[Espo]

I've had my kitchen designed for months, and I've already purchased cabinets and done much of the remodel such as removing an existing wall and building a bar wall.

Original kitchen design..



Before the demo...


The original plan called for a straight wall..



But after seeing it I realized I did not want a bar counter hanging out into the open living area/walkway so I recessed the bar.



Now this causes an issue with the corner inside the kitchen. The countertop will be an extra 12" deep, which will make reaching the upper cabinets very difficult. My solution was to place the corner cabinet on the countertop, to create a custom appliance garage. To the right of the corner cabinet is a 39" cabinet and to the left is a soffit on the ceiling and a 30" cabinet. The soffit is an awkward 13" high so I don't know how I should place the 39" cabinet. There is no soffit above the 39" cabinet. I could have gone with a 30" cabinet but since there is no soffit above it I wanted to put a taller cabinet. Suggestions? I have considered placing it on the countertop as well, but I didn't consider that when doing wiring and wired my phone jack in that space (not a big deal for me as I don't own a house phone, but future owners may want a jack). The planner picture does not show it, but the bar counter will be higher than the rest of the countertops.





...and for posterity this is how the kitchen looks for now with new tile, new electrical and the new fridge (although in the wrong spot)



Thanks for taking time to view my pictures...please offer up some ideas if you have any for that corner. Remember I already bought the cabinets so that will probably limit my possibilities.

[Dave of the Coonties]

That's quite a design evolution. How about placing those corner cabinets at regular height? The upper shelves will be difficult to access, but they might still be useful for rarely-needed items.

I'm squeamish about making some of the countertop less usable by having doors opening at counter level.

Not having cabinets on the window wall looks like a good idea--the kitchen would fall over the brink of claustrophobia.

[zeuss]

Have you ruled out firring out the wall by the number of inches that make your cabinets in the regular position?

[Chris Hale]

Are you just trying to fit those cabinets in there because you already bought them?
I say ditch the corner cabinets.
If for some reason you can't return the 2 wall cabinets, can you use them in the laundry room or somewhere else? You have a lot of cabinents, so losing those 2, will it hurt you storage wise?
I think some shelves would look great there. Even some rails.

You could also do a AVSIKT roll-front there on the counter instead of putting the corner cab on the counter. You can get the height to match up to the top of the other wall cabinets, but it's still on the counter so you can reach contents easier. (but they're $$).

What were you going to put in those cabinets?

[Espo]

Dave, regular height is definitely an option. I just know most people would not be able to access much of the cabinet at all in that position, and a place to store a blender or mixer or whatever would be nice to have. I even have an electrical outlet that can reside in the corner cabinet. Am I wrong to assume corners aren't really that useful anyway? I didn't think I would lose much by placing a cabinet on the counter top there. I hope my design does not look clausterphobic..I tried to design a well flowing, open kitchen.

Zeuss, I have, mostly because if i did that, I would not have room to put a cabinet there due to the existing soffit on the adjoining wall. (the soffit has wiring in it and it wasn't worth it to me to remove it)

Chris, I like the idea of shelves or rails. I thought about putting some on the sink side of the kitchen but maybe against that wall would be more useful, near the cooktop. I don't neccesarily HAVE to install the cabinets I bought, but if I can make them work, that would be ideal. I liked the idea of some upper cabinets that are not glass, so I can hide some of the uglier kitchen items I have. That was the main draw behind keeping that one upper cabinet.

One last thought...what If I get rid of the built in microwave and add another set of glass cabs, ditch the corner and end cab, and just put a microwave on the counter. The counter is so deep it won't really detract from usable counter space there. But it won't look as nice either.

[Chris Hale]

Micro cabinet in the corner there....Actually, I think that's an exciting option. That makes a lot of sense functionally, too. And you're right about not mattering that it sticks out so much.
We ended up putting a micro wall cab in our kitchen (didn't originally plan for it), and I like it. We have it in a spot (over an open place where I have my cart and broom) where it's not in my face.
I think you should try that in your design, see how it looks.

[Espo]

Are the 56" roll front cabinets still available? They are not on the ikea website as far as I can tell. I did some measuring and the roll front would fit perfectly to the right of the corner cabinet. The corner cabinet will also definitely have to be on the countertop due to a 1/2" measuring error I made when finishing off the soffit...seems I forgot to account for a piece of drywall somewhere...oops!

[Espo]

[the7trumpets]

I've never been a fan of appliance garages because of the counter space they take up, but for those who wouldn't (or can't) lift appliances between a drawer or cabinet and the counter, and replace them, they can be an option. Here's an idea for something a little different with having no appliance garage:

Ditch the corner wall cabinet. Put the 12" wall cabinet (or you may hopefully have room for a 15 or 18") next to the wall cabinet to the right of the range, where it's left edge is where the corner wall cabinet's left edge is now. Now here comes the cool part:

Cut a hole in your new wall. Insert a 39hx30w" glass cabinet (or any kind of 12-16.5" deep hutch cabinet opening up to the living area. Put some cool lighting in it, etc. Face the back and side of it (which are now butting into the kitchen) with cover panel, and then if there's room put one of those angled shelves to finish it off to the edge of that wall. Or even cooler (although harder), custom build some horseshoe shaped shelves that wrap around the end of the wall.

I'll let some of the installers correct me if I'm wrong, but the purpose of the rail is to transfer the weight from the sides of the cabinet to the back wall. In this arrangement, the cabinet which faces the living area would not use a rail. Instead, you would just screw it into the studs in the front 4 inches of the cabinet in several places. Depending on the stud arrangement, it probably means you have to scab in a few studs into the wall after you cut your hole, but it should be doable. Judging by your great framing work, it shouldn't be too hard!

[the7trumpets]

Originally Posted by Espo

The corner cabinet will also definitely have to be on the countertop due to a 1/2" measuring error I made when finishing off the soffit...seems I forgot to account for a piece of drywall somewhere...oops!

I think you may have measured and built it right, but you're forgetting that you don't need the cover panel on the side if you hang it on the wall?

Get rid of that cover panel in between the corner wall cabinet and the wall cabinet on the oven/microwave wall and it buys you an extra 3/8".