Additions to existing kitchen cabinets & “built-in”

[Ellen Lynch]

I have 2 questions regarding my kitchen cabinet upgrade.

I have existing kitchen cabinets that I want to keep which have a 12″ space above. I would like to take something to the ceiling, but I don’t know if there is enough space to have cabinets. But it seems like 12″ of molding above a 30″ cabinet would be too much. Could I use an 8″ open storage, with 3-4″ of crown?

Also, on the other side of the kitchen, there is this space beneath the stairs that the previous owners converted to storage. But it is awkward, with different size doors. I would like to install wall cabinets (uppers as base, sitting on a 4″ base), and also bring it out 6″ to allow the water cooler to fit in the space (you can see now that it protrudes). The space on the left would be 18″ depth, 42″ high on top of a 4″ base, 24″ wide. On the right, a 6″ depth, with NO back to allow for entry into that space, also 42″ high on 4″ base – this is just doors giving access to that big storage space. Then in the middle, I can use 9″ depth, 42″ high on 4″ base, 12″ width cabinet. The 18″ and 9″ depth cabinets would actually be installed “into the wall”, with everything aligning to the 6″ depth cabinet, with narrow “countertop” installed on it. Does this seem like the best approach to this space so that it will look more finished? Can I order the 6″ depth cabinet with no back?

I have photos, but couldn’t figure out how to attach them.

Thanks!!

[eslynch]

I figured out how to attach photos. Showing the kitchen w/ 12″ above, and the “under the stairs” area.

Attachments:

1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 

[ChadBarker]

Yeah, for the kitchen upper cabinets, I would go with exposed shelves up top and then match the stain as closely as possible.

We would not be able to match the existing stain on our end, so you would likely want to handle that locally. The best option would be to take one of the older doors to a local paint or stain shop and have them match the color directly from the sample.

The material in the photos looks like red oak to me. We do sell new red oak wall cabinets with exposed interior construction, so the cabinet interiors would be raw red oak and could be stained on site.

https://www.citycabinets.com/Exposed-Interior-Kitchen-Cabinets-s/95.htm

For the under-stairs area, this is a bit trickier because you are getting into some very shallow-depth cabinetry. What you currently have looks like it works fairly well and looks good. Adding shallow-depth cabinets in that area could make it look worse unless it is done with a high level of finish carpentry so the new cabinet work blends cleanly into the existing casework.

[Author]

Posts