Can you post a top-down view of the entire kitchen?

Noah: Of course! Here it is:

mama_goose: Thanks! Phew! So far so good! I haven't decided where everything will go yet. I know I want my dishes in base cabinets (so the kids can help with setting the table and putting things away). They'll either go in the base cabs to the right of the sink or in the base cabs beside the fridge. They make sense by the sink for putting away when they're clean. But I imagine it would drive me crazy having people getting plates out as I prep dinner there too. So the dishes will likely go by the fridge.

I just mocked up 18" vs 14" wall cabinets. 18" doesn't look right and is way too overbearing. It's massive!! 14" looks good to me but is 15" a more standard size?

Ms K - when you say 18" vs 14" - which dimension are you talking about - width or depth?

I think it looks good! Not sure what kind of hood you are doing though - if it is the kind in your picture (not sure what they are called) you probably want to leave a little bit of breathing room around it with the uppers. I would try to do dishes across form the DW, but I'm pretty lazy. Agree with not putting them in the prep space. I have all sorts of useful things in my prep space - always getting in the way!

Standard base cabinets are 24" deep and standard wall cabinets are 12-13" deep. Since you want 30" deep base cabinets nothing you are doing will be of standard size. I think 18" deep wall cabinets would look peculiar. I'd probably stick with 15" as a compromise. But I have to say I wouldn't be doing 30" deep base cabinets so hard to say. Would you consider 27" deep base cabinets as a compromise?

I mentioned before that 18" is too deep for me (not because of height--I'm on the tall side), but things get lost in the back, except for large mixing bowls and stock pots. If you plan to store cereal boxes turned on their sides, that might work. I think 14" sounds good.

How wide are the drawers beside the fridge? I'd want dish drawers at least 30" wide (looks like 30"), so that would be another reason not to put them beside the sink.

sjhockeyfan: I'm referring to the depth.

lharpie: Thanks! That makes two votes of confidence. :) I'll likely go with the chimney style hood like in the drawings. The large blocks of wood uppers make for a "heavy" look so I'll most likely get the chimney style to lighten it up a bit. My other option for dishes is to put them in the wall cabs above the DW but then the kids won't be able to help so I think I'll have to deal with the small inconvenience of carrying them across the kitchen to put away.

StanZ: I do agree that 18" looks very strange! Maybe not in a big kitchen but way too big in my medium kitchen. 15" seems like a good compromise. I'll mock up 27" base cabs/counters with 15" wall cabs and compare to 30" and see what works and looks best.

mama_goose: Another good reason to not get 18" deep wall cabs. Very good points. It would be adding lots of extra storage but most of it would not be very useful for me. I don't have my dimensions at hand but from what I recall, the base cabs beside the fridge are 55" wide.

There's a whole thread recently devoted to 30" deep base cabinets. As for uppers, I'd definitely go for 14 or 15" (better than the standard, which won't fit some big plates, and not so big that they look odd).

Thanks sjhockeyfan. I think 14-15" will be just right. :) Do you happen to have a link for that thread on 30" base cabs? I tried searching for a thread before posting mine and didn't find much.

When ordering your cabinets be sure you specify INTERIOR depth. My uppers were to be 14" deep (interior) but are only 12.75". Thankfully, my plates fit - barely. Since it was a mistake by my cabinet maker (one of many) I wanted them redone (at their expense) but my husband vetoed it. We were already 3 months past our move-in date and he was beyond frustrated. I agree with others - 30" base cabinets seem a too large/deep unless you have mostly drawers and pullouts.

Thanks for the tips motherwallace. It's so terrible that you had to get to the point where you had to just live with it. :( But at least your plates still fit.

I did a more large scale mock up of 30" base cabs last night and I was shocked - 30" makes for a monster-sized box!! It looked fine when I applied it only to the shorter counter on the fridge wall. But when I imagined it extended along the whole sink/range wall it was way too much. So now I'm just deciding between 24" or 27" base cabs on that wall.

Are you planning to put the wall cabinets right next to the exhaust hood? I think it would look nicer if you give the hood some room. Maybe the same margin around as the window?

I think it would look better to have space around the hood and skip the symmetry part. I'm not very hung up on symmetry though, and a chimney hood that goes all the way to the cabs bothers me.

Sorry for the long delay in replying to you lharpie. I've made some changes since I last posted this thread like deciding to go with a different style of hood, similar to this one:

Mt. Tabor Kitchen · More Info

I started a new thread here: http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/3756651/m=3/solid-wood-or-a-mix-of-glass-and-open-shelving-for-upper-cabinets. Hope to see you there! I still need lots of help!!

What are uou going to put in the gap between the cabinet and window wall? I can see why the uppers need to end but I would have put the lowers all the way to the wall....

practigal: There's a baseboard radiator there that can't be moved. The open shelving there was the best solution I could come up with! I know it looks terrible so if anyone has other ideas I'm all ears!