I would think cons could be weight and torque. In an upper cabinet that's only 12" deep the "lever arm" of the bottom shelf is less than 12". I still wonder what would happen in some upper cabinets if you were able to put a 45 lb weight on the lower outer edge of the wall cabinet (say all the weight of a bunch of dishes concentrated)

On a lower cabinet the lever arm of the horizontal is 24" or twice as long. I would think from a physics standpoint that there would be a greater "moment" toward the front bottom of the cabinet and there would be more possiblity for racking and that sort of thing. The stresses on the hanging part of the cabinet would be much higher.

I've seen fully floating cabinets in kitchens but I am thinking there is probably usually some sort of L bracket that offers some support from the bottom (like a counter overhang has).

With additional steel, sure, it's possible.

What about cleaning under them? Floating bathroom vanities usually clear the floor by quite a bit--a foot or more? And they are usually shallower than kitchen cabinet lowers. So it's easy to get a broom and mop under them. If the kitchen cabinets were the usual toekick height (4 inches) off the floor and come out the usual 24 inches that seems like a difficult cleaning proposition.

You'd have to do shorter cabinets higher off the ground for it to be practical. I think this is what rockybird did with one run of her cabinets.

Other than that it would be really impractical.

Thanks for the good feedback. I can see now while it would look sleek and modern, it is not very practical. The fun stuff never is ;-/

High End European manufacturers like Bulthaup offer floating lower cabs. These are not anywhere near as tall as regular cabs though. They're hanging about 10 to 15' off the floor. So there is no issue with cleaning access and I do like that there is no bending needed to get at stored items. As I'm getting older that looks like a good idea to me! But as a lot of drawer space is lost, quite a large kitchen is needed.

I'm sure there is hidden steel supports in those Bulthaup cabinets just as live_wire_oak suggested above.

I found out the scoop on this because I wanted to float my vanity. Cabinets that float need to be built in a certain way to provide reinforcement for the frame (which means you probably need to go custom). What you might be able to do is build a shallow box that at the back of the cabinet for the cabinet to sit on which would somewhat take the weight off the whole cabinet. You don't see the box but it's there holding the weight.

Floating cabinets are no big deal and need no reinforcement. The biggest problem is wavy walls; they must hang on plane. Float away.

I do it all the time but build the cabinets with a full 3/4" inset back fastener from the sides. Also use a steel "L" angle underneath for piece of mind. Wether necessary or not I know it's not coming off the wall. Bulthaup uses a steel grid system concealed behind panels that goes all the way to the ground to hang their cabinets on.

Sorry Joe but I don't agree with you. With no reinforcement, the weight of the cabinet and its contents would eventually torque and sag. Or just imagine what would happen if someone leaned or sat on the cabinet. All the site built vanities in my house were floating and built like tanks but still had the little box beneath the cabinet at the back for them to sit on.

This is good news! It sounds like they are more possible than I thought and as I moving through time I am trying to think about universal/accessible design. Plus I despise cleaning the toe-kick area.

If you despise cleaning the 4 inch toe kick area, will you like it better if your "toe kick area" is now 24 inches? That would be a deal breaker for me, but you may have better access to the underside of the cabinets.

Manufacturers of floating kitchens:
Rational, Alno, Eggersmann, Valcucine, Leicht, Rempp

and "Swing" by Warendorf (they have US dealers in NYC, SFO, Florida)

How would floating cabinets equate to accessible design? How much space would you have under them--not enough to fit a wheelchair? Just curious.

I have 18-19' of floating cabinets, including two dw drawers and a sink. I had a custom supporting frame made. I think it was $1500. I love the look and it is so easy to clean under them. I think they are shorter cabs, as Pal says.

Rockybird, niiicce! Thanks for sharing the picture.

"Sorry Joe but I don't agree with you. With no reinforcement, the weight of the cabinet and its contents would eventually torque and sag."

jerzeegirl:

You'll have to come over and see the unreinforced IKEA cabinet that's been hanging on my living room wall for three years, the one that hung in Michigan for a decade. No torque or sags; works perfectly.