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Slab base cabinets with shaker uppers?

14 years ago

I am officially addicted to this forum and totally unable to have independent thought. Oh well!

We want slab doors for a variety of reasons (kitchen opened up to everywhere in the 1951 house, want it to "blend in"). All LOWER cabs will be natural maple or cherry, but the uppers and oven cabinet (down to floor) will be painted white. Because the only white slab option from Mid Continent is thermafoil- and we want paint- we are thinking to use shaker doors with glass (clear, frosted or narrow reed).

This is my question: To carry the white over the hood and oven cabinet- without glass (glass wouldn't work over the hood or wall oven, would it?) I would end up with a couple of true shaker doors. The glass shakers will be "true" but with the glass they look more like "glass doors" than "shaker doors".

Below the oven will be slab drawers painted white like the uppers.

The truth is, in any other house, I would do shaker in a second.. but we want slab with minimal handles (on the top edge of the drawers) in this home.

Can I pull off the mix?

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Comments (6)

amysrq
14 years ago
I don't think I would mix. Glass with slab, perhaps. But, I would not use shaker with slab.

A couple questions...

Why do you want/need cabs over the hood? (messy, inaccessible, and a problem with door style)

Are you restricted to using this particular brand? Can you keep looking until you find what you need or mix in something from another manufacturer? Is there any way to get aluminum framed upper with glass? (I personally like that better with slab doors...JMO.)
midwifekim
Original Author
14 years ago
I'm not restricted to a brand, but we found a great price on really nice cabs (plywood boxed, full extension, etc) where we bought some appliances.

We want cabs over the hood because I want a very subtle kitchen. I don't want a chimney or even a regular SS hood that goes to the ceiling and says "look at me!" but I do like the look of a 10 inch high SS. I might add a touch of white- neutral shimmer to the backsplash- The effect we want is more white walls on the edge of a totally open plan. The focus of the room is the fireplace and views, the kitchen sits in the corner. That's why we want white perimeter uppers...to disappear. It was hard to get me to go with slab at all- so the aluminum-glass uppers are a bit too modern for me. I'm really a transitional style gal, but I can hang with modern if it's really clean and not flashy.

You're right though, I should look around a bit more now that we know what we really want.
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Nidnay, Oops, I should not get on the computer after 8 PM. I had known at the time what you were talking about and then when I glanced back over the conversations this evening I saw the 17 1/4 " and because that is close to the height of what I calculated for the top dish drawer panel on mine, I just thought that is what it was and I had somehow missed it earlier. I actually later did ask you the size of your dish drawer just to compare with what I calculated with that silly Fisher Paykel worksheet. If you can, sometime can you tell me the dimension of that tall dish drawer which is likely the same size as the top one would be for me. So we are clear now. Sorry, I just had gone back over my calculations late this afternoon and that is what was on my mind. I really do appreciate the Houzz forum. It is such a help for people like me who often bite off more than they can chew when it comes to home improvements. But when you live in a 75 year old house there is always something to do.
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ci_lantro
14 years ago
I think slab drawers will work fine. If you look at vintage kitchens with Shaker style upper cab doors, the drawers are always slab. Only doors were 5 piece. I don't see any problem with mixing the two because it's been done like that for years & years. These 5 piece drawers are a relatively new thing.
remodelfla
14 years ago
Do a search and take a look at pharaoh's kitchen. Slab lowers and shaker uppers. One of the most beautiful kitchens I have ever seen.
sabjimata
14 years ago
Only someone TKO would probably even notice the difference. I am TKO and think it would be fine. My realization on KD is that if you use stuff that was in style anytime prior to your house date, you are in luck. I don't think it was like "It's 1951...we can only use design elements from 1951!!!". I say this because my house was built in 1962 and when we redo our kitch, it will have more of a 1940's flavor. And I think that is okay. It's not like I am going to but an 80's kitchen in the house LOL.

Plus, I seriously think it will be barely noticeable. Especially since the whole kitch will be white.

Good luck! A sale is worth a helluva lot!
lmcal
14 years ago
I think it would look fine... We have shaker uppers and all slab drawers like ci lantro was describing and I think it looks great ;)

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