Cabinet depth - upper

seosmp

11 years ago

Hi,

I know standard depth for uppers is 12" I also know some people have suggested to get deeper cabinets if money allows.

My question is, is that deeper cabinet depth always 15", or does it vary? Do some people go with 14" or 16" or ???

I currently have 12" in the plan and then the corner easy reach cabinet is 15" to give some depth to the cabinetry.

I'm wondering if I upgraded to deeper cabinets, would I go with 15" and then 18", or 14" and 17"?

Is there any downside of deeper uppers (other than cost of course)? I really only have 5 uppers that I'd do this with. My other wall of cabinets I would leave as 12/15 since it's more like a hutch area (glass cabinets/shelves in the middle cabinet).

Thanks!

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Comments (12)

jellytoast
11 years ago
Personally, I wouldn't go any deeper than 12 inches ... any deeper and I would feel very cramped trying to work on the countertops.
MikeJrNY
11 years ago
12" D uppers are standard across the board. I wouldn't go deeper than 15" if you want to go custom due to potential weight problems and the wall cabinets overpowering the space.
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A 12" exterior cabinet needs about 3/4" for the face and 1/2" for the back, so that leaves 10 3/4" for the inside measure, and this is about the max you are going to get. Better constructed cabs may have 3/4" backing and it us usually inset a bit so you may only have 10 1/2" inside space. That is normal. My main dish cabinet is 14" exterior measure so I have 12 1/2" usable space. But my lower cabs are wider than standard also. If you have full overlay doors, you can sort of get a bit more space by having dishes overlap the front, but then your "wall to front of door" measure will be more than 12" because the door sits on top of the front.
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I agree with Colorfast that it would be great to have a sort of "warnings" permanent post. We went 3" deeper in both base cabinets and uppers (i.e. 27" and 15" respectively) only because I had read here about how limiting 12" deep uppers could be. We also chose frameless cabinets for our small kitchen for the same reason (i.e. we needed the most interior cabinet and drawer space we could possibly get). Again, it's only because I had read here that while inset is a beautiful look, frameless will give more storage when space is at a premium. And what would we do without Buehl? I think almost everything I know about kitchen design and organization I learned from her! For your glasses, Crate and Barrel has several styles of tall narrow cylindrical-shaped glasses - they offer the same ounces as other glasses cause they're tall, but they'll take up less footprint in your cabinets. Look for tall narrow glasses that also have a heavy base to provide stability, such as the the Otis Glass or the more decorative Direction Glass, but there are several others, and many more of this style sold at different stores.
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Do you use the living room or do you "live" in the family room? Your existing first floor illustrates an irony described by a friend of mine, who has a layout almost identical to yours, tho perhaps a bit tighter--smaller family room and perhaps smaller dining and living rooms and tighter kitchen U. She rarely uses the living room and most household activities take place in the family room and at the table in front of the large window area, which in her case is a walkout deck door. She hates her kitchen because it's essentially a walkpath with a range even worse than yours because it has no plunk space at all on one side. What is ironic is that when she moved in, this seemed to be such an ideal layout. Compared to my old awful corridor kitchen, I always thought hers was good, but mine had no modern posh illusions connected with it; hers did--a mid-1980s suburban palace of the time. Her hubby doesn't want her to see our new kitchen addition because she has been frustrated for many years and gripes a lot. We attend an annual "game feed" at this house; it has so much free flow from room to room in a large donut pattern, but all conversations are very tight; can't get up any large activities that span all groups and groups are essentially isolated despite the free flow. Not sure how it functions with just a couple occupants. Got tons of money? I have wondered if the dining&living rooms should become kitchen (at back) and dining (at front) and that the living room functions should move to the back of the house where the view and such are. This will be expensive because the water, etc. runs would change so much. OR, could the "family room" become the kitchen and push all activities to the associated spaces between front window and bump out window in your design. On a more realistic note, I still believe that it's important to somehow achieve a better range access from all sides of the work area to escape from that corner. I'm going to bow out; better experts can help you.
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How thick is the back wall of your cabinets? The depth of a cabinet is the overall/exterior depth...measured on the outside. So, if you have a 1/2" thick back wall, your interior cabinet depth is 11.5". (There is no front wall/frame in frameless cabinets.) The door sits on the outside of the box, so you have the entire 11.5" to store things. So, if your plates are 11" in diameter, yes, they will fit. however, 12" plates would not fit. If the back wall is 3/4" thick, then plates up to 11-1/4" should fit. Will it blow your budget to get 13", 14", or 15" deep upper cabinets? If not, I recommend them. We have four 15" deep upper cabinets over standard depth counters (25.5" deep) and they are fine...even when working in front of them (which I do most of the time). You'd be surprised how much extra space those 3" give us! Plus, if you're short, those extra inches bring the contents of the front of the cabinet 3" closer to you.
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taggie
11 years ago
Are you saying that you want to stagger the depths on the same wall? If so, then I'd say it depends on what the overall flow is re. how deep you go on the uppers.

We did 13" uppers over 26.5" bases on our range wall, and 16" uppers over 25.5 bases on our breakfast bar wall. Neither are any problem to work at, and the deeper cab stores lots and lots of dishes and glasses.

If you are staggering depths of uppers alone, none of which come down to the cabs, I'd be tempted to do 14/17 or even 13/16. If some of the uppers come down to the base, or if your base cabs are particularly deep, then 15/18 would probably be best. Hard to say for sure without seeing your plan though.
annkh_nd
11 years ago
I have a friend who has 15" upper over 30" base cabs. She loves being able to leave appliances on the counter, and still having room to work.
andreak100
11 years ago
We are planning on 14" uppers - just enough extra depth to accommodate the stuff that has driven me crazy over the years when I put it into an uppper cabinet because when it was put in, it was just slightly too shallow to fix that additional row.

I don't expect that I will find them too deep - I don't lean forward that much when I'm prepping something on the counter anyway, although I am on the shorter side (5'3") so it may not be as necessary for me to lean forward as some taller people might.
elofgren
11 years ago
We're pricing inset doors and everyone automatically does 13" - so a 12" plate will still fit inside.

Tape something to the front of your cabinet doors and see what working is like with the extra depth in front of you.
seosmp
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks to all for taking the time to reply!

taggie - yes, my cooktop wall runs into the sink wall (they are perpendicular) -- I was going to do that corner cabinet at 15", so it juts out a few inches from the adjacent 12" wall cabinets on the cooktop wall and sink wall --- this would be for looks only - to add some depth to the cabinetry.

elofgren -- well I taped a ziploc box to the cabinet!! Not an issue at all! Thanks for the suggestion!

Now, I'm thinking maybe I'll do all 15" cabinets, including that corner (as currently planned) and then maybe do frosted glass in the 30" cabinets that are on each side of the hood (stainless, not cabinetry). I'm just looking for some good design ideas to make it look good. I'll have a big 60" counter height bumped out window along the sink wall, so I'm thinking that's enough interest along that wall (i.e. no need for glass doors).

I'm flying by the seat of my pants, if it's not obvious.... my cabinetmaker has got to be thinking I'm crazy! :)
gwlolo
11 years ago
Please take into consideration your base cabinet depth as well. I have 30in base and 18in uppers. Works or me as the delta or the clearance is still 12 in.
oldbat2be
11 years ago
Ditto GWLolo. Love the 30" countertops and deep uppers. Recently, DG re-engineered an upper cabinet for vertical storage for my 3 large serving bowls.

These bowls (not the 18" cabinet):

Now they fit very nicely in here:
michele0901
11 years ago
Oldbat2be - I love all your Penzey's spices. What is the spice rack you have?
elofgren
11 years ago
I ordered a NXR range today and was looking through the installation manual. They specify a maximum of 13" deep upper cabinets. It's not real clear if they're talking about above or next to the range. Anyway, you may need to consider other things (range hoods, built-in microwaves) and also clearance requirements for your particular stove.
oldbat2be
11 years ago
Thanks michele0901. My oh-so-handy DH made them :)

Cabinet depth - upper

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