Why not a big pane of glass for the anteroom door with top and bottom rails and the stiles the same as the paneled doors. Three panel on the closet doors instead of six because of the narrow width. Proportion trumps number. The windows on the top stories of many period houses with 6-6 sashon the lower floors, are 3-3 with a proportion similar to the lites below. Some have been replaced with 6-6, resulting in a cluttered window with horizontal looking lites. Proportion is more important, and the width of those panels if you did 6 on such a narrow tall door would be sliver-like.

Wow how awesome is the ability to photoshop! Elwydee's verson looks great! Think that's the same as the first one you did isn't it? Your 2nd verson with the added cabinet also looks great. From that angle it doesn't look strange with the ceiling change above. Nancy made a good point though. Maybe you could check out both of those isues with another mock up from another angle or simulate with some cardboard at home. RKB and Elwydee can you please share what photoshop software you used? I learn something new every day on this site! Thanks.

Thanks, everyone! MamaGoose, Pickle2's kitchen is soooooo dreamy! I adore that apple green color! I sort of got lost reading about all the kitchen updates and backsplash woes, that I totally didn't even notice the uppers and lowers difference. I guess that's proof enough that it can work ;-) 12crumbles, The door styles for the inset uppers and the full overlay lowers will likely be very, very similar (probably with a recessed panel), so no worries there! For the island, i'm toying with doing a raised panel of some sort. No decisions yet, but thanks for the vote of confidence! Homechef, i've explored the Barkers and Scherr's route, and I haven't written them off yet -- I'll be reaching out to Scherr's for a bid once I get a little bit closer to making some decisions. I didn't realize they also did inset, so thanks for that! I'm holding off considering Barker until their growing pains have worked themselves out. I know I can just get doors from Conestoga via one of their resellers, so I don't think anything special is required for compatibility to IKEA (except for providing them accurate measurements). But, i'm speculating now, and making assumptions that the drawer fronts just attached via screws. Good idea to double check how everything comes together and talk it over with the door supplier. I'm not ready to give up on the Inset uppers, as I really like the look and think they will impart some charm. That being said, you are right, I am making it more complicated than necessary, lol. The wall of uppers will be prime viewing area from the family room, so i'm willing to put extra effort into their aesthetic -- even if I am the only one that notices the inset detail ;-) But, frameless uppers is the fallback plan, don't worry! So, on the list so far are Ikea supplemented by Scherr's or Conestoga. I thought I also read something about Omega now offering a frameless line (anyone have experience with them?). Are there any other lines that do both inset and frameless that I can consider?

So you keep asking what other people like, but that is really irrelevant to what will work best for YOU. The correct size of drawers or cabinets depends on what YOU will put there - which might not be what I would put there. Kind of like saying "should I get a sports car or a minivan?", without telling us whether or not you're hauling kids and their cellos to music lessons. You need to go through a whole day in your kitchen - 3 meals, with some baking thrown in - to decide what needs to go where. Items should go near their point of use: prep area has knives, cutting boards, colanders, trash; cooking area has pots and pans, utensils, spices, potholders; baking area has dry goods, bowls, measuring cups; cleanup area has dishwasher, dishes, flatware. Somewhere you need food storage containers, bags and wraps, towels, small appliances, large stock pot, cookie sheets, baking dishes. Once you've determined WHERE things will go, then you evaluate your own stuff, to decide how much space you need. Use tape to measure out the interior of a 24 or 30" cabinet or drawer, and put your things in that space. Don't forget to determine how deep a drawer needs to be - I have cake pans and pie tins on their sides in a drawer, so that drawer needs to be pretty deep. The utensil pullout that decoenthusiaste posted would drive me nuts! I have my utensils in a drawer, with dividers. I can't stand rooting around in a jumble for what I need. What works best for deco would definitely not work for me. Now, going back to your question! After you've measured all your stuff and decided where it will go, you may have a pretty good idea about what size works best. Do you need 12" more pantry space, or counter space? Also think about getting something out of the uppers on each side of the stove. If one of those cabinets has spices or oils, a double door means you have to go around the door to get what you need; a single door is much more convenient.