Our space was not as large. I think it was about 8". When the molding first went up, I thought it looked kind of plain, even though that was what I was anticipating. But you don't see this look very much.

Anyway, it did not take me long to get used to it. If you don't like the molding, you may want to try a soffit. But I personally think this is a better option.

I don't think it will look silly.

Many years ago I saw a kitchen that looked really cool that had cubbies in that space. Just divided equally and well lit (from the kitchen lighting, not anything inside). Interesting things in each section. It looked great!

I don't think the 12" panel will look silly, but it might look a bit heavy. You can decorate it any number of ways, but that just calls attention to it. Pinstriping might be very cool. You can put pictures there, collectibles, appliqued scrollwork. You could get very creative.

Thanks for the feedback. We're still thinking of just having a plain panel, but any other ideas/pics would be great.

Has anyone ever put more room between the countertop and upper cabinets? Instead of 18" have 20"?

Have you drawn it our to scale (on graph paper)? I think 12" sounds large. What is the size of the upper cabinets (before the trim)? Don't put your upper cabs higher. Mine are at 18" and I wish they were lower.

How tall are you and the rest of your family? Raising the upper cabinets will make it more difficult to access items in the cabinets...especially if you and/or anyone in your family are under 5'6" or so...

With two crown moldings and that panel, are you sure it's not going to be as expensive as just adding another row of cabinets? I would compare prices before making a decision. It would be a shame to waste all that storage space.

Also, you've left out some important information. How high are your ceilings? How tall are the cabinets? If you have 8' ceilings, you could get 39" tall cabinets, have great storage, normal-size decorative molding, an elegant clean-lined look, and not have to fuss with all that crown molding and panels.

Oh, sorry, I didn't see you have already bought the cabinets. Well, I still want to know how tall they are and how high are your ceilings. And I still recommend getting pricing on both options (adding a row of cabinets, vs. adding two crown moldings and panelling).

I had 20" and 22" inches in my last kitchen. I am 5'2" and it was fine.

Don't know if this helps, but we put open cubby spaces in there above the fridge and elsewhere - we love it, but it depends on how you want to use/showcase that space.

Sorry for the lack of information...hope this helps -

alwaysfixin - we have 9'3" ceilings (1906 Victorian), and 42" upper cabinets. They have already been ordered (including the moldings) and have been shipped to the local warehouse - so with 42" uppers, we are looking at them ending at 8', which leaves 15" to play with. The moldings are around 3" vertical, hence the 12" panel.

Our contractor is going to make the upper panel, and hasn't made it yet - he is the one that brought up it being too large.

He suggested open shelving/cubbies, but we sort of think it would be a hard to reach space that would end up gathering dust.

Any other ideas?? Thanks for the great feedback so far!

I have always liked the little top cabinets with glass doors. No dust. You can put little-used soup tureens, casseroles, holiday dishes if you have them. Or collections of pottery, baskets, etc. If I had such cabs, I would get obscured glass in the doors to hide the junk I have to put up there.

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}