rosieo-
I'm obviously not the person you're looking for, but I put in 30" deep countertops (with custom deeper cabs as well, but some people just pull their 24" cabs away from the back to get the same effect), based on my reading from Don Silver's "kitchen Design with Cooking in Mind" and because I during the designing, I was living in a rental house with standard countertops that made me crazy, and that influenced my decision a lot. What with the coffeemaker, toaster, mixer, knife block, dish drainer, rice cooker, slow cooker, and wine bottle opener, I was working on a section of countertop about 12" deep and 4' long. PITA.
So when I read that book (recommended by someone on this forum) it made so much sense to me.
My uppers are 15" deep, but also raised 21" off the countertop. I'm 5'7" and can't reach past the front of the second shelf. Because of all the extra storage we have, though, I don't need to reach past that anyway - we've got wine glasses in one, and rarely need to reach past the first row unless we have a lot of guests drinking wine. Coffee cups in another, and again, rarely using more than the first row.
Countertop materials will only cost more because there is more sq footage. Some will have to be custom, but it sounds like you're doing stone and that's all custom.
I don't think I could ever go back to 24" counters again. I love having my cookbook set out in front of me and having most of my prep stuff within an arm's reach.

ditto c9pilot.

Having more countertop surface:
Wonderful!

Pulling base cabinets out from the wall:
you pull them forward and attach them to the wall with some wood (and screws). This to me is a great way to go. You don't need to build them "against a false wall".

Making the base cabinets deeper:
I've found there is some gain but not a lot. I have some extra long drawers on extra long glides. Yawn. Compared to the standard drawers yes there is some more space. In cabinets, I've found the biggest gain is to go frameless, not framed, and all drawers, all drawers.

and, i had my countertops extend a lot (overhang). NO the overhanging countertop does not prevent me from enjoying the full extension of the full extension drawers.

Granite countertops are priced by the square foot. So, more square footage will mean a higher price.

Here is a link that might be useful: www.CountertopSolutionsFL.com

Hey Roseio - sorry to be asleep at the switch. That would be because the kid decided to swim at 5 in the morning ... wha????

Countertop depths. I don't really even have too much more to add to the excellent comments above. If I could have I would have put 30" deep counters everywhere. People I spoke with seemed to think I was crazy to want the depth; I can't begin to understand why. I know I'm messy and stuff just winds up on the countertops. But -- well, I know it's not true; I was just about to say "isn't everyone" but definitely they aren't. I know someone with an absolutely huge kitchen, massive, with not an anything in sight. Kinda eery, actually. And she is a rather gourmet cook so it's not as if the place isn't used.

Ahem, off-topic.

I think I mentioned that the countertop to the right of my fridge is 30" deep and low, about 31.5"h I think. I use is as my "baking counter" but it winds up being the food-unpacking counter, and food wrapping counter, and mixing, etc.

My cabinets are all-custom, though in a factory (as opposed to "Joe's" shop). So the additional cost of making extra deep drawers is due mostly to the hardware as opposed to materials or labor. I really like the deep drawers aesthetically as well as from a utilitarian perspective. I know you can pull 24" drawer boxes out to 27" and put your counter on top of that and have a "deep" counter. It feels silly to me; all that wasted space in the back. That's just me.

And some of my drawers ended up with a lot of space in the back that I realize now I could have and should have extended. Grump. Hadn't thought about it.

So the thing is, I wanted a 36" super susan corner cabinet but if I made that deep then a bay window adjacent to the cabinet would have forced the counter expanse to have been really massive; cleaning problems and window-opening problems, etc. So I kept that stretch of the countertop at 24"; then later down the L close to the range it goes back to 27"d.

You asked: "How deep are your countertops anyway? Why did you decide to do this? What advantages have you discovered to it? Any disadvantages? Does it cost a lot more for deeper countertops? Is it harder to reach into your uppers?"

I decided to do this because I had the space to and I can see no reason why you wouldn't want more rather than less countertop, frankly. I also asked for the overhang to be 1.5". This caused major conniptions among many even though I'd asked for this all along and had gotten bids, I thought, including it. It was ridiculous -- I just don't get why you'd go to all the trouble of making gorgeous cabinets and not extend the countertop adequately across the top of them to protect the cabinets beneath. For some reason the standard this person, who works with the cab makers, uses is more like 7/8"-1"; I think it looks silly and is even more so functionally. What I would up with is 1 3/8".

Again, it's a win-win - more protection, more workspace (if you can squeeze it out of your floor plan). They actually ended up threatening to charge me more for the extra 1/2" because it wound up adding for square footage, sort of. They haven't yet. I didn't ask for a deduction for the square footage I lost due to their error though at this I was tempted to! Anyway, I'm digressing again....

So advantages are: (a) more acreage on the countertop; that could be seen as a disadvantage if you don't need or use it - it does cost a little bit more. (b) better protection for cabinets beneath. (c) More real estate for sticking deeper drawers into if that's of use to you or appeals. That will cost more too, not lots more but some. And everything adds up. Note that the deep counters can be had without additional deep drawer expense (just pull drawers forward and leave space at the back). (d) Some activities, like rolling out pastry, really benefit functionally for having a deep work area. (e) If you have a monstrous fridge it actually helps hide the size (hadn't thought about this in advance; just happened); that depth is sort of defined already by the fridge and sort of lost when you don't stick the countertop up to it. Indeed I think the 24" relatively short countertop depth may serve to emphasize the deepness of the fridge.

Disadvantages: (i) extra cost (can be mitigated in various ways mentioned already). (ii) lose aisle room or whatever; it can be a tradeoff of where you want to use your kitchen layout, in counterspace or aisle space - depends on how much space you have of course. (iii) as mentioned, if you're shorter you may have more trouble reaching to the back of the counter and also up to overhanging cabinets. (iv) Also, if you're older these may be more of a concern. (v) And I bet if you have 27" counters coming in to a corner, that edge could get a long way away (like, 38", which really is a long way away).

I do have 15" uppers over my deep counter. They are 17" above a 37"h countertop, and are set at the same height on the wall above my low countertop, whatever that comes out to. There is absolutely no problem reaching the uppers for me or my kids (shortest is, I dunno, 4'9" maybe?) but ... I also have a corner below that upper where the counter goes back to 24" so you can access the upper cabinet from closer, if you follow.

My uppers are very tall and there's no way I can get into them at the top or even middle back without a step stool. I'm using that all the time and plan on keeping it *very* handy in a nearby coat closet. This doesn't bother me at all as I'm fairly healthy, middle aged. If I were a tad less hale it could perhaps be a problem. (When I say "all the time" I mean at the moment while still moving in. I'm not storing things I need ready access to that require a step stool!)

One thing about my countertops being 1.5" -- and that measurement is from the cabinet *door edge*, not cabinet box. Note very well this distinction -- the makers of these things seem stuck on this erudite measurement from the box which is completely impractical. As an "end user" I don't care what the measurement is from the box, I care what the "take-home" measurement is, what I see and use, the measurement from the *door front*. Be careful to clarify with your workmen this distinction so that you're both communicating about the same measurement!

Anyway, insisting on having 1.5" from the drawer front countertops resulted in there being a gap between the bottom of my countertop edging and the roughtop they set on the cabinets to support the stone. Probably this doesn't have to happen, but it's what my guy, who doesn't often make countertops this deep, did. I thought I wouldn't mind, but it is actually kinda cheezy. In retrospect, he should have *listened* to me saying I wanted 1.5" overhang (and I should have clarified I meant from the drawer front, not box), and he should have had the guys cut roughtop not to the box edge but a little bit larger, I think. Alternatively he could have made his edging deeper. I don't know what's standard but this could be an issue you might want to look into.

HTH!

BTW, I think TopSolutions may be usually right, but I've seen several different ways of pricing things. YMMV for sure.