Can I move my upper cabinets down a bit?

14 years ago

I would appreciate a bit of advice. I am remodeling my kitchen, and the ikea cabinets are now installed. I am having them installed by a contractor.

My problem is that the upper cabinets seem too high up. The distance between the countertop and the bottom of the upper cabinets is 20 inches.

Can the cabinets be moved down? Of course I will talk with my contractor about this but I wanted to get some feedback on here before I bring this up.

As I understand it, the standard for the distance is 18 inches. Is that right?

I would like to have the upper cabinets rehung to be a bit lower. I specifically talked with my contractor a couple of times to make sure that the cabinets were not installed too high as I am short. For a taller person those inches might not matter but it is a lot of extra reaching for me, especially since it is not what I asked for.

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Comments (8)

squigs
14 years ago
Your cabinets are pretty high. I wonder why your contractor did that even after you spoke to him about it. Mine are at 18" and it's okay, but I would have them hung at 16" if I could do it again as I am also short. Ask him why he hung them so high, and if he doesn't have an excellent reason, have him redo it.
rhome410
14 years ago
Mine are 18" because I wanted to be sure my blender and mixer fit under with room for fingers if I had them on top. But in our last house, our uppers were 16" above the counter, because we had 7'10" ceilings, and 42" cabinets. Anyway, I don't notice the difference between the 2...In other words, having them at 16" didn't seem too low. If you'll have undercabinet lighting with trim to hide them, remember to figure that into the measurement. But 20" seems high to me...especially if you don't like it, because that's what counts.
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Oldhousegal, I understand what you mean about getting more done! My DH was a GC & carpenter by trade. He was exhausted & often worked 18 hours a day, 7 a week. He had lots of house dreams, but everything was "good enough for now." I amost made a sign and put it over the door that said, "Welcome to the House of Good Enough For Now." I couldn't hire anyone because of $$, and of course, because he could always do it better, right-er, safer, cheaper. So NOTHING got done. But me being patient and understanding got me a kick in the bummy. I lived for 3 years with no plumbing. I still dream of finishing the tile in the MBR and putting in a shower in the front/guest bath. Just this last summer I've been paying someone by the hour & beer to put electricity in. I have only 2 rooms to go and it's done, but with everything I've done, I've had to re-do a major part of what was done. The electrician had to check EVERY wire DH ran (that he never hooked into the fuse box) because they were loose, not grounded, or in 2 cases, hooked in, unmarked & scorched up the wall behind my storage boxes. I've had to have the plumbing redone in the crawl space and all the sinks he did put in (but didn't plumb into the system) leaked so I have mold and floor warping issues. The electrician killed the ants nests in the attic, removed the snake skins, & chased out the racoons. (I miss the snakes, but they still come up thru the holes in the floor.) The siding man, bless him, screened the vents in the attic so the birds don't come in and thru the pot light holes in the ceiling. Cats go nuts. The roof had no drip edge, so when he enclosed the soffits 2 years ago, the water tension ran rain under and into the front house walls. He had to remove 4 courses of shingles, put the drip edging on and replace the shingles. If you name something in this house done, and to date, there isn't a single thing that is COMepletely done, I will tell you what had to be REdone due to "good enough for now." Even my floors, which are beautiful, need 3 boards in the closet and aren't nailed in place in 2 rooms. I think it was a completion phobia. Not only in his own home, but with every client I remember in 18 years. So I am doing it alone & often feel I'm fighting the tide. DH has cost me so much heartache, but he's cost me $1000s in re-do-dollars. If he'd have done NOTHING, it would have cost me less. I'm sorry. I really seem to be letting off steam this last day. Sprayer: I don't, but I don't mind the painting. It gives me the opportunity to patch holes or damages I didn't see. I am in love with this STIX primer and Cabinet Coat. The whiskey bottles I laughed at. Those were DH's. I sent those with him when he bailed. Don't miss them or him. I'm a single wino, myself. :) I wish you all were closer just for advice & encouragement. No one even needs to help!! Just talk to me while I'm working. I'll trade yoga for someone making me laugh. Sound like a deal?
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off topic, but... love your tiles. i would've used something like those in my own kitchen, but thought i needed something "less strict" in my very linear, "architectural" kitchen. would you mind sharing where they're from?--i would definitely consider them for a different part of the house. also, is that a corian or silestone countertop? lookin' good!
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Akimbo, those 8" cabinets are awesome! I am currently looking into installing an IKEA tall cabinet into my hallway linen closet to make it look like a built-in. We did a custom wardrobe in our old house with IKEA cabinets that turned out great. I love that IKEA's cabinets are so easy to modify (even though they have done everything to discourage it). The 2nd and third photos are the Kitchen we were working on when I asked you about the upper cabinet depth/microwave issue. We ended up using a spacer behind the microwave.
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I hung a 5' long Japanese noren behind my bench. No worries about bumping and damaging either the piece or the human head. If you could pull the bench a couple inches from the wall that could help. If you put the planter on a stand so it bridges the gap between bench and art maybe? Try that out, just an upside down bowl or pot would do.
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beejay27
14 years ago
Is the minimum distance between the countertop and the bottom of the upper cabinets specified by code? I thought it was 17 or 18" where we live. Regardless, I would definitely want them lowered considering you specifically asked him not to put them in too high. It's bad enough not being able to reach things at the standard height.
bostonpam
14 years ago
18" seem to be the norm. Someone said some local codes may have a requirement for a minimum height. I'm not sure that's correct. I did check it out for my town and there's no code limit. I'm having my cabinets installed at 16" (start of the 1" light trim). My KA will have to be used on the island and all my other appliances fit with the lower upper cabs. I would rather have the lower cabinets so I can reach more shelves and used 1 or 2 appliances on the island.
palimpsest
14 years ago
Its only code in most areas for minimum distances above a range to flammable surfaces or bottom of a range hood. (30, 24, 18, depending on hood and fuel source)...and probably some areas specify over a sink, too.

Other than that there would be nothing preventing you from stacking your upper cabinets right on the countertop other than the fact that you would have no counterspace:)
mbarstow
14 years ago
Hanging the upper cabinets 16'' above the counter was the first decision I made before I even selected my cabinets. I'm only 5 ft. 4 in and now that our new kitchen has been in use for the past 8 months, I love that we made that decision. We live in MA, and my contractor did check to see if there was any code that required the 18'' and there wasn't. Any appliance including our tallest, a Keurig coffee maker fit fine. But we do bring the Keurig forward so that the steam isn't ways sending up moisture under the cabinets.
puddingpop
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks so much for the feedback. I talked to my contractor, and I am going to have the cabinets moved down at no cost to me.

I do have undercabinet lights with trim. One part of the trim is up, and there is currently plenty of room for my mixer, which is taller than most models I have seen. Now to decide if I want the cabinets low enough to just use the mixer on the island...
rodco
14 years ago
The nice thing with the Ikea Cabinets is that they use a "HANG RAIL" system and can be moved pretty easily. I should really say.. EASIER than normal cabinets that are screwed into place.

I think the cabinets should be at any level you feel comfortable with. They are YOUR cabinets, do what you want with them.

Can I move my upper cabinets down a bit?

Comments (8)

squigs

rhome410

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Can I move my upper cabinets down a bit?

Comments (8)

squigs

rhome410

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