I recommend posting this to the kitchens forum

Thanks.. Just posted over there as well...

You know what, I do not care for the upper cabinets in real life they are pretty in pictures, but just look odd to me in real life. Granted, I am 5 foot tall so visually this doesn't work for me. I think you could beef up your molding and save money

agree with ourgeorgiahouse

I think the extra costs sound reasonable. You don't want to skimp on cabinets -- they're expensive, but they're something you want to last, and they're difficult to replace later. Better to do this right in the first place.

The first "upsell" is for better quality drawers. No question -- I'd do it.

The second, larger "upsell" is essentially for looks. Though it's a big bite, keep in mind that this is more expensive because when you go with the glass fronts, the cabinet maker has to "finish" the inside of the cabinets as well, so that's adding a significant amount of work. I do like the look of the upper cabinets (and I am also 5' tall ... well, almost). I do prefer two doors; I suspect the 36" tall cabinets will wear better over the years /be less prone to warping than 42" cabinets. Is this worthwhile? Only you can answer that; this is a question of looks instead of function.

Two ideas:

I've seen pictures of 10" upper cabinets as you're describing done with MIRROR FRONTS instead of glass fronts. At a glance, they appear to be glass, but they'd be cheaper because they don't require the interior-cabinet finishing. They'd also be easier to clean in the future because they're only one-sided (of course, that's a once-a-year job, so no big deal anyway).

How much could you save if you skip the Super Susan? I'm sure it's significant. Corners are always problematic, but I'm not alone in thinking that these Super Susans are an expensive way to get mediocre results.

Unless I'm missing something, it looks like you only have 3 drawers. (Maybe you have some on the run between the ovens and refrigerator.) The upgrade I'd want is all drawers for the lower cabinets, except for the pull out trash. (I'd even want pullouts under the sink. My under-sink space is like a cave - stuff in the back gets forgotten.) Drawers are so much handier than regular cabinets, even cabinets with roll out shelves. My guess is you'll hear similar advice on the Kitchens forum. This thread has more info and links to others: Drawers vs Pull Out Shelves This one has some good pictures Pictures of drawer / pull out storage

My layout is very similar. I did stacked cabinets, 30in with 15in on top, no glass fronts. i "tried out" different height cabinets in the showroom, and realized that I can only reach as high as the top shelf of a 30" cabinet. Anything taller, and I need a step stool (I'm 5'7). So, I gave the "extra" space to the top cabinet, so I would have more flexibility of what to store up there.

I want to echo others that suggested drawers. They really are great. I kept 2 base cabinets with a typical door, only because I know I need the height for my stock pots and canning pots.

We are owner/builders, so I had flexibility of what brand/store to buy from. I went with the Diamond Vibe line in maple, and upgraded to soft close hardware, all ply construction. My total cost (including painting all cabinets white) was less than 7k.

I have been pricing out Kitchen Craft cabinets for my bathrooms and laundry room. Those price upgrades look about right. In the kitchen, I'm going with Omega, which is slightly more expensive than KC's Integra line (I assume you're doing Aurora, since the dovetail drawers are an upgrade).

For glass doors alone, I was looking at $650 per cabinet. And that was for just the glass doors, as I already had a second cabinet up there, which adds a few 100 per. What colour are your cabinets? When I did my current kitchen with KC, I asked them to leave the interior of my one cabinet with a glass door with the white melamine cabinet. They did, and it saved me the bulk of the upgrade cost. If your cabinets are basically white anyway, it's not going to be noticeable, especially up high. The other option for interiors is a natural maple veneer. If the doors are maple, then maple interiors shouldn't be a problem. With the new house, I wanted to do the same, but although Omega agreed to leave my interiors in the maple finish (I planned to paint the interior an accent colour), they insisted on charging me for the interior painting anyway. So I skipped the glass doors. If KC is still willing to do this for you, it can save you a little.

I agree with the others that you need more drawers, but I also recognize that also won't come within the budgeted allowance. I would estimate making your lowers all drawers is going to add another $3-4K.

I also wanted to add that I'm not a fan of the double moulding at the top. If you want the second cabinet, make it go all the crown. It gives you the extra few inches you'll need in the cabinet, and doesn't look like you're trying to hide a bulkhead.

I love my super susan, but I have another corner in my kitchen that I closed off completely, with drawers on both sides. Both options serve a purpose. The only way to know if a super susan or something else in the corner is best for you is to plan out what will go where in the kitchen. That's an exercise that should be done as soon as possible - it could potentially affect all kinds of decisions.

In mapping out your cabinet contents. try to keep things near their point of use: pots and pans near the range; dishes near the DW; potholders near the range and ovens; cooking utensils and spices near the range. Think about where you will use and store small appliances, cake pans, cookie sheets, cutting boards. Lots of people put vertical dividers over the fridge or wall oven. Don't waste valuable real estate on items you rarely use.

My Mom's house had stacked cabinets; mine has 42" uppers. I find mine to be much more flexible - I got extra shelves for most of the uppers, so I could store more things without stacking. That's not possible with stacked.

I'll add my vote for more drawers, and moving the DW out of the prep zone, and using an easy-reach in the corner instead of an angled upper.

In the drawing for Option 1 and 2, the little cabinet above the range hood is completely out of proportion. I would scrap cabinets above the hood. If you went with stacked and glass, you'd be proudly displaying your vent piping (unless it vents directly out the wall).

I have the 10-12" uppers with glass that are lighted and I display my colored glass there, makes a nice indirect night light. The thing I WISH I had done is full extension drawers. I also have more lower drawers which I think work better than lower cabinets. Don't have to get on my hands and knees to see what is in the back of the cabinet. I keep plates, bowls and other cookware there...

Also have an island for seating and the area underneath has wall cabinets that serve as the base, with no knobs so they just look like nice finished panels and provide tons of storage for infrequently used items.

I did the glass uppers and made sure they had separate doors on them...sometimes they actually connect the doors so the uppers open each time you open the bottom ones. I didn't want that for sure. We used the shimmer glass from the antique colonial house we had in the uppers and we lit the cabs. They are used for display only. I figured I'd not want to climb up and down to fetch anything from up that high anyway. It's a look. I like it, esp with the 9' ceilings. But if you don't like it, it's certainly not worth the $$.

We have 9 foot ceilings and did 36" cabinets with 15" glass uppers.

1) Move the dishwasher to the right of the sink. The counter between the sink and the cooktop is the best prep area in the kitchen. If the dishwasher is to the left of the sink (as pictures), it's in the middle of your prep area. This means no one (including the cook) can open the dishwasher while someone is cooking without being massively in the cook's way. If you move the dishwasher to the right, you could could an entire meal with the dishwasher open, and it would never be in your way.

2) Swap all the base cabinets for drawers except the sink cabinet. You might also want to leave one slim base cabinet for cook sheets/casserole dishes, but that isn't necessary if you are going to put those items above the fridge or double ovens.

3) Swap the locations of the fridge and the double ovens. You want counter next to your ovens so you can put something hot down quickly and with little chance of bumping into others. Ideally, you want counter near the fridge too, but carrying something hot across the room can burn you or other. Carrying some stuff from the fridge across the room, while a bit annoying, is not a safety hazard.

The fridge is also more often used than the ovens are. The fridge where it is currently will block the doorway every time it is open, which will be often. If you move it to where the double ovens are, you no long have the fridge road block.

Also, the typical action flow of a kitchen is:

fridge (get the food) --> big prep counter with adjacent sink (wash the food and mix/chop/peel it) --> either the cooktop or the oven (cook the food)

If you swap the fridge and ovens as I have suggested, that puts your appliances in the same order as the actions in the kitchen. Namely, fridge --> sink and big counter between the sink and cooktop --> cooktop or ovens. This creates a good and efficient work floor.

4) If you move the double ovens as I suggest, make sure no one entering that doorway is likely to run into an open oven. Ovens are open less often than fridges, but it's a lot worse to walk into an open oven, so you don't want to risk that. I am hoping that doorway is to a pantry so this isn't an issue.

5) Is this kitchen going to have three ovens? Or is the range in the picture meant to be a cooktop? If it is the latter, then you want drawers under the cooktop too.

6) I wouldn't go for 36" + 10" stacked cabinets. I don't think you'll ever use the 10" tops of those cabinets, so really you are paying more for 36" of useful storage space when you could pay less for 42". I agree it'd be better for cabinets to go to the ceiling, so I'd ask how much for molding or whatever would extend the 42" cabinets to the top.

I don't think cabinets need to extend to the ceiling to look high end. I have a high end custom cabinets installed by the former owner. Instead of the cabinets going to the ceiling there is decorative molding above the cabinets that conceal uplighting. I display large pieces of decorative glassware and ceramics above the cabinets and they look gorgeous when the uplights are on.

Tcufrog, no, cabinets don't HAVE to go to the ceiling. (Although it's hard to keep stuff clean up there if they don't, and I certainly wouldn't want to uplight my filth.)

But in OP's 3rd option, the extra molding looks like a bulkhead. It's not a high end look unless she's got really high ceilings, which she doesn't.

They don't look filthy if you clean periodically. I just take the stuff down, rinse it in the sink and vacuum the openings with the hose extension on my vacuum. I'm no Martha Stewart but it takes me very little time.

That was in brackets because it's not really the point. It's just my reasoning for insisting they go to the ceiling in my house. Even if OP wanted to use the space above the cabinets as display, the 3rd option doesn't allow it.

I realize now your first comment was probably not directed at me, but at Jillius who said there should be moulding on the 42" cabinets. In that case, I agree with you. It would make even more of a bulkhead look, which I don't like in option 3. So yes, if you go with option 1 or 2, the cabinets shouldn't go all the way to the ceiling.