our toaster, butter, and a loaf of bread. We slide it open, toast, and then slide it closed. It’s 24” deep.

I’m a big fan of clear counters. I want my appliances hidden, for the most part. The KA stays out in this house, but I have 40’ linear feet of clear counterspace for prep, and therefore a designated baking area.

I think that as long as people aren’t foolish (don’t do it in your main prep area, don’t do it with cabinets you need to get in constantly) it works great, and looks lovely.

I love the way they look and I love the idea of extra drawers at that height. I have a really small kitchen, though, so I wouldn't give up the counter space. My parents have them and they're excellent.

I have NO upper cabinets, have two pantries instead. I have two appliance garages at 30 inches each (the doors pull out-and-up). Galley kitchen, had one wall "built out" at base cabinet height to enable countertop to be 31 inches back-to-front. This allows for more usable countertop AND my monster fridge appears as a counter-depth.

I've done it on the ends of runs to enclose the end of the space, and also next to the refrigerator in some instances where I did not want to create a little cave by having conventional cabinets with space below. There's still set down space for the fridge, but the back half of the depth is enclosed.

I think they make sense sometimes, and are in the way at others.

Thank you for this thread. I went ahead with it in my kitchen cabinet order. The stone counters will actually be under the top cabinets so that when you open the cabinet it is a shelf of stone counter. At first I was not sure but DH loves the look and the ability to store items. Hopefully we can report back in a few months the love I hope we have for them.

These were our inspiration photos.

Hillsdale's fridge, tho... Someday I might want a big kitchen.

Hillside... autocorrect.

I *love* my fridge/freezer.

love them in bathrooms. hate them in kitchens

They're great in a true butler's pantry - more storage space. But with today's open kitchens, they hog limited counter space.

Thanks for your opinions everyone.

The first rendering is my initial design idea on an area for a kitchen I designed; My design after this was with wall cabinets instead of shelves:

But this is what they went with anyway; You can see they have alot of counter space, I thought the counter mounted cabinets were better but hey, the client got what they wanted:

This is the full design here. It was my first big project, just reading off of blue prints (which I did not know what i was doing at the time, learned as I went):

I love counter space, so unless you have the space to sacrifice then i would not do it. For appliance garages they are great but just for the look I would rather the counter.