Any chance you can pull your cabinets off the wall?
Shim them out enough to gain the depth you need and have deeper counters.

You'll need a 27'' deep cabinet to house all of that too. It won't fit in a standard 24'' deep cabinet

Pull the base cabinet forward, relieve the back, and use fillers to return it to the other cabinets.

I had one small piece of granite shaved to use as a window sill. This was not planned prior to installing the window, so this was our only option to have the granite sill. There was definitely an extra charge and I recall thinking it was high considering the size of the piece of granite (not all counters). I believe I was warned that this was a risk, and if the piece broke, I was out of luck as I would not be able to find a similiar slab to redo. It worked out okay for us as we would have just tiled the BS if there had been a problem, but I don't think its common practice.

I'd be concerned that if you had granite shaved, it might not be flush with your BS tile.

nutsaboutplants:

You can gain a 1/2" with a hammer and a box cutter relieving your drywall. That's a heck of a lot less expensive and less risky than time on a quarter-million dollar machine eating diamond tooling with a highly paid operator.

Thanks everyone for all the great suggestions! I really appreciate it. Going to talk to the fabricator tomorrow to see what they can do. Will the fabricator also pull the cabinets if needed? Or do the Sheetrock if needed? Or do I have to talk to someone separately about that? If so, who? As you can see, I'm clueless. Thanks!

Have cabinets been finalized and ordered or the countertop been templated yet? If not, what about a bump-out range.

I just googled bump out range pictures and these came up.

Just a thought.

Here is a link that might be useful: bump=out range pics.

" Will the fabricator also pull the cabinets if needed? Or do the Sheetrock if needed? Or do I have to talk to someone separately about that? If so, who?"

nutsaboutplants:

If anyone ever needed a General Contractor, it's you.

Further to what Trebuchet said, and he's right, the answer is "no", the fabricator won't do either of those things.

Countertop guys do countertops. That's it. And you need the deeper cabinet to house all of that. It won't leave enough countertop in front or behind to support the cooktop unless you have the deeper cabinet. You need to put the brakes on and do this right unless you want that counter to break and spill that entire pot of hot chilli onto you.

nutsaboutplants:

Start with the cooktop and downdraft manufacturer's installation instructions. These requirements will dictate how the rest of this job comes together.

This link documents the disastrous consequences of not doing so:

Here is a link that might be useful: Whose Fault

Thanks everyone. Let me clarify. This is not a new build, but a nice, well built house that we wanted to do a few things to before we moved in. Have a painter paint the entire house, a flooring company refinish the floors (the flooring everywhere is wood except bathrooms). The only two other things I wanted to do was replace the cooktop and while at it, replace the countertops and backsplash. I didn't think I needed a GC, but now that I'm bumping into this depth problem with the cabinets, I can see why a GC would be helpful. I think I'll go with tile for backsplash and keep the granite I picked for the countertops. Can't tell you how much I appreciate all the experienced knowledgeable folks here taking the time to give feedback! Thanks. Will post pictures when it is all done.

I have to ask. With the cooktop aagainst a wall, why on earth aren't you using a REAL overhead vent rather than a substandard flame sucker?

It cost $30 a linear foot to create a 2cm backsplash out of a piece of leathered absolute black. That was twice what using a piece of 3cm would have cost, but I'm not doing a tile backsplash so I justified it. Not cheap, but I'm happy. This was after I had the cabinets pulled away from wall to give me a few extra inches in depth. LOVE!

This post was edited by cluelessincolorado on Mon, Aug 25, 14 at 0:51

Hollysprings, the reason I *thought* I needed a downdraft was that there is no hood, and installing a hood will be a major redo, no? Or are you referring to some other type of overhead vent that doesn't need a hood? Please let me know if there is some other option for an overhead vent that doesn't require a major redo. Thanks.

clueless, I hear you. Thanks.

Following ctycdm, Green Designs and Trebuchet's advice, I've asked my handyman/carpenter to build a bumpout of the cabinets, use fillers to return them to the other cabinets. That will solve all the problems. The specs from the cooktop/downdraft manufacturer has pictures of the bumpout cabinets under the helpful heading "creative solutions" meant to address exactly the situation I'm facing. I'm going to show the pictures and specs to the carpenter and build a bumpout. The fabricator says he'll wait until that's done to cut the stone. Thanks everyone!

Here's the only downdraft vent that matters as far as I'm concerned, because it rises out from below the countertop to be above your pots and pans. It doesn't try to fight gravity by making steam fall instead of rise. It doesn't work just for the rear burners as most behind-the-cooktop pop-up extractors do, and it doesn't add depth to your countertop. When stowed, it's flush with the countertop. Turn a knob and it rises, and then you can push it to the left or right as necessary. Turn the knob the other way and it centers and retracts.

All sorts of cooktops are offered that match its size and appearance and can be placed on either side, including 2- or 4-burner electric or gas cooktops, grills, griddles, deep fryers, grills, wok burners, and even a teppan yaki plate. You can also use similarly-sized items from other manufacturers.

{{!gwi}}

It's the Gaggenau VL 051, and there's only one problem with it: it was discontinued a year or two ago. Fortunately, there still seems to be several in the pipeline available from vendors or on eBay or Craigslist. Worth searching out IMO.

It sounds to me like you are trying to retrofit, and want to do minimum changes to the cabinets. In that case, yes, your options will be limited.

From others suggestions, here's what you can do:

*Remove the cabinets from the wall, add in spacers to make the counter top deeper. Sounds like a lot, but probably pretty simple. You'd need to hire a cabinet installer.

*Take down or modify one of the uppers so you can fit in a vent hood. You'd still need to hire a cabinet guy. Depending on how these cabinets were built, this could be simple or not at all. But, if you stick with the down draft, where is the vent going to go? Are you going to need to rip into walls anyway to get it properly vented?

*Give up on using the granite backsplash.

Lee676, thanks for the info on the Gaggenau VL 051. There is none available even within a 500 mile radius of us on craigslist. I'll check eBay. Thanks for pointing out that option. Didn't know about it.

Amberm, the house currently has a pop up downdraft, properly installed. So, if I go with a downdraft, the duct, opening etc are all there already. I've asked my carpenter to come pull the cabinets below the cooktop, and return the cabinet with a filler. I have a diagram on the cooktop specs with the exact measurements needed for the bump out as well as pictures online of cabinets similarly bumped out to accommodate the necessary depth. Then the fabricator will cut the stone accordingly. That's the option I'm going with. Hope it works out the way I envision it. Thanks for the feedback.

> thanks for the info on the Gaggenau VL 051. There is none available even within a 500 mile radius of us on craigslist. I'll check eBay.

three of them on eBay right now:

Here is a link that might be useful: Gaggenau VL 051