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1. The cabinet above the refrigerator should be 37″ wide to match a standard refrigerator opening of 37″ wide. The height of that refrigerator opening should be about 72″. This 37″ x 72″ opening will fit most standard refrigerators, and we recommend sticking with this size even if your current refrigerator is smaller. You may replace it with a different model in the future, and modern refrigerators simply do not last very long, so designing around this standard size is important.
2. The TFE (Tall Finished End) should be 26 5/8″ deep and attach to a 26″ deep wall cabinet above the refrigerator opening. See the attached image for a visual reference.
3. The base cabinets next to the refrigerator opening should be ordered at 24″ deep. This allows the countertop to terminate cleanly into the side of that tall end panel for a more finished look.
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Yes, the top drawer front comes standard as a slab solid wood inset top drawer front. If you select “panelized,” the top drawer front will instead be built like a five-piece door.
Note that both the slab and panelized top drawer fronts will have the same outside edge detail on the perimeter. The difference is that the panelized front includes an inset panel, similar to the door, and is constructed in a frame-and-panel configuration.
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You can simply order the cabinet as normal. Then, in the order notes at the checkout screen, where you enter your credit card information, add a note requesting that the door not be hinged.
We review and address all order notes before production begins, so just be sure not to forget that note and you’ll be all set.
We do not offer quotes via email or perform takeoffs from plans, as design and order assistance are not factored into the pricing of our cabinets. All ordering functions, including placing the actual order, are handled directly through the website.
More information about our model:
Design Assistance
We can certainly offer guidance via our forums or by email if you have specific questions. However, we do not provide full kitchen designs using our custom cabinets.Many companies advertise a “free design,” but that time is simply built into the cost of the cabinets. When these companies are using in-stock cabinets offered only in fixed 3″ increments, the “design” is often just a list of the cabinet sizes they carry that may or may not fit your space well, so there is no real “value” there.
With us, the cabinets are fully custom. You can certainly choose to design in simple 3″ increments if you prefer to keep things straightforward, but most customers move away from that rigid structure. Instead, they maximize storage space while minimizing fillers by adjusting cabinet widths as needed.
Our goal is to keep costs down. By eliminating design services, assembly, and the shipping of fully assembled cabinets, we keep unnecessary costs out of the price. This allows the majority of your money to go directly into the cabinet components themselves—higher-quality plywood, premium hardware, and the legit skilled labor required to manufacture each component of the cabinets.
Personally, looking at this hypothetical cabinet layout, I would stagger the taller and lower base cabinets by having the tall cabinet be deeper by about 2″. This allows the countertop a place to terminate into the side of that taller finished end panel.
As for the flush toe kick, I would do it only on the taller base cabinet. Run the finished end and filler full height, and then have the ends of the base molding terminate into the backsides of the filler and the finished end panel.
For the sample picture I provided/attached, I left off the toe skin on the lower base cabinet and left off the base molding on the taller base cabinet. I would certainly have a recessed toe kick on the window seat cabinet, as this would be handy if you are accessing any sort of coat hooks installed above the window seat base cabinets, or any sort of storage area above for that metter.
Most people cannot order a 26″ deep base cabinets from their cabinet maker, as most companies simply do not offer this as a customization. This is in fact the true custom way to do it that will not show any shortcuts used due to limited options when ordering. Note that we make everything from scratch, so we can offer anything you want to within reason. All of your options listed above are technically fine and would look great, but this is just my preferred way to do it.
Notes on this would include the fact that you can certainly run a flush toe kick on that lower base cabinet if you want, but I personally like the staggered look where it appears more functional and eliminates the risk of damaging the face of the flush toe kick after repeated kicks and use.
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The TFE (tall finished end panel) should be ordered deeper than the wall cabinets. Since the wall cabinet depth does not include the door thickness, you typically want the finished end panel to extend far enough to cover the side of the door for a more integrated, custom look.
You can certainly order the TFE at the same depth as the wall cabinet, but this leaves a 3/4″ step back, which generally does not look as good from a design perspective. See the attached image for a visual and additional explanation.
I would recommend using at least a 2″ wide full-height tall filler between your refrigerator opening and the wall. It is nice to have a bit of space there rather than placing the refrigerator directly against the wall, even if the refrigerator has hinges designed for tight installations. You want to be able to open the refrigerator door a full 90 degrees to access the interior comfortably, and the filler is a small price to pay for that peace of mind.
If you need a 5/8″ gap underneath, I would simply use pressure-treated 5/8″ plywood cut into strips to build the cabinets up off the concrete. You could probably use regular plywood or even shims, but that would require a large number of shims, whereas plywood strips will do the job faster and more cheaply. Using pressure-treated plywood is wise in this situation, as it helps prevent moisture from wicking into the cabinet cases.
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You can do it either way. There is no real standard when running base fillers full height or holding them above the toe kick area.
Historically, I would have the filler run full height, as I think it looks cleaner and gives the base molding a nice flat surface to die into.
However, there are a few drawbacks. The filler becomes permanent, or nearly impossible to remove once the countertops are installed. The portion of the filler that touches the floor can get banged up during cleaning, and it may not sit tight to the floor if the floor is out of level.
Alternatively, holding the filler up 4″ allows the toe kick skin to continue behind that area. This approach is easier to clean and less likely to show damage over time. If damage does occur, you can simply replace the toe kick skin piece.
This method has become more common in recent years, and it is the approach we generally recommend now since it tends to hold up better over time.
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I would simply tape it out on the floor where the cabinets will be installed. This will translate up to the wall cabinet above, and you can then see a real-world example of the widths needed.
The angle complicates things a bit, but if you use some masking tape, you can easily lay it out in real life to see the sizes and fillers needed and get a better grasp of the space.
The finished plywood countertop product has edge banding on all four sides. This is essentially the same construction as an appliance panel or a base or wall finished end panel.
https://www.barkercabinets.com/Kitchen-Finished-Wood-Tops-s/368.htm
Which cabinet are you looking at? Do you have the link?
I checked the tall dual oven cabinet, and I see that Chestnut is listed as shown in the picture attached here.
https://www.barkercabinets.com/0-door-double-wall-oven-cabinet-with-double-thick-p/tdualoven.htm
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Sure, so if you order the cabinets with a raw wood or primer-only finish for the cabinet doors, then the face of the cabinet case will be banded with raw hard white maple. This is the most durable and most common paintable edge-banding material we have tested, so raw maple is the default edge banding we use.
Please note that Sherwin-Williams recommends not brushing or rolling Gallery Series paint. I have seen various YouTube videos showing that it can certainly be applied this way, but Sherwin-Williams cautions against it because brush strokes can be visible after the paint dries.
That said, this is typically acceptable so long as you properly mask off the face of the cabinet and use a matching Gallery Series primer before applying the paint. Since only a 3/4″ wide strip of paint is visible, those stroke marks usually do not draw much attention.
Spraying the paint is the best method, but it will require additional masking and preparation time.
Yes, any door over 48″ tall is automatically built with a mid-rail. This rail provides stability, as a tall door built without a rail halfway up would flex too much and the panels would not remain stable. Warping is also a factor, since the vertical stiles need a point of contact for support at that height.
Yeah, it looks like black ABS plastic that was probably covered in primer and paint during the previous renovation. Since it exits straight through the back wall, there really isn’t any practical way to drop the elevation without creating a section of pipe where water would sit permanently, which obviously isn’t ideal.
In this case, I would simply route it inside the cabinet by notching the cabinet backs and sliding the cabinets over the pipe. That’s a pretty common solution and not a big deal. You can also request that the lower drawer be reduced to around 15″ (or whatever dimension is needed) to accommodate the pipe. That part is easy to adjust.
For the cabinet above your refrigerator, I would make that about 24–26″ deep and attach it directly to the rear wall studs. You probably have a soffit back behind that, so I get the idea of using a shallower depth cabinet, just attach or cleat up to the ceiling or adjacent cabinets as needed. We can also make that flip-up cabinet a bit shorter in height if needed. Normally 12″ is our minimum, but looking at your layout we could probably squeeze it down to about 10″ high.
9″ might work as well, but that gets very close to the hinge plate and arm clearance. If you want to adjust it slightly, you could request something like 11″ instead of 12″ in the order notes at checkout. Just be sure not to forget the note so the layout team sees it.
See the images below of the actual flat crown that is being shipped soon.
https://www.citycabinets.com/product-p/mflatcrown.htmAttachments:
Sure, go ahead and order the cabinet at 9″ wide, and then in the order notes at checkout request that we change the cabinet to 7 3/4″ width.
Cabinets smaller than 9″ can be difficult to run on the CNC because the parts are so narrow that they may shift during machining. When that happens, alignment at the cabinet corners can sometimes be slightly off.
As long as you are comfortable with the possibility of making a small adjustment during assembly, such as re-drilling a hole or two to achieve perfect alignment, we are willing to give it a try and build the cabinet below our standard minimum width.
Just don’t post a negative review about alignment after this disclaimer 😉.
