Can you post the plans? I can't visualize what you are talking about.

I don't have plans that show that layout as there were other changes that needed to be made. I'll try to see if I can draw it out tonight so my question makes better sense.

About your second question -- I think his recommendation for the second cabinet is very wise. We had a peninsula with upper cabinets in our old house, and the uppers ended in the same vertical plane as the lowers. I had several near misses with the open upper cabinet door and my eye. It would have been much easier to use that space as a landing spot if our uppers had stopped 12 inches back from our lowers.

I agree about the upper ending sooner than the base over the peninsula, but not sure I'd like a corner cabinet by itself at the end of the run. Looking forward to seeing a layout if/when you can show us one.

I'm not really sure what you mean ... but here's a picture of the end of our wall/cabinet, with a 12" of wall space left. The bottom is a lazy susan the uppers are 12" cabinets.

Thanks for the responses, hopefully this explains it better.

The sink wall as it currently is. The family room is on the other side of the passthrough.

I want to open this wall as much as possible but have to work around some plumbing. Instead of taking the wall totally out, I want to open it from the far left shelf to the plumbing stack -which is boxed in behind the right side of the cabinet next to the door.

The plan he made for that wall looks something like this with a corner cabinet at the end of the run.

At the other end of the cabinet run he cut the upper cabinets about 12" from the end of the base units.

We somewhat compromised at display shelves to fill up that 12" gap on the DR end of the kitchen. Is there anything else that could be done cabinet wise that would be less lethal to someone's eye?

What kind of corner cabinet was he thinking? The is such a thing as an outside corner cabinet that would work well there and would eliminate the sharp point.

Here is a link that might be useful: Outside Corner Cabinet

Re your corner unit - you really don't get full use of the space with a lazy susan installation. I recently installed a "swing out and slide" type system that truly give you easy access. There are several makers of these systems and cabinet makers should know exactly what to offer. You can google "waricorner swing out and slide" and look at a few. Be prepare to pay - they runn $700 - $1100 depending on the material.

Good luck with you new kitchen.

I think a straight cabinet at the end near the sink could look nice.

From your plan "At the other end of the cabinet run he cut the upper cabinets about 12" from the end of the base units"

Instead maybe a 9"-12" upper cabinet with open shelving with no door, for cookbooks and display items?

Thanks for the input. I really didn't like the idea of an upper corner cabinet with the lazy susan. It just seems like it wouldn't hold enough to be useful. He stated that it would be easier to get things out, but I do think it would be better with a straight cabinet there.

If it doesn't look bad, I'll try for shelves for the end of that run. Is it safe to assume that most of the problems with upper cabinets going to the same end as the base units because of the doors?

Sabjimita, I had thought about using 12" deep cabinets facing to the dining room, but don't think there is enough room. I had him make a change to the the lower cabinets on that side to a set of 24" drawers facing the dining room and then 30" drawers facing the kitchen with a false back. Thank God for this site, I never would have thought of that on my own.

Katsmah--glad you are nixing that corner cab. Your space is small but seems really well thought out! Looking forward to seeing your remodel ;)

Some manufacturers (Bertch is one I know of) make 24" wide cabinets with only one door. I think those would be appropriate on either end of the stove wall. The double doors might be a bit of a pain, especially on the cabinet over the peninsula.

I think you should just go with the straight cabinets and get rid of the corner cab. I have a pennisula similar to your layout except that we have seating there. If you were going to use it for seating, I would say to end the uppers a little shorter than the bases but otherwise I would probably use most the wall for cabs. Espcecially if you will be accessing the cabs from the kitchen side rather than seating side.

I tried to act "as if" I was going to the end of the cabinet run at the peninsula this morning and as it is at the far wall of the dining room I just can't see anyone bumping up against a wall cabinet. Then I started thinking about using a long cabinet that runs down to the counter at that corner....or display shelves....or just a regular wall cabinet that meets the base cabinets. Uhg. I can make myself crazy easily.

I knew that I didn't like the corner cabinet, I'll let him know to just put a straight run in and be done with it.

I'm still waiting to see the design proposal from the next firm next week. Unfortunately, I think they are out of my league.

Katsmah, read your other post and looked up your floorplan.

Question--why don't you do away with the penninsula and just extending your cabinets along that entire wall, under the window? You could use one of your KD' s famous angled cabs (perhaps) to transition to 12" wall cabs mounted as base cabs to keep room for the dining table.

I don't know if you are attached to the buffet you have (or if you have it) but then you may not even need it if you have a long run of cabinets.

Sorry if this is a lame-o suggestion. I can't tell much from your floorplan w/out the measurements. Just trying to add to the discussion ;)

Katsmah,
Looking at your floorplan I think that I'd have a tough time reaching the cabinets by the peninsular if they were extended (and I was standing in the "el")...I envision having to actually walk around the peninsular to get anything in/out of an extended cabinet. Perhaps that's why your KD planned it as he did?

Thanks Sabjimata. The kitchen right now is 11'3" x 8'9". By taking down the wall to the dining room, I get 11'3 x 19'2". I thought about extending the cabinets the length of the room and drew a plan with the IKEA software which I liked alot but it started feeling tight unless I made the cabinets there 12" deep. I do like the separation that the peninsula gives between the kitchen and dining room area.

If you put another 12" cabinet at the end of that run (that currently ends 12" from the end of the peninsula) - I'd have the cabinet or open shelves face the dining room.

If you nix the corner cabinet and make it a straight run at the sink wall end, will you literally be able to reach that cabinet? I'm quite short and I know that corner cabinets aren't "in" - but function over fashion had me put one in my corner just so it would be easier to reach...

My objection to the corner cabinet doesn't have to do with it being in or not. I just don't think that the lazy susan would hold much. I do realize that anything that goes in the 2nd or 3rd shelf of that cabinet will only be reachable if I stand on chair.

Late to the game!

First, I agree about running the cabinet to the end of the wall rather than a corner cab...to me, corner cabs that just hang there w/no other upper cabinets on both sides look "off".

Second, I also agree the cabs at the end of the peninsula should end "short" of the peninsula end, but I don't think it has to be 12" short. Our upper cabinets end approx 1" b/f the base cabinets do and then there's a 1.5" overhang over the base cabs...so the upper cabs end approx 2.5" before the peninsula as a whole does. We have had no problems with bumping into the upper cabs and we use that peninsula for food staging, baking, etc. Our Pet Center is next to the wall facing out and still no issues with the upper cabinets. I would suggest stopping maybe 3" from the end, but no more.

Third...your cooktop & sink proximity...they are very, very close to each other with virtually no workspace b/w them. I very, very strongly suggest moving that 3-drawer stack that's currently to the left of the cooktop to the other side of the cooktop. That would at least give you a little bit of work space.

Last...the base corner susan you have in the peninsula. Consider, instead, a 27" wide cabinet turned 90 degrees so it faces out instead. It is a better use of space than a corner susan and much, much better than a blind corner cabinet. That would allow you to move that drawer base to the right of the cooktop (suggested previously) and still have a 12" or so wide set of drawers or a tray/cutting board cabinet to the left of the cooktop.

Here's mine...with the upper cabinets and a cabinet turned 90 degrees.

Pet Center is the base cabinet on the left that has a drawer on top. The doors on the right are decorative doors only.

This is what it looks like from the "inside"...

(I now store my KA mixer in that corner. I use that peninsula as part of my "Baking Center".)

Buehl, Thank You for chiming in! I love your kitchen and think that the setup that you have at the corner is genius. Both of the KDs I spoke to have been told to change that corner into a set of drawers on the DR side and another set next to them facing the kitchen side.

Could you take a close up picture of how both cabinets fit? One KD had a 21" set of drawers with a 3" filler to the wall, then another filler before the 36" cabinet. The other had a 30" cabinet turned to the dining room and a 24" to the kitchen. It was confusing how they planned to turn that corner.

I agree with you that even with the stove moved away from each other, there still needs to be more distance. The 2nd KD suggested a small cabinet to store cutting boards and such in that area. I do like that idea.

Katsmah...here's a link to pictures of that peninsula, front & back, describing the filler needed, where it was needed, and why it was needed.

Pet Center Installation Album

And thank you for the compliment about my kitchen! I love it too! :-D

Thank you so much for the photos and explaination! Now I have something to show the CD's what I mean. I don't understand how neither of them thought to put a 27" in that corner. Its actually kind of scarey that they couldn't figure out how to do something thats different than the norm.

Good news, I met with another designer yesterday. He owns a small custom shop but also has other cabinet brands he works with. He appeared to have a clue. Guess I'll find out when I see his plans next weekend.