10' ceilings - cabinets all the way up?

12 years ago

We will have 10' ceilings in our new kitchen (19'4" x 13' but open to family room with cased opening)- should the cabinets be stacked and go all the way to the ceiling or will this make them look too tall? I'm not sure what to do, but I can't imagine adding soffits and I don't really like the idea of all the dust accumulating on top of the uppers either. Any pictures of the different options would be great!

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Comments (13)

taggie
12 years ago
Yes, go all the way up.
cat_mom
12 years ago
Yes--go all the way! :-)
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Ours go all the way to the counter, so we've got 60" of cabinets, and 4-6" of crown: From New Folder (2) Ours are broken up, and have lots of glass, so while they're definitely tall, they don't look particularly long or hulking to my eye. Several of the prior posters have broken up their cabinets, too, and they look amazing, so that would definitely be an option for you if you were worried that one cabinet would look too monolithic. One thing I can say, though, is that if you have the option to go all the way to the ceiling, Do It! You won't regret the extra space, no matter how inconvenient it is to access (via stepladder or whatever). My kitchen is a decent size (15' x 21') and we don't have a lot of "stuff", but I'm really appreciating every inch I have. Cabinets up high can store less used serving pieces, appliances, linens and what not, so don't discount them just because the high shelves aren't as easily accesible as the lower ones-- they can still be useful!
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If you don't go all the way to the ceiling you will collect a ton of dust on top of your cabinets (I speak from experience) - but you have to decide which look you like better -- The cabinets in the picture have a large piece of filler molding to reach the ceiliing - do you like that look or do you want the actual cabinets to be taller? Does you kitchen ceiling exist - or are you creating it? Our architect talked about 10-12 foot ceilings but the rest of our house is 8 foot (historical house) and I thought that it would not be harmonious to have the ceiling be these soaring ceilings so we have compromised and brought them down to under 9 feet. One other thing I noticed about your kitchen - does it bother you that the sink is not centered under the windows? I can see not putting it in the center of the middle window if that makes opening other cabinets difficult, but is there a reason it isn't centered under the left window also? I also noticed that the range wall has uppers and lowers balanced and sink wall does not - do you like it that way? I bring it up because when we did our first kitchen I assumed the kitchen cabinet guy would think about these things because it was his every day job -- yeah, not so much - so we ended up with glass front cabinets with different size panes because he just filled the space. hth
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We had a 12" soffit on one wall, an 8' ceiling, and 30" cabinets. We removed the soffit and new kitchen has 36" cabinets - MrsPandy couldn't reach the shelves on the 42" to-the-ceiling cabinets - of uniform height. Because we did not want to deal with the 6" space above the cabinets, we had a 6" soffit built all the way around (yes, someone actually added a soffit!). We also have no crown molding on our very simple, shaker-style cabinets (Showplace Pendleton II), another minority move these days.
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Bee, I'm sorry I don't have a better picture and with the glass in. The glass is something like four feet long. That's a big reason why you don't see it very often--shipping the glass! If I'd gotten it from the online source I found the pattern at, I would have had to pay for it to be crated in wood like fine art. That would have cost as much as the glass! Equally, getting it made locally would have cost a similar fortune because of the transportation issues. JDesigns from this forum found me wholesale sources an hour away where my contractor could have picked up the glass, taken it to be tempered, and taken back to be cut, then brought here, which he would have done. Fortunately, he thought to ask his glass source, who were installing my mirror in the butler's pantry, and they could get the glass...and because they were bringing the mirror, I didn't have to pay the hundreds of dollars to transport the cabinet glass which was so long it had to be crated or on a glass truck (or between boards in the contractor's pick-up, with prayers for no potholes). Make sure the KD costs it out and is 100% sure it's not going to cost you a lot extra in the shipping. If your designer is going to source the glass and have it arrive installed and ready for you to love, there's no reason not to go all the way up. Then it's just a matter of what you want it to look like. Some people have glass over glass, some (including me), have wood over wood, some have glass over wood, some have wood over glass. Whichever does it for your design is right. I did split cabinets on the perimeter because of the breaks for the hood and window, and because I didn't want to see the stuff that one needs a ladder to get at. I also felt like the cabinet would loom over there if they were solid. OTOH, in the butler's pantry (one side pictured above), food pantry and laundry, they go all the way up and don't loom. It's all a matter of what balances in the design.
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kfhl
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks - taggie & cat_mom. I'm sure you are right, but it just seems like I only find pics with 8' and 9' ceilings. I'd really like to see some pics with 10' ceilings to feel more certain about it and to convince DH.
shanghaimom
12 years ago
Our ceilings are 9'10". The kitchen would have a completely different look if the cabs didn't "go all the way".

There are quite a few threads on doing really thick crown to bridge gaps if you want to make the uppers really tall without stacking a 2nd set on top of that.
kfhl
Original Author
12 years ago
shanghaimom - Your kitchen is gorgeous! First, I have to say that I love the details - the pendant lights are amazing. I am also planning on white perimeter with a mid to dark stained island so I love seeing this. I think I much prefer the stacked cabinet look like you have to a single super tall cabinet with a big crown.
Would you mind telling me how tall each of your uppers are? I have heard of stacking a 15" on top of a 42", but I can't tell what yours are other than that they look great. Thanks!
gr8daygw
12 years ago
beautiful kitchen Shanghaimom, love it all. Makes a believer out of me, go all the way up with the cabinets kfhl! Love the window, island, shiny countertops and the pendant lights are gorgeous.
shanghaimom
12 years ago
Hi Kfhl,

Thank you! (gr8day, too!)

The uppers are 16" and 39" (doors only) plus the trim above, below and in-between.
Lyns06
12 years ago
I love this kitchen! Wow, so beautiful! I'm adding it to my lust-list! I know this wasn't my posting, but the answers helped answer mine! Thanks guys!
polie
12 years ago
Lyns06, it's added to my "lust list", too. What a great phrase---and what a fabulous kitchen.

I think to-the-ceiling is the way to go, OP.
boxerpups
12 years ago
Here are some visuals with cabs that go all the way up.
~boxer

Below are pictures of kitchens with
Cabs that do not go all the way up to the ceiling. These
look nice too but I imagine the cleaning can be a problem.
gr8daygw
12 years ago
Hey Boxpups those are some amazing pictures. My favorite one is the second one down with the dark gray/green cabinets and lighter color island. I would love to add that to my idea book or look it up and find out more about it. Do you recall where you found that photo? Thanks for always being so wonderfully helpful to us all.
gr8
boxerpups
12 years ago
They are kraftmaid cabinets. Sage green maple wood.
From this link but when I go there now it does
not show up.

http://www.thenotsoblog.com/

try this one...
Define your style with Kraftmaid kitchen cabinets
http://www.thenotsoblog.com/2010/10/define-your-style-with-kraftmaid/

Here is a link that might be useful: define your style
kfhl
Original Author
12 years ago
shanghaimom - thanks for sharing your cabinet sizes - that makes me feel much more confident in my decision.

Boxerpups - the pictures are fabulous. I always love seeing the incredible pics you post. I have a hard time with visualizing how things will look without examples. It is so nice of you to take the time to share your library of pics with the rest of us.

Thanks for sharing!

10' ceilings - cabinets all the way up?

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