Oh, and what do you all think about if I created two stacks of cabinets to break it up? One smaller bank of cabinets (maybe with glass fronts) on top of the bigger cabinet doors (even on just one side with the refrigerator)? I feel like this might not look too great in a kitchen with 8'5" ceilings, but I'm not sure.

It would be easier to visualize with pictures or a drawing, but I think you would want as much storage as possible in a small kitchen, so crown molding would be out. I like the idea of a smaller bank of cabinets with glass doors at the top. It would give you a great place to store less-used items, plus an opportunity to add lighting behind some of those doors, which would make your kitchen feel larger.

If you haven't already, there are tons of links to NYC kitchens done by pros and amateurs alike where they have used every space-saving idea and turned out lovely kitchens. Some of them might be a bit high-end for your kitchen, but they are great ideas.

If I understand correctly, you're putting all of the appliances and the sink down the left hand side of the kitchen? If so, be sure to give yourself some counter space on the right hand side for prep work and a landing spot for dishes, groceries, etc. You also might consider installing some pull-outs like a cutting board, garbage/recycling center, etc on the right hand side bottom cabinets.

Good luck.

Here is a before photo of the kitchen when I first moved in. It's a real estate photo, so it's pretty much stretched:

I'm dealing with a small NYC galley kitchen right now as well (just slightly smaller than yours). My sink is on one side and the range and refrigerator are on the other.

Personally, I would take the cabinets all the way to the ceiling, but I do think it would look like if you had two sets of upper cabinets - smaller, upper cabinets with wood doors and the lower part with glass doors. I think the glass will open it up and the wood uppers will make the cabinets feel so tall.

That's what I'm thinking of doing...as of 10:44 a.m. today, and completely subject to change within the hour! Hope that helps.

Have you decided what sized appliances you are going to use?

Hi, all. I guess my main concern is: Do 44.5" tall cabinets seem crazy tall?

I love the idea of having two stacks of cabinets, but I just feel like it might not be best in a kitchen with a ceiling of only 8'5" inches tall? Would it make everything look squat? My kd and the cabinetmaker both think long, tall cabinets will look cleaner and less busy in a small kitchen. But they seem so tall!

The appliances are picked out: 30 inch range, 18 inch dishwasher, 21 inch sink and 27 inch refrigerator.

I think the 44 will look cleaner than stacking.

One thing that takes away from any tunnel effect in the "Before" is the space at the top. I usually do not like the space above the cabinets, but in this instance it widens the room visually.

HOWEVER :) most NYC apartments I have been in have this space crammed with boxes and other items, so the purpose of the openness is defeated.

I think the cabinets up to the ceiling will be fine. Parhaps the upper could be a lighter color.

Right....I HATE having to stack things on top of the upper cabinets that don't go to the ceiling. It is a pet peeve of mine because it looks so junky in a tiny kitchen!

That's why I'm so excited about getting cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling. I'm all about hiding my stuff. :)

How tall are most upper cabinets that go to the ceiling and that aren't stacked??

I just redid my galley kitchen though it is a bit wider than yours. I have 8' ceilings and had 36" cabs installed with some filler and crown molding. I found that having the wood go all the way to the ceiling made my galley seem taller and wider. However, I don't really use the top shelves well so I can't even imagine another 8"!

My current uppers are 45.5, so I don't think yours will be "freakishly" tall. The 4 shelves hold a lot.
Another idea would be to have an open shelf running under 36 inch uppers with glass doors. They don't need to be clear glass. You would still have all the storage, but the room would look more open. Keeping the counters, back splash and uppers the same color can also expand the space.

Hi calypsochick! Your kitchen is very similar to mine - I'm also in NYC. Mine is 7' wide by just under 10' long. Similar issues, though I actually have my fridge on the same wall as the dishwasher, sink & stove - tight fit! I just redid my kitchen a little over a year ago, and I can't imagine having done it without the help of all the wonderful, knowledgeable people here on the kitchen forum! (Still haven't posted finished kitchen photos since I haven't gotten window treatment yet! In the process of redecorating my LR now...)

I also have that concrete beam that goes along the ceiling on one side. I just read your other thread where you talked about how tall the cabinets would be and maybe build a soffit - how did you end up resolving that? My ceiling height is the same as yours. Originally I wanted my upper cabinets to go up to the ceiling, but we weren't able to figure out how to build around the beam. My contractor said notching the cabinets in the back would compromise the structural integrity of the cabinets. I ended up with 36" uppers with crown molding and space above them (and had to hang them an inch lower than usual to fit under the beam).

I wasn't sure I'd love the look, but I think it works. The uppers look tall but not *too* tall, and having space above them gives it more dimension somehow. I actually like seeing the shadow line on the ceiling. ;-)

I don't know that a few more inches of cabinet space on top would have been all that useful - I already need a stepstool to reach the top shelf. Also, I don't think I would like stacked cabinets in such a small kitchen - you can't stand back to get the full effect, and honestly, I think it would look like you were trying to cram too many cabinets into the space. I think cleaner lines would be better, at least to my taste.

Pre-painting pics: (uh oh, gotta get some new pics post-painting!)

{{!gwi}}

Hard to get photos in such a tiny space (as I'm sure you know ;-)) but I think these show the cabinet height and crown molding:

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Best photo showing the tops of the cabinets taken from standing inside the "refrigerator box" before the appliances (or countertops - ha!) were put in:

{{!gwi}}

Crown molding above the broom closet:

{{!gwi}}

Hey Charlikin! How the heck are ya? You've been missed! Not having seen your beautiful kitchen in a long time, it looks even more beautiful! BTW, I totally agree with you about the stacked to the ceiling effect in small, galley kitchens! Before my reno my kitchen was largely unfitted, except for a small run of cabs on one wall that went to the ceiling. I hated those uppermost cabs because they just ended up being storage places for things I really never ever used! Given my reno to a fitted kitchen with uppers on both walls and lots of drawers at the base, I figured I was gaining more storage space. Plus, as a single person not getting any younger, I also decided that my reno gave me a great excuse to downsize and to eject everything out of my kitchen that I didn't have a real use for on a fairly regular basis in the process. So,I purposely decided against having cabs to the ceiling in the new kitchen. Now, on those few occasions when I need to reach my highest shelves, I don't need anything taller than a step ladder to do it. BTW, my kitchen has 9' ceilings. There is a space of approximately 11" between the top of the crown mouldings, which are 5" in size, and the ceiling. In that space, I installed dimmable xenon light bars that give that upper area of the room a lovely, soft glow at night. I do not store any pottery or artwork on top of my cabs as there are enough places for it elsewhere and I think the light above the cabs is fine by itself.

HTH

Although this does not answer the tunnel question, I thought I would mention getting extra shelves for the some of the uppers.
I also have a galley kitchen and every inch counts!
Many items are shorter (ie mugs, soup tins) so an extra shelf or 2 in the cabinet could possibly give you another 20-30% storage in those cabinets.
Good luck!

Short cabs "open up" the room.
Avoid full depth cab over fridge.
If tiling use an 18" tile on floor.
Counter depth fridge?

Hmm.. looking at the pictures was interesting. What caught my eye was how much more of an impact that cabinet hardware has in a galley kitchen like your own. Have your thought about having cabinets that have the recessed slot in them to help give you that clean look? Or even considering some of the flat front European cabinets?

I do like the idea of the upper cabinets being two level with glass doors or having a bit of space at the top. I think going all the way to the top with cabinets would create a tunnel side wall affect.

I also think your kitchen would be a good one to have recessed lighting in as well.

Is there any way that you could change the look of your window by removing the unit in there and using faux framing to make it larger on the horizontal access? Right now, if you stand in your kitchen doorway, everything is set up to frame that vertical window thus making it feel very tunnel like. By turning that vertical window into more of a horizontal focal point, the room will feel wider than it really is.

Marthavila!!! Hey, how are you doing? I still consider *your* kitchen to be one of my absolute favorites - just proof that ordinary folks can create way more gorgeous kitchens than any of the fancy designers on HGTV! (Yes, us GW old-timers have a serious mutual admiration society going!!! LOL!)

Swspitfire, the extra shelf idea is a good one. TalleySue here on the forum advocated the same thing - she wrung every last inch of storage space out of her kitchen. It was quite an engineering feat - she should hire herself out as a space consultant!

Calypsochick, earth_pal may be right about not putting a full-depth cab over the fridge (I'm assuming you're keeping the fridge down by the window?). It'll crowd that area of the room too much.

Still don't like the stacked cabinet idea, but glass doors in general (even if they're frosted) may be a good way to keep the space feeling more open.

Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for all the advice and photos!

I cook and bake like crazy, so I have a lot of things that I need to store and hide. Even if I can't reach the very top shelves (which I can't even do now), I will still put them to very good use with all my stuff!

I will definitely be taking the cabinets to the ceiling. I'm just debating if I should be doing 42 inch cabinets with crown molding, 44.5 inch cabinets with crown molding, or something in between. I'm afraid doing a 44.5 inch tall upper cabinet with only 3.5 inch crown will make the crown look pretty dinky. So I feel like I should do at least a 5.5 inch crown to balance out the cabinets. What size crown do people think is best in this kind of space? Will 6.5 or 6 look too top heavy? Charlikin--what size crown is yours? And what did you use for your floors? It all looks great! Did you use undercabinet lighting?

As much as I love stacked cabinets and glass fronts, I think I decided it's going to look so busy in my kitchen. I'm doing the cabinets in white, shaker style; the countertops are going to be white granite/quartzite/Luce di Luna, and I haven't decided on the floors yet. Gray?

Regarding the soffit that I cannot remove, my cabinetmaker told me I had the option of doing a custom cabinet that is built around the soffit, which is quit expensive and he said I might not even have that much storage space left after the back of the cabinet and the doors are factored in. Instead, I'm going to have the cabinet box come up right under the beam, and leave the beam exposed, but the cabinet door goes to the ceiling so everything is hidden. Only when you open the cabinet door do you see the beam at that top shelf; and the cabinetmaker said that I could even use the top of the cabinet box as a shelf. So that is pretty much what we decided regarding the soffit.

As for other details...the refrigerator will be counter depth. I'd love to do recessed lighting but won't be able to unless I drop the ceiling, which is out of the question. And yes, that fan unit was long removed from the window! Bleh.

Here's what my kitchen is now:

The cabinet door I will be doing:

And the plans so far for the righthand side of the kitchen. You can see the 44.5 inch cabinet height and the 3.5 inch crown, which I now feel is too small for that size cabinet door. Over the fridge is going to be wine storage, either notched or boxes like it is shown.:
{{!gwi}}

Hey calypsochick - I think my crown molding is about 4". Since your cabinets will be quite a bit taller, I think I'd go for the bigger crown molding - I know you're trying to maximize your cabinet space, but I don't think you'll miss the inch or two that it takes to balance out the look of your uppers. I do have undercabinet lighting - low-profile fluorescents - and since I have framed cabinets, I was able to get away without using a light rail. (I didn't want to lose another inch or two between my cabinets & my counter since I already had to hang the cabinets an inch lower because of the concrete beam at the ceiling.)

The floors are a colorbody porcelain tile that looks a little like slate - I loved that the shadings in color picked up both my warmer cabinet color and the cooler countertop, and by having it be colorbody, I don't have to worry about it chipping and showing white if I drop something heavy on it.

Curious - if your cabinet doors are higher than the cabinet bodies on the side with the soffit, how is the crown molding going to be attached?

The plans look yummy. Love the wine storage over the fridge. And the cabinets - nice door style. What is the backsplash going to be? Can we see the plans for the other side? (Don't you love kitchen plans? It makes all the dreaming and hoping and planning look like it might actually become real someday!)

Wine storage over a fridge is not really recommended because of heat and vibration. Unless you go through it fast, I have heard you will be making wine vinegar.

I think the doorstyle is perfect.

I have the Sub-Zero 27" and you will get a ton of storage in it in a small space.

I don't think the cabinets really look too tall in the elevation, and elevation drawings tend to "stretch" the verticals a bit. You could shorten the cabinets and increase the crown a bit, if that's your preference.

Since this is a tight NYC kitchen, it has a great window, and it is not eat in, I think you need to allow storage to trump esthetics, at least a little. You will be looking Through the room to the window.

Have you thought of doing drawers instead of doors on some of the bases? Its a trade off in a narrow kitchen, but it would probably be easier to stand to one side and open the drawer than bend over and hit your tailbone on the opposite cabinets. Just something to think about.

calypsochick - I think a 5-1/2" molding would be really nice and give your cabinets a nice finished look. Love your door style.

charlikin - I love your cabinets and your flooring. I'm looking for something very similar. Would you mind sharing what cabinet maker you used?

I really like what Jeffrow did...plenty of room for prepping, refrigerator near the sink & range, and plenty of room around the range. I think you could create a small Baking Center on the range wall if the refrigerator is on the sink wall.

Hi tkingny - wow, all these New Yorkers here with our tiny kitchens! Cool. My cabinets are Kraftmaid - it's a wide shaker style, which I thought added a contemporary edge. My KD was Lee Taylor at Tarallo Kitchens in the Bronx - highly recommended and worth the shlep by subway. ;-) Lee was referred to me by gitananoel on this forum.

What do you all think would be best for that space above the refrigerator? It's a little awkward because there is a beam that is running along that side wall to the left of the fridge. So if the refrigerator is 80 inches tall, the gap left between the beam and the top of the fridge is about 9.5 inches. We left it as open space for now, and then the rest was wine storage. Which we do drink a lot of and go through quickly. But if it really is not the best spot, I'm not sure what to do up there. If we have cabinets, I would want to cover up that cubby hole, and the designer was suggesting diving up the space into one top cabinet and one shorter, long cabinet. I guess I could make the bottom an open shelf and the top a closed cabinet?

Two open shelves with the horizontal lining up with the beam?

One cabinet to the right of the beam and just plug up the 6" square under the beam or a little 6" square door?

Charlikin--I have no idea how the crown molding would attach! Oh dear. The cabinetmaker seemed to think it was all no problem. Now I'll have to inquire about this. The backsplash is going to be a creamy subway tile...it has a little texture to it because it's handmade.

Palimpsest--What do you think would be best above the fridge? I have an awkward space because of the beam next to the fridge.

I was going to do drawers instead of some of the base cabinets, but then it all looked so busy so I went back to this current design. It's pretty much my set up now, so I'm used to it.

tkingny--I'm leaning towards the 5 1/2" molding, too!

Oh, another thing about the wine above the refrigerator...I had thought that the mechanisms/vent was at the bottom of the 27 inch Subzero, that's why the heat thing wasn't an issue. But no? Yes, I am obsessing over this area.

I don't think I'd go with cabs all the way to the ceiling -- instead I'd do crown and then cove lighting above the cabinets. But if you do go all the way up, I agree that stacked cabinets would intensify the effect.

If you have a lot of baking items, toekick drawers could be a good way to maximize storage space without taking up any more room.