Please!! Pictures of stacked upper cabs with 8ft ceilings?

13 years ago

Hello All! I am completely addicted to this forum...thank you, thank you for all the contributers!

I am in love with the look of stacked upper cabinets. I am planning on custom white inset and my KD says my 8ft ceilings are too low for stacked uppers. Before I give up my dream, are there any of you out there who have done it in 8ft? Maybe even with a small amount of moulding? Are you happy with them?

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eam44

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

Dara, you can use doors that have a stacked look instead of paying for a row of tiny cabinets. They are called transom doors and they are great at giving a stacked look to kitchens with low ceilings. They are more expensive than ordinary doors, less expensive than extra cabinets.

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Comments (13)

missstella
13 years ago
Check out this link to a previous thread. There are some ideas that might work for you. I like what timberj did--it kind of looks like a stacked cabinet but isn't. Even if you can't have a true stacked cabinet, you might be able to fool the eye.

I'll be interested in following this...

Here is a link that might be useful: Upper Cabinet options with 8' ceilings
lowspark
13 years ago
I hate being told I *can't* do something. Bah. But in this case... it's not so much of can't -- there's always a way if you really want to -- but probably it's not the greatest idea. Your normal sized cabinets are going to go up to about 12" below the ceiling. So, you could put 12" high cabinets above those but I don't know if that would look good or be functional.

Also, no wall or ceiling is perfect so you might not actually have a full 12" to work with all the way around. Plus your cab doors don't want to actually touch the ceiling, right? Or how would you open them? So, more like 11" at most with some kind of molding to get it to the ceiling.

You can always do something other than 30 & 12 if you get a custom build. Again, not impossible, but I'm wondering about practicality. You're going to lose space on the floor/ceiling where the stacked cabinets meet.

I do like what timberj did and with that look, you could even put latches or knobs on the top section to give the appearance of stacked cabs if you wanted to.

I have 8 foot ceilings too. Oh how I wish I had just one extra foot (two would be nice too) but there you go. Ya gotta work with what ya got.
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I guess it's personal choice but I think it actually makes a room look bigger to go up to the ceiling! Here are some choices you should have: 1. Use 30" uppers with crown molding (lots of open space above) 2. Use 36" uppers; fill with 2pc crown molding (6" high) 3. Use 39" uppers; fill with one or two pc. crown molding (3" high) A 2 pc. molding is preferred due to unlevel ceilings and floors...gives more wiggle room 4. Go custom and use whatever height uppers and crown you wish. I'm not a big fan of 42" uppers all the way to the ceiling, unless it's in a modern/contemporary designed kitchen (ie. slab doors). But even then, you need a shadow line or small molding at the top, usually. Honestly though, if your cabinet (maker?) or designer couldn't help you with these simple options, you might start looking at other cabinet people.
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In my last home, I had 8' ceilings, and I had 42" cabinets with a narrow molding. Loved it! You can NEVER have too much storage IMHO. You THINK you'll never use those top shelves, but believe me, you WILL. I am not a fan of a lot of molding - just MHO and my own personal taste, but I think a big molding looks great in a den or library bookcase, but is too fussy for the kitchen (sorry!). In my current home, I have 9" ceilings, so I have 42" cabs, plus another short set of cabs stacked above them. I don't think it looks closed in at all; in fact I think it makes the kitchen look larger. Also, I toured a mansion (tour was for charity) that had a butler's pantry. The butler's pantry was quite small, but had custom cabinets to the ceiling - gorgeous, and the height really made it look elegant. Also, in my area at least, the realtors say that 42" cabinets are considered more desirable and "high-end". You may choose to believe that or not, but you will see real estate ads here that make a point of saying "kitchen comes with 42" cabinets". Sudiepav - I too am short (5'3"), and for me, I need a stepstool for anything above the second shelf (or even for the back of the second shelf), regardless of the height of the cabinet. So whether the cabs are 36" or 39" or 42", it doesn't matter, I'll need that stepstool. So not sure if a person's shortness would figure into this decision...I guess it depends on just how short they are!
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I did ours based on what we wanted to store in them---for or 108" ceilings we have 4" of flat moulding at the very top, and then roughly an 18" cabinet on top of a 32" cabinet. That happened to make it so that I could reach the top shelf of the 32" cabinet standing on tiptoe, but needed a step stool for anything in the cabinet above. It also made it work out so that the doors on the top row of uppers were basically square---but this would depend on the width of your cabinets. (Our top doors are about 15" x 15" since the cabinets are flush inset.)
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Regarding earlier posts, I can't do 42" or even 39" cabinets really. I have 58.5" to work with. I don't think 1.5" of crown would look very good. I'm open to other opinions but I think 4.5" would fit the house much better and look much better proportion. I want to go as tall as possible, but I think 36" would look best in this case. 1) It sounds like most are against L-shape if not doing cabinets on other side of vent hood. I do have a preference there too but wife doesn't so it is helpful to hear others' thoughts so we cna make a decision. Neither of us feels super strongly, but there seems to be a consensus here. 2-3) We wouldn't do a light rail. I think ours are called full overlay, but I thought even with full overlay there is often a little bit of cabinet showing at the bottom of the uppers? But now that you question it, you may be right. I was looking at this example: Which is not full overlay, so that may have been where I was wrong. If we DID do lighting and there wasn't space under the cabinet, I wouldn't add a light rail, but would add space under the cabinet and a flush light rail and extend the doors past the flush light rail so it would look full overlay and you would open the doors but the shelf wouldn't start until a little higher up. I've seen this quite a bit here and it looks good. So for us the questions are still 1) L-shape? and 2) under-cab lighting? We also would like to do white subway tile instead of our 4" backsplash but that's another expense we may save for later (or never). This post was edited by adam211 on Wed, Sep 3, 14 at 12:40
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blfenton
13 years ago
I have a couple of 36" cabinets. BUT I also have 4 cabinets where the bottom cabinet is 24" topped with a 12" cabinet where the 12' one has glass doors. Then molding on top. My cabinets are shaker style cream painted. I like them. They don't seem tall for me. Ceilings are 8'.
Dara Ricca
6 years ago
Looking to revive this post...blfenton would you mind sharing a picture of your 12” cabinets stacked on top of the 24”? I am going through the same dilemma with my 8’ ceiling, I just love the look of stacked cabinets!! TIA!!
Annette Holbrook(z7a)
6 years ago
The ceiling in our cabin kitchen is 8’6”. My plan is to do 30” cabinets with 15” stacked on top. Then trim to fill the remaining gap. The main reason I’m doing this is to hide the ductwork for the hood. I have to run in along the top of the cabinets to get to an exterior wall. So the right half of the uppers won’t be usable. I will use the ones on the left for storing things I only need occasionally.
User
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Sure you can spend double the money to make your kitchen look squatty and shorter. Stacked proportions just do not work with short ceilings. You normally do not want to cut the sight lines in half horizontally.
Dara Ricca
6 years ago
eam44 - the transom doors do look beautiful!! I am just starting out, do you know if these only a custom option or are they available semi-custom as well?
eam44
6 years ago
Hmm... not sure. Sophie would know.
User
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Depends on the line. Some semi custom allow the addition of a rail in a single door and designation of its location and others do not. Some have predesignaged transom units, but not for 93” top alignment heights. Some allow the ability to specify the combining of two cabinets into a single transom unit. Some do not. The KD has to know the abilities of the specific cabinet line.

In all cases, it doubles or more the cost of your uppers. If you want glass, hold on to your hat.

In all cases with shorter ceilings, splitting the doors horizontally makes those ceilings appear shorter. It’s why I would never wear horizontally striped pants, and vainly hope that a classic pinstripe helps to disguise my ample posterior.
friedajune
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
In a previous kitchen I had 8' ceilings and I squeezed 42" cabinets in, with minimal crown molding. It meant I had to shorten the space between the counter and the bottom of the upper cabinets. The plus - the tall cabinets made the ceiling look taller, and the kitchen larger. It was quite a remarkable effect. The minus - what I mentioned about the shorter distance between the counter and uppers, which I regretted. Live and learn.

Not only will stacked cabinets under an 8' ceiling visually negatively affect the feeling of openness and height, as Sophie and others pointed out, but you will also be foregoing shelf space. The stacked cabinets will force you to lose at least one shelf's worth, or maybe two.

Given my experience with my last kitchen and its 8' ceilings, I would get 39" cabinets, 3" crown, no stacks, and thereby get the feeling of height I mentioned. You won't be compromising on the space between the counter and uppers--which should be 18" BTW. You won't lose shelves either. It will cost much less than stacked cabinets too. A win-win-win.
Dara Ricca
6 years ago
Sophie, you think the transom would still give you that squatty effect then? I hear what you are all saying, I drool every time I see those amazing houzz kitchens but I know they all have the ceiling height advantage
Shelia Conway
3 years ago
are the transom doors custom built?

Please!! Pictures of stacked upper cabs with 8ft ceilings?

eam44

Comments (13)

missstella

lowspark

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