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Symmetry in upper and lower cabinets?

11 years ago

Hi everyone,

I am trying to decide between 2 plans from 2 different KD's. They are both using the same cabinet company, their designs are very different though...

The first design is what I would call symmetrical. The kitchen is a tiny "L" shape.

Basically the upper cabinets match what's on the base, 27" sink base with 27" cabs (2 doors) on top. Then there is the DW with equal cabs on top. On the base a corner cab with a piano-hinged upper cab on top. The plan is symmetrical although it perhaps makes for alot of small cabinet doors?

The second plan, the KD has 3 16" cabinet doors on top which go over the base cabinet of 26" sink base and 24" DW. Instead of the piano-hinged corner she has a 20" cab door which leads to a blind corner.
In this plan her cabinet doors on the upper are larger and therefore less doors.

My question is (if you've read this long, lol) is what qualifies as symmetry? Do most kitchen designs call for the same size cabs on the uppers to match the lowers?

Also is it better to have bigger cabinet doors in a small kitchen as opposed to more cabinets doors that are smaller in size?

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Comments (5)

palimpsest
11 years ago
Don't match the upper to the lower would be my advice. The lower needs too many various sizes for function such as a 24" area for DW, a 30-36" sink base, a trash pullout that could be 15"-18" and other sizes. Make the upper a nice even or balanced arrangement of doors.
okpokesfan
11 years ago
I agree with palimpsest. My uppers and lowers don't match--doesn't look odd at all. Go for function.
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If symmetry is important to you, then achieve it in the upper cabinets, which are far far more visible in the room than are the lower cabinets. Matching upper and lower cabinets can be done, of course, but if that makes things look choppy, or sacrifices functionality, then it's the first thing I'd discard when tweaking a design. Fewer large cabinets are always less expensive (and more functional) than are many smaller cabinets. So, if you have a 24" Dishwasher in your cabinet run, followed by an 18" drawer stack, followed by a 36" base, the first thing I wouldn't do is to put 24" upper, an 18" upper, and then a 36" upper. Instead, I'd try a 42" upper and then a 36" upper. Or, more likely, since the DW is next to the sink base, which is under the window, and I like to give the window moldings decent clearance, I'd probably use 2 36" cabinets over that run, as long as I could achieve similar window molding clearance on the other side by tweaking those cabinets as well. So, you can see there are many ways to "solve" the layout problem, and there is really no "right" solution. There is just the solution that works for you and for what is important to you. I would definately caution you though to work for function first of all, and then tweak for symmetry.
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Comments (23)
Thank you all so much, the comments help! I think probably when it is all done, it will be one of those things I'll wonder why I put so much effort and thought into! I have actually placed my cabinet order (woohoo!) but we are just going over the fine details and this was one of them. To answer a few questions.. the small window on the right is actually 4 panes of glass over one. This is an old, historic 1937 house, and when we stripped the wallpaper, there once was a partial wall there.. for whatever reason?) Luckily, this room is sooooo sunny and bright (which I LOVE) the cabinets won't take away the daylight (the previous cabinets we removed helped). The small drawers are just "for fun" to add a little "something". It is tucked away in the corner, I just think it will be a pen and paper drawer with game cards and such. I did make a mock-up with open shelves on the far right, I just didn't "feel" it... so I decided to on this counter height cabinet - it's only 14" wide. I do like the idea of adding feet - the right side bumps into a wall... which opens into a bay window - which I'm having a window seat built!
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Yes, the negative space between each side of the hood and the uppers is equal. That area will likely all be filled in with a tile or slab backsplash up to the top of the cabinets. I guess the negative space around the hood and the sloped ceiling might trick the eye into not seeing the hood as off center. We had originally planned a rectangular island with a row of 3 pendants down the center. I was afraid the row of lights not lining up with the hood would just highlight the problem. We might do track lighting with more randomly placed lights over the island. (We have wood ceilings, so recessed lights are not an option.) The cabinet door style we picked has slightly rounded edges, and DH likes the SS and glass hoods that are curved, so I thought a curvy island might work.
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We have a small galley kitchen. Eleven years ago we installed quartersawn oak cabinets, the lowers stained chestnut and the uppers stained sand - an off white. I still love it and left the cabinet scheme when we had to refresh some elements about four years ago. I agree that you should use ubatuba on both perimeter and island. At first I wondered if your backsplash tile was too muddy and 'fancy' for lack of a better word but with your ubatuba, I liked it better the longer I looked at the combination. You get so many opinions - including mine! Have you talked to a tiler about the backsplash installation - they'll require a skilled installer I would think.
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User
11 years ago
Your eye does not move up and down so much as side to side. It is not important to match the uppers and lowers. It is important that the uppers look right with each other.

In my small kitchen with cabinets on opposite walls, I selected doors widths (not too narrow, not too wide) that looked right to me for the height I selected. Then I made sure all the doors on a side were the same size. I'm happy with the uncluttered result.
artemis78
11 years ago
Mine don't match either. We did function over form, and I think it looks fine. I only think about it if I happen to be reading this forum and see posts like this. :) If symmetry happens to yield the best plan for the space, I think it's fine, but I wouldn't bend over backwards to accommodate it--especially not with a small kitchen (we have one too!)
angie_diy
11 years ago
One other argument in favor of not worrying about making them line up comes into play if your kitchen is small. Mine, for example, is only 8' wide, so there is only a 4' aisle. Thus, it is not possible to get far enough away to see them straight on. When viewed at an angle, even cabs that line up will appear NOT to line up, since they have different depths.

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