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Design Dilemma Kitchens

Stacked cabinets or no?

6 years ago

hi, my kitchen has 9 ft ceilings. My current plan has 42 inch upper cabinets with moulding that extends to the ceiling. However I also love the look of stacked cabinets, I haven't discussed this option with my kitchen designer in fear that it will be much more expensive then the moulding to the ceiling. What are your opinions and experiences? would the cost be much more, and will it be worth it?

Featured Answer

Judy Mishkin

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

they will be much more.

these are my 42" cabinets, a plumbing chase couldnt be rerouted. i need a 3 step stool to get to the top shelf as it is. taller would just have been nuts.

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Comments (10)

simstress
6 years ago
How much other storage do you have? We used stacked cabinets for seasonal/specialty items.
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Sophie, no they won't go to the soffit because the stacked cabinets are already 18 inches tall. Anything taller would have looked out of balance to me with the 40 inch uppers. With a 5 inch trim/molding, we will still be about 12 inches from the soffit.
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I wouldn't use the phrase "being played" but you have taken on extra costs to remove what you have. I personally find your soffit, molding and lighting something that I would leave intact. Your one window is very modest in size.....your plan will skew the proportions w regards window style and light and what is banked on the walls adjacent. If I were taking out everything and doing a plan to the ceiling without soffit, I would definitely pull the window and get a larger opening and a different window configuration. Increasing scale and mass of one component has to work with proportions of other elements. I don't think you are quite on the right track....I'd be nervous and NO, frankly, I wouldn't spend that summ on just that part...maybe some folks would. How far along in your plans are you?
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I am not a fan of the upper stack being glass doors. Of course many people love them. I will tell you my reasons why I don't. First, what do you put up there? Displays of what? And what you do put up there will be too high up for people to see them properly. Second - do you now have to pay for expensive lighting inside those glass cabinets? And if you do, realistically how often will you turn them on? Third - I like when the lower stack has the glass fronted doors instead of the upper stack. The reason is that it takes advantage of the lightness and light reflection of the larger doors of the lower stack. The upper doors won't provide that. Fourth - you can put your dishware and glasses there, and when people are over they can help themselves rather than trying to figure out where your coffee mugs or glasses are. Fifth - if you use a few of the lower stack for the glass doors, then the upper stack with solid doors can be used for needed storage, why forego that storage space. All that being said, if you prefer the upper stack as glass, go for it! I am just giving MHO.
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PRO
User
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
12" of molding is just as expensive as stacked cabinets. It is also much too disproportionate to the height of your cabinets. Either do 36"H cabinets with a 4"-6" molding so the gap looks deliberate and planned, or do 30"+18"+6" of molding to align with an 84" +18" tall cabinet. That is the proportion chosen here.

Woodsy Warm Kitchen · More Info
sunshine home thanked User
sunshine home
Original Author
6 years ago
The 12 inches of moulding is also what I felt uneasy about. I will definitely talk to the designer and see what he says
acm
6 years ago
If you're using 42" cabinets, which I wouldn't trade for the world, then you shouldn't need so much molding up there. Get the bigger cabinets rather than a whole additional set.
sunshine home thanked acm
groveraxle
6 years ago
IMO, cabinets to the ceiling always look better. Even if you don't use or can't reach the ones at the top, it's just more aesthetically pleasing.
sunshine home thanked groveraxle
Judy Mishkin
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
sorry, but thats silly thinking. spending money (lots of it!) on things you cant use which will be ripped out next redo. just plain silly thinking.

correction: thinking it looks better isnt silly. it does look better. having good looking cabinets that arent functional, that is silly. you might as well do fake cabinet doors up there and save the money on not having an actual cabinet behind them.
sunshine home thanked Judy Mishkin
PRO
JBB
6 years ago
We did 42" cabinets with split doors in our last kitchen to save - 36" solid white and 12" with glass inserts. The top shelf had to line up with the split between the doors.
sunshine home thanked JBB
PRO
JBB
6 years ago
Clearly my math is bad but that's the general idea -
DrB477
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Unless you are a giant, you aren't going to be easily able to use that space regardless of how you fill it. With 9' ceilings, there's really no CON to stacked cabinets other than cost. It looks better and allows you to at least store something in that space. It's not going to be something you use regularly (I keep some infrequently used crystal and christmas dishes in my glass stacked cabinets). At 5'10" I can access them with a simple step stool. Whether the added visual appeal and modest added functionality is worth the significant added cost is more of an individual decision.

As an example, on a recent project doing cabinets to 8' was 28k. Trimming it to the ceiling added 2k vs stacking cabinets to ceiling which added 6k.
sunshine home thanked DrB477

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