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Basement kitchen ~ symmetry vs function opinions?

10 years ago

Hi there,

We're installing a small secondary kitchen in our basement. This kitchen will mainly service the movie theatre (snacks, drinks), our overnight guests (morning coffee), and be there for hosting kid parties in the playroom. We're including a full 30" fridge to handle overflow from our main fridge, and so that we have an ice source downstairs.

Anyway, the cabinetry will be custom inset, so it can be built any way I want it. The wall in the middle of the cabinet run will not move. There is no wall on the far R hand side of the kitchen.

Here are 2 layouts. As you can see, one layout is more symmetrical but has smaller drawers (wider sink cabinet). The other option has wider drawers but is not symmetrical. I'm looking for opinions on these options. Does anyone see a way to rework this?

Symmetry: 18" drawer bank

More functional: 24" drawer bank

If you're still reading, I had initially chosen a 24" tall F&P dish drawer. It worked perfectly. I just can't get over the bad reviews. I want something user friendly, so I switched to an 18" full DW. It will be panelled.

Thanks for helping!

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Comments (3)

emilymch
10 years ago
I'm a function over form person myself, so that's where I'm coming from when I suggest this: how about a mix of the two options? Keep the base cabinet setup from option two, but change the upper cabinets. If you make them all the same height and don't make the cabinet over the sink so different, you wouldn't have to match the widths of the uppers to the widths of the lowers.
annkh_nd
10 years ago
I'm with yillimuh. What are you planning for the open shelves above the sink? I don't like to dust my living room - I sure wouldn't want to be dusting a lot in the basement! Closed cabinets (or glass fronts) all the same height would definitely help with the symmetry issue. It's not like you'll be washing pots and pans at that sink. I like having the sink base as small as possible to accommodate the sink (and with custom, you can trim that down to the bare minimum). Especially with pullout trash elsewhere, you don't need much space under the sink.

Is the wall to the left of the fridge short enough to allow the fridge doors to open all the way?

Since you are doing custom, it might be more useful to have one large cabinet over the fridge. That deep 14-3/4" upper won't be useful for much other than tray storage.
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laurajane02
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for the replies.

yillimuh ~ I will definitely consider changing the uppers. It's a good option, I was just concerned about headroom over the sink.

annkh ~ I'm not worried about cleaning the open shelves since I have a weekly housekeeper. I included them because I like how they look and I wanted to connect the cabinets flanking the sink. Thanks for asking about the fridge. The fridge isn't in a corner of the room, the stairs (and slide ;) ) are on the other side of that wall.

The cabinets above the fridge probably won't store kitchen items at all. I'm doing inset cabinetry here, which is why they are currently separate.

Does everyone think that the sink is in the best location? DW? What if I made the under sink cabinets into pullouts?

I appreciate the feedback. My DH doesn't care either way, so I need someone to figure this out with!

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