I really dislike cabinetry butting up to door and window trim. It gives a very crowded claustrophobic feel to a room. However, in some tiny tiny spaces, that's the only option. Yours isn't a tiny space. If you're going to change the cabinetry, I'd change both of them to have space at both windows. Or, leave it alone and have them butt up to the trim on both sides. It'd look far worse to be assymetrical with butting on one side but space on the other.

The reason I had it butting up on one window but not the other is that the kitchen sort of ends at that left side and keeps on going on the other side. With the rest of the kitchen there, it didn't feel asymmetrical. But the claustrophobic thing does worry me a bit.

I personally don't think it's worth the expense and hassle of redoing it. One thing I'm curious about - your lower cabinets - will they abut the window on the left too - or will the upper cabinets extend farther than the lower ones - that might look a bit funny.

We had the same problem but you'll be glad to have the extra space. We needed to add trim on the sink window and it buts right up next to the cabinet. The one in our dining room has about 2" between fridge wall and window trim. Make sure if you have any painting to do, even a 1/2" worth, that you do it before the final install. I don't think it will bother you at all once it's done. Hope this helps.

I think you should get what you wanted and expected. It's the responsibility of the cabinet maker to get it right - that's what you are paying him the big bucks for.

Having your cabinet end at the window frame means your counter will end at the end of the cabinets, there won't be an overhang - like there should be, and like you show in the picture. I think it will look awkward, with out that counter overhang.

If you were clear in your instructions, then he needs to make the cabinets right. I do think that both the upper and lower cabinets should end in the same place.

Good luck

I understand what you're saying and have seen many kitchens that don't have the cabinets up to the window trim on one end. That said, I'm still a fan of having cabinetry right up to the molding. It's a much better use of the space. No matter how large a kitchen may be, you still long for more cabinet space. I would go with the plan and I think if you don't like it now, you'll grow into it later on. I actually think it will look more balanced with the cabinet up to the trim.

The biggest problem I see, is that either you told him, or you thought you told him. Big difference.
Hanging all of this on him, without knowing specifically what was said, probably isnt going to go over very well.

If you decide to change it, its gonna be costly, for whoever gets to pay for it.

I do agree about the countertop on the dining room side being a problem.

With that said, if it were mine, I'd:

Assuming they are framed cabinets, then, you could leave the uppers as they are, have the cabinet guy trim 1/4 inch off of each base scribe in the range opening. This would pull the base to the right 1/2 inch, allowing you to at least have a half inch overhang on your counter, and the counter would line up with the upper above, regardless. Typically, I try to line the countertop up with the upper anyway, and not worry about the base lining up in these types of applications. I think it looks better when ending tile, backsplashes, wallpaper etc.

That seems to be the easiest fix to all of the problems, without having to rebuild 3 cabinets this late in the game.

I think rollie offers a good suggestion...it's too late in the game to fix and probably too expensive. We too had the same problem and we actually came closer to the window than I would have liked, but we still have close to a foot of space. We wanted the space to serve as sort of a division between the kitchen and dining area. In worrying about that I screwed up measurements and didn't ensure our top cabinets ended flush with the counterop on the base cabinets. In the end we staggered our backsplash to minimize the difference...and all is well.

Truly, I don't think it will bother you as much as you think. I'd let it go at this point.

Here's ours:

Oh yeah, I definitely don't see this as his problem. It was me who approved the drawings with this problem there (not noticing it at the time, obviously), and I don't really know for sure whether I told him about this when he was measuring.

My only advantage is that he is a small operation, and he may not have made those particular boxes or doors yet. He's coming out first thing tomorrow to double check some other measurements, so he's definitely still making my cabinets.

I think I'll just ask him how big a deal it would be and decide based on what he says. I do think I could live with it (THANK YOU for the pics!). I had not thought about the countertop issue, though, so that will be something to discuss with him.

Thank goodness he's so laid back. I'm sure I seem like a complete ditz to him by now with all the little changes I've made.

In the pics posted by others I would not have noticed unless they pointed it out. I would not pay the extra to make this change. I would live with it (and it wouldn't bother me one bit).

I'd be concerned about the counter overhang and whatever window treatments you had planned for that window. If you were planning on curtains, will it work if there is no outside space to work with, even minimal? Of course roman shades will always work.

Well, woohooooo!! The counter guy had not made that run of cabinets yet, and the carpenter was here and could easily move the offending drywall, so it turned out to be no big deal.

Whew! :)

This was my first problem of the remodel so far. I'm sure there will be others, but if they are all solved as easily as this one, I'll be thrilled.

holligator - unless you think it's going to drive you nuts everytime you see it, (emphasis on you) don't sweat the small stuff.

You think that's a screw up; this is a screw-up and I have no one to blame but me since I did all but countertop myself. But I always gain from "life's lessons". You can bet this won't happen again...

Cabinet space measured oh so slightly off, countertop overhang extended beyond door molding... The counter guys mentioned it when they templated, but I was not going to rip out what took me hours to hang and get level, by golly.

So what the heck, I removed the door...

Dining room didn't need a door to close off the kitchen anyhoo

Glad it worked out holligator...it does feel good when those you're working with are agreeable and open to change..but it is rare! You're lucky! Good luck on the rest of the project and update when all is installed!

Livinwell..you crack me up ;-) That was a perfect solution...and was probably meant to be...good job!

Whew! I'm so glad it worked out! I didn't get a chance to post earlier, but was going to say that if they could make the change, I'd probably want to, b/c your initial vision kept the dining room separate, while the new design made the kitchen encroaching upon the dining space. But either way, it would work! So I was going to suggest trying to change it, but happily accepting the increased cabinet space if the change couldn't happen.

:-)

Francy