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upper cabinets at the penisula 'in your face'

13 years ago

I was meeting with my cabinet maker yesterday--finally plunged and ordered--yeah! We do have one issue that needs to be resolved and thought maybe you guys could help.

We will have a penisula that is open and extended into the breakfast room with a counter height bar (basically the penisula is 42" deep). At the "L" where the penisula meets the sink wall we have a bank of three upper cabinets that run left from the window over the sink to the edge of the penisula. Each cabinet is approximate 16 1/2" wide and 15" deep.

The problem is the last cabinet in the run--it lines up with the edge of the penisula. The cabinet will open from the breakfast room as it would be unreachable from the kitchen side. But it basically will be "in your face" to the person sitting at that end of the bar. Right now, none of my options seems to be good. What have others done? Please share pictures.

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Comments (5)

kngwd
13 years ago
I don't have photos, but I am going to be in the exact same situation. Do a search at the bottom for "irishcreamgirl" - she has that set-up as well and said it's not an issue. Others have chimed in as well that it hasn't been an issue, but i can't remember who. Good luck!!
missstella
Original Author
13 years ago
I looked but could only see pieces of the kitchen mentioned above. Is there a link somewhere that I'm missing?

I'm trying to avoid an angled end or open shelving, because I see it as a dust collector (I hate to dust).
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Mine might be higher than average. I'm 5'7" so I have a decent reach. I absolutely would not allow the microwave to be placed over the stove. We have it over the counter and it's just right. If you are worried about heighth, you might consider a cabinet right on the counter. Our kitchen designer put one on the end of a line of cabinets. The bottom is a shallow drawer which I have rolled up placemats in. Since it doesn't need to be opened very often, there's just enough counter space to place bowls, plates, etc that I'm taking out of the cabinet. I really like having the plates and serving dishes within easy reach. The cabinet is right beside the doorway to the dining room. Glasses and coffee cups are next to the frig on the other end but in upper cabinets. Due to 9' ceilings, our upper shelves require a step stool so seldom used items are up there.
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Ok. I feel I should clarify somethings, as I posted earlier about my cabinets without doors, and I agree that seldom used items sitting in the cabinets above my fridge, and to a lesser extent the stove, get a little filmy after time - and that is why I replaced the never-used fridge items with 4 early 1950's empty canisters....BUT I hadn't been up there in a year, and even if there were doors, contents would have been filmy. I Don't have much of an issue with other open upper cabinets. -------- I think a lot may have to do with how one cooks. A lot of frying or sauteing? I would NEVER have them open. I also live alone, and eat a lot of soups and salads, microwaved vegetables and so forth. I don't have a whole lot on display, on the open upper shelves - only a few larger not often used pieces, as I'm pretty short, but it's easy to take those few items down to wipe them now and then. I used to have to rinse out seldom used pieces when I HAD doors.
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Thanks again for the responses. Right now I am having trouble deciding. I will try the mock up tonight and see if that will help. Good idea. I have done drawings on graph paper and when I look at them I think that I slightly favor the look of the two doors bacause of the symetry. Holligator - Your door does not look big but I am worried that mine will actually be close to 22 inches because the cabinet is 24 inches wide. Love your cabinets by the way. Looking at literature I have from kraftmaid, shuller and diamond it seems that fewer companies make one door cabinets larger than 21 inches. Mine will be 24. Does anyone have a 24 inch cabinet with one door that they would be willing to post a picture of? Or a picture of a 24 inch cabinet with two doors? Just a thought. Thanks, Beth
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I think it depends. Our family is fairly tall...ranging from the shortest person (me) at 5'10" to the tallest (DH, so far) at 6'5". We decided that, for us, dishes in the upper cabinets worked better as the first two shelves are at a perfect height for us when taking things out/putting things away. We can all reach even the top most shelf of our 36" tall cabinets w/o assistance...I can't reach the very back of the top most shelf (we have 3 shelves + the bottom of the cabinet in each one, so the top shelf is pretty high), but I can reach half-way in. What we did do is put things like pots & pans, mixing bowls, casserole/baking dishes, etc. in the drawers b/c (1) they're heavier and it's easier to lift something heavy up then pull it out & down, (2) several are too big to store efficiently in upper cabinets (12" & 15" depth), (3) we have a lot more room in drawers so we can keep them together in the right zones, and (4) I'm the one that uses most of these items & I'm the shortest! I think my height is just right for either upper cabinets or drawers. I suspect 6' is the point at which it starts becoming better to use upper cabs for dishes & glasses. So...drawers:
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Angela
13 years ago
I had that same setup in the kitchen in my old house. The person sitting on the end sat right in front of the cabinet but it really wasn't a big issue - on a day to day basis it wasn't like we had 4 people lined up there sitting - usually just 1 to 2 of us at a time for snacks and breakfast/lunch and such. It truly didn't bother me when I did have to sit there, although it was rare. That area next to the wall tended to be a dumping ground for laptops, mail, random unfinished projects, phone messages, my purse, ...
Excuse the mess. I think this picture was taken about 2 days after we had moved in and it was Christmas time, thus the red striped towels everywhere.
formerlyflorantha
13 years ago
We reach out from kitchen side of peninsula to open that far cabinet door. Not exactly convenient but not that bad either. We don't have pairs of cabs we have all cabs on right of range opening toward range, same with left of range. This way there's no open cab door in your way at range. I'd do it the same way either side of a sink.

BTW, don't put your over-peninsula pendants in a place that that peninsula door can bang. (Don't ask me how I know this.)
nini804
13 years ago
This picture is from my previous house...we had a long peninsula with cabinets on the wall of the "L." No one actually ever sat in that part of the peninsula...we had a cabinet built right under that part of the countertop that opened into the breakfast room. We kept placemats and other dinner linens in there.

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