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grace_smith012

New build with kitchen cabinet too large for door cove crown molding

Grace Smith
5 years ago

We are building a home and upgraded to a door trim with cove crown molding. All the moldings over the doors and windows have been installed throughout the house.


We now have beautiful kitchen cabinets installed, but the GC didn't appear to review our kitchen CAD drawings since they had no idea the walk-in pantry cabinet would be 26" deep. (It's a pantry/refrigerator cabinet with upper bridge cabinet). Some items with the HVAC, lighting and electrical switches are also out of place in relation to our CAD drawings (now cabinets that they are installed). The problematic doorway wasn't yet framed when the cabinet maker took his measurements.


A few weeks ago before the cabinets were installed I discovered that the doorway (from kitchen area to back hallway and garage) was two inches too close to where the cabinet would go. The GC said they would move the door over. I thought the problem was solved until it was pointed out to me and the project manager by the cabinet maker when he was installing the cabinet that the door trim will bump into the cabinet door.


The doorway was supposed to be 40" wide. Now it's at 39 (two inches removed from one side and 1" added from the other)". To address this problem, the GC has said we could either leave the cove crown molding off the door trim (just have the 1x4 casing and the header piece) or shrink the doorway to 32" wide and keep the cove crown molding over door -- both options are a no go for us. We can't have a major doorway at just 32" wide (and it would look weird with 10' ceilings). Also, it won't look right to have crown molding missing from this door when it's on all the other doors and windows in the room and house.


Would it be a good idea to have a transom window added over the doorway so that it becomes it's own design not intended to match other doorways? I thought it would also work well with the glass upper cabinets. I don't know how hard this would be to add. I think there's just attic space over the doorway in case they needed to do something extra with framing. The light from the back bedroom and light from the kitchen area would go through the transom to add more light to the hallway.


This is the only option that I can think of that would look good and still give us at least a 37"-38" doorway. One other option I see is perhaps removing the door return on the right of the door and then add a couple of inches on the left side. We probably still wouldn't have room for the cove molding since it projects out 2 1/2". I think we would still need to do the transom to make it it's own unique doorway. If we took out the return, I think that would give us back 4". The door casing is 3 1/2" wide (1x4 poplar). Our walls are 6" thick.


Please let me know your thoughts on the transom over the door and if I should suggest this to our contractor. Who would be responsible for paying for this solution? Had the contractor alerted me to the issue about the crown molding not fitting with the cabinet, I wouldn't have gone with the new molding. Now we are in a position to have to do something potentially expensive to have a workable solution. My husband insists that he doesn't want this door needs to any smaller than 38", but I'm willing for it to be 37".


Here're pictures of our inspiration photo for the solution and photos of the doorway causing the problem. (Please note we are still waiting for a couple other upper cabinets). The pantry doors swing in to a walk in pantry room.






Inspiration photos of transom over door...






Comments (41)

  • yvonnecmartin
    5 years ago

    I like the transom idea. In my opinion, the contractor should not charge extra for this because it was his firm that made these mistakes.

  • chiflipper
    5 years ago

    "but the GC didn't appear to review our kitchen CAD drawings".


    This whole matter is the GC's problem, not yours. If different sized cabinets need to be made, or a transom added, so be it. The cost of any materials and labor are his responsibility.


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  • Grace Smith
    Original Author
    5 years ago

    I also asked to upgrade to a more beaded crown molding that would be the same height and depth as the specs given to the cabinet maker. (Their crown had no beading). I stated the importance of the height and depth in two email to the builder's staff. What was proposed to me as the same size of molding but different design turns out to actually be 1 1/4" too big. I asked multiple times (to the frustration of the builder) that the crown molding be the same. All of the molding has been installed in the house. Once the cabinets were in we discovered it was not the same size. The GC told me that I signed off on it and I should have coordinated with the cabinet maker. I signed off on it with trusting them that it was the same size as what was given to the cabinet maker. I had no reason to reach out to the cabinet maker when I believed all along it was the same size. Plus, the cabinet maker was in touch with the project manager and gave him the specs he had for the crown. So now we will have to take out the wrong crown molding for the house to have matching crown. Is this the responsibility of the builder again? I have two emails stating it was important for the crown to be the same depth and height as what was given the cabinet maker so that the crown would all be the same.

  • K R
    5 years ago
    Agree with Grace, ask for the upgraded crown, makes a huge difference.
  • Boxerpal
    5 years ago

    Hi Grace,

    First I just want to say your kitchen is starting to look lovely. It can be so frustrating to have to deal with these issues. Stay Strong!


    Your wrote:


    ....The GC told me that I signed off on it and I should have coordinated with the cabinet maker. I signed off on it with trusting them that it was the same size as what was given to the cabinet maker. I had no reason to reach out to the cabinet maker when I believed all along it was the same size. Plus, the cabinet maker was in touch with the project manager and gave him the specs he had for the crown. So now we will have to take out the wrong crown molding for the house to have matching crown. Is this the responsibility of the builder again? I have two emails stating it was important for the crown to be the same depth and height as what was given the cabinet maker so that the.....


    I do not know what your contract says. I am not a professional. I am only going by my kitchen reno experiences. And in our contracts it would be the responsibility of the builder. I assume he is the GC. And it seems the GC has ignored what you wanted. Did he have extra crown lying around and ignored your request for size? I assume the Project Manager works for the GC/Builder? Again, I believe but it depends on your contract that it is the builder's responsibility to replace the crown and possibly cabinets at this point to have the doorway 40 inches. And I like the transom idea but this should be what you want. I know there are going to be compromises with your GC/Builder/Cabinet Maker and or project manager. I am sure you will work it out. Wishing you luck as you tackle this. ANd hoping some Houzz Experts can chime in.







  • Grace Smith
    Original Author
    5 years ago
    Yes — the project manager I referred to works for the GC. My contract doesn’t have me responsible for coordinating kitchen cabinets. I asked the GC if we could get our cabinetry from this cabinet maker since I knew he did good work. The contract for the cabinets is between the GC and the cabinet maker. And the GC has been paying the cabinet maker.

    I communicated with the cabinet maker on the concept of the cabinets. Then the cabinet maker created CADs and sent Those to the GC for their review and approval. There was no pushback on the CADs. I assumed the GC was reviewing these and making sure vents, lights, switches were all coordinating with the CADs.

    I’m so disappointed they seem to have completely ignored the CADs and are trying to put the blame on me.
  • ILoveRed
    5 years ago

    Hmmm.

    ”The problematic doorway wasn't yet framed when the cabinet maker took his measurements.”

    did the cabinetmaker take his field measurements too soon?

    should he have come back and double checked?

    did the house plan indicate a door size there for the cabinetmaker to work around?

    maybe my coffee isnt working yet but I see shared fault here. A calamity of errors.

    i think the area would be fine without the crown molding although it would have been better if the area would have been designed and built to accommodate the crown molding.

    i do think it would look good with a transom window but you need to be careful because you can run into problems with the crown on the other side of the opening if the top of the transom is too high, as we had happen to us.

    in addition, some folks say that one design element ie; transom should be repeated. I do not necessarily believe that is true.

    we did three transoms in cased opening after discarding ours which simply didn’t work. They came from Transomsdirect.com Can’t recommend them highly enough. Message me if you want more info and the name of our rep.

    their price was insanely reasonable.

    PS...don’t shoot me, but I also don’t see how your GC is responsible for paying for this.

  • bry911
    5 years ago

    As to the door:

    Maybe I am misunderstanding but it seems like your upper cabinets are a much bigger problem than your door placement. It appears your glass front uppers go all the way to the wall. How are you going to open them with cove molding on the door? It isn't just a matter of the door being too close to the cabinet, it is a matter of the cabinet being too close to the wall. I thought rule number 1 of cabinet design was never put a hinge on a wall, especially if there is a door on that wall.

    Unless your G.C. put the door 15" closer to the cabinets than it was supposed to be, then your cabinet door, was always going to hit your door molding. Moreover, it was always going to hit on the glass, so there is that fun. I am not sure the G.C. is at fault for not realizing that your upper cabinets leave no room for any door trim whatsoever, even with a 1x4 casing it is going to hit.

    As to the molding:

    Let's drop right and wrong and skip right to the end. The chances of you prevailing on something you signed off on are pretty slim. Generally speaking, signatures (approvals) overrule earlier communications, however, later communications must be addressed. Essentially a contractor can't intensify a problem by proceeding with something that he has been put on notice is unsatisfactory even if it was signed.

    However, being right or wrong doesn't mean anything, what is important is getting the other side to understand he is more wrong than you. It would be the rare contractor who looked at something you signed off on as his fault. That is the entire point of signing off, to shift responsibility for the decision to the homeowner.

    I suspect you are tilting at windmills on that that one. However, if it is important to you, keep working on it. You might prevail on that principle of squeaky wheel gets the grease.


  • Grace Smith
    Original Author
    5 years ago
    In response to ILOVERED, the GC’s design coordinator (an employee of the GC) sent the below door trim specs to the cabinet maker prior to the new door molding being selected. The GC didn’t inform the cabinet maker of the new door trim selections.

    Here’s what was sent to the cabinet maker from the GC’s designer in an email I was copied on.

    Casing to be 1x4 flat poplar
    Poplar 2 1/2” stool at window sills
    5/4 x 6 poplar header
    Base to be 1x8 poplar

    I don’t know from the above information sent by the design employee if it would have been clear to the cabinet maker that the door trim header sits about an inch wider on each side above the two casing pieces on each side of the door.

    It never occurred to me the projection of the new trim would create this problem so I never flagged it as a concern.

    The door wasn’t framed yet and I think that is also part of the issue. Now that I’ve analyzed this since discovering the problem, it seems the old trim might have still required us to shrink the door by an inch or two I’m guessing. That would not have been such a big deal. It’s the new trim that is causing the big problem.

    It seems the GC had planned on a 24”
    deep cabinet, not 26” with a 1/2” molding piece that makes the cabinet 26 1/2” deep.

    BTW, if we add the transom, I would do away with the cove crown molding on the door since it would not fit. I’d have that door as its own design element.

    I really don’t like the finger pointing going on with the GC putting this on me and the cabinet maker that I introduced them to. I am willing to accept whatever responsibility is mine if it can be shown to me where I made a mistake. It just seems CADs we’re altogether ignored because of the other items in the kitchen conflicting with cabinets — ceiling vent, hood vent opening, wall switch and lights.

    Yikes...
  • ILoveRed
    5 years ago

    Grace...I can’t tell you the number of situations similar to this that we had throughout our home building journey. I will never do it again. You will figure it out and I hope it’s the last glitch for you.


  • bry911
    5 years ago

    I think the best solution is to fix the upper cabinet. All your other uppers align with the lower doors except this one. It seems aligning all the upper and lower doors is a better and more appealing solution than playing with the door.

    However, one thing you can try instead of drywall returns is to recess the molding into the drywall. We did something similar on an old house restoration. Since molding is about 3/4" deep you will lower the protrusion down to 1/4". That will not fix the crown problem, but it will make the 1x4 solution workable.

  • blubird
    5 years ago

    I think a major part of the problem is that those 4 glass cabs are designed incorrectly. It doesn’t appear that the glass doors line up with the cab doors beneath them. Note that the doors of the glass cabs in the range area are the same size as the doors below them; the frames line up. If that set of 4 glass cabs were designed the same way, you'd have a filler (or frame) piece on the left, center and right side..the frames on the glass doors would then line up with the solid doors below them...and you’d be able to open that right hand door.

  • PRO
    Charles Ross Homes
    5 years ago

    Building a home involves lots of different component parts and lots of coordination between designers, builders, suppliers, trade contractors, finance companies, government entities, architectural review committees, etc. For a custom home--one that's never been built before--add a homeowner to the mix and throw in a few changes along the way for good measure.

    Guess what? Despite everyone's best efforts, mistakes will happen. How you approach solving them will affect every aspect of the outcome.

    I've found the best way to solve problems like the one at hand is for the owner, builder, and cabinetmaker to meet on site and discuss options in a collaborative fashion. By bouncing ideas off each other often times an option will be identified that wouldn't be obvious to any one individual.

  • dantastic
    5 years ago
    Could all of the cabinets on the pantry wall move over a few inches to allow for a filler strip as mentioned above? I agree the cabinets should have been designed with the strip from day one. Cabinet doors should always have room to open properly. Even if the people doorway didn't exist, the cabinet door would bang the wall before opening properly.
  • PRO
    HALLETT & Co.
    5 years ago
    As others have noted the main problem is the upper cabinet- it needs to have the same filler against the wall as the cabinet below. As to the door moulding, just rip it to width and move on. I am not trying to downplay your frustration but having some mouldings narrow at inside corners is not that unusual and disappears once everything is painted.
  • Grace Smith
    Original Author
    5 years ago
    First — I want to say thank you to everyone for your input and great insights.

    In response to Blubird and Bry911, I agree with you about the upper cabinet being a problem and could have been designed differently. So this cabinet is a bridge cabinet instead of two separate cabinets that sit above the pantry and refrigerator cabinets. The cabinet maker insisted this was the way to build it back when it was being designed. I’m not sure why he felt so strongly it needed to be a bridge cabinet.

    With the cabinet redesigned with filler between the wall and the upper cabinet, I think the door cove crown would still be a problem because it sticks out 2 1/2”. But cosmetically it would look better.

    Because of the issue with the cabinet, our GC has agreed to replace all of our door moldings with just the 1x4 poplar, the larger header piece and then a style like piece that sits over the header to give it a shadow over the header. We didn’t discuss changing the cabinet as an option but perhaps we could. (I’d pay for that since I signed off on the concept). On this one door the upper piece will only be able to hang over the header by 3/8” versus 3/4” on other doors. The door can stay where it’s at to be a 39” opening.

    I did bring it up with the cabinet maker previous to discovering this problem that the upper doors weren’t the same size. At the time I didn’t realize it was because of it being a bridge cabinet and how that works.

    The overarching problem is our GC and his team didn’t review our CADs, and so several things are off — electrical switches, vents, and lights. I don’t know how they’re going to get the repairs in the sheetrock with cabinets there.

    Regarding the ceiling crown molding, I sent two emails in addition to verbal requests that specifically said I wanted the same size crown molding size — height and depth — as the cabinets but just a different beading on the face of it. What happened instead is that I was shown a crown molding that turns out to be 1 3/8” deeper. I didn’t measure the old one and had not remembered from my contract the specs. I was trusting his word that if I ask for the same size as the cabinet crown and what was in our contract and he says it’s the same size that that is what I’ll get.

    I asked in person on at least two occasions if it was the same size because it seemed large. I remembering him saying yes — and today he will still say “yes”, but then he adds — it’s the same size but with a different “projection”.

    Until this week I had not understood the word “projection” to mean depth. Months ago when we changed the crown molding I might have thought he was referring to “projection” as to how it looks with different beading — such as she “projects” a positive attitude. I wonder if that’s where we got confused. I could see him saying it’s the same size but different projection and me thinking he meant the way the crown appears with a different beading style.

    The crown molding looks oversized for even 10’ ceilings since it “projects” (now I know what that term means) 5 5/8”.

    I am asking him to replace the crown molding with what was either in our original contract or the same size (what I asked for verbally and in two emails). He is considering this but feels he told me the “projection” would be different. Therein is probably the word that caused this misunderstanding. I will argue that when a customer asks for the same size of something — that’s what they mean.

    Couple of lessons learned:
    1) Don’t assume contractor is reviewing CAD drawings. Have a CAD review meeting on site before cabinets are built or ordered. And check that all construction works with CADs.

    2) You could have big misunderstandings because of not understanding construction terms such as crown “projection”. Contractors need to be sure they are using terminology that customers will understand.

    I’m so stressed out over this and many, many other construction mishaps and design challenges. (Over 12 different roof leaks with spray foam insulation already installed, shower floor sunken 2” when it wasn’t supposed to be, unplanned redesign of great room ceiling because what I was told it would be like was not how it was drawn (I couldn’t read plans back then), kitchen not centered with fireplace as promised which necessitated last minute changes, the cabinet and trim issues, and so on. Our change orders have been huge. We are over budget by about $100k. It is coming together, but the process has demanded my full time everyday — night and day — with very little sleep. I’m hanging on by a thread. :(
  • gthigpen
    5 years ago

    I don't have any solution to add as I think you and others have covered a lot of good options to fix the problem. But just wanted to chime in on the 'lessons learned' part. At the very beginning of our build, our energy consultant gave us the best possible advice. He said 'Trust, but verify.' He said giving contractors full trust is key to a good relationship. But you must always verify they understand and it can be done like the plan. We verified everything and caught a lot of mistakes that could have ended up being really big mistakes. We also missed a few things too, so it happens. Don't beat yourself up. Your kitchen is beautiful.

  • PRO
    PPF.
    5 years ago

    If the pantry cabinet were set back and either not as wide or the entire group of cabinets moved over, and a filler installed, would that solve the problem?



  • bry911
    5 years ago

    So this cabinet is a bridge cabinet instead of two separate cabinets that sit above the pantry and refrigerator cabinets. The cabinet maker insisted this was the way to build it back when it was being designed. I’m not sure why he felt so strongly it needed to be a bridge cabinet.

    Some of your terminology is confusing me.

    You are saying cabinet maker rather than kitchen designer, so I keep thinking custom cabinets rather than stock options.

    A bridge cabinet is a cabinet that spans an open space, such as the cabinet you have over the fridge. Using a cabinet designed to be a bridge cabinet in some other way is fine, but that has nothing to do with why the cabinet is too wide. I can make you a bridge cabinet in any reasonable width and height.

    So if you chose a cabinet company with few available cabinets and no customization in order to realize some cost savings, then it is completely reasonable that you have to work with what they have available. In that case, you just have to deal with these issues, and take comfort in the fact that you realized significant cost savings for a not perfect doorway.

    If, however, there is customization available or these are custom cabinets, the cabinet maker is taking advantage of your trust. He is essentially pulling the old mechanic's trick of telling you that you were low on blinker fluid.

    ----------

    The option of moving the entire wall of cabinets over is a solid idea, and if that is possible is a much better solution.

    ----------

    I think the door cove crown would still be a problem because it sticks out 2 1/2”. But cosmetically it would look better.

    It was always going to hit regardless of where the door is. The cabinet really still needs to be moved over, because it is still going to hit.

    Having said that, some of it comes down to value. Is it worth fighting this battle or should you just find something that is OK? I can't answer that for you.

    However, in your contractor's defense this is clearly a cabinet issue and not a door placement issue. So you can make the case that the contractor should have caught this issue as that is his job, but you also must realize that there is a reasonable expectation for subs to be competent at their job too.

  • Grace Smith
    Original Author
    5 years ago
    PFF — that is so kind of you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart :). It would solve the problem as far as the door goes. I don’t know how it would look to have it 24” deep with a 25 1/2” refrigerator cabinet next to it. Do they need to be same depth?

    With the molding strip between the upper cabinet and the lower sections, the full depth is 26 1/4”. Our home plans show what would most likely be a 24” cabinet depth and 40” doorway. There isn’t a measurement for the cabinet, but that’s what I’m guessing they believed it would be since they show it flush with a base cabinet. Since base cabinets are usually 24”, that’s why I’m guessing they expected it would be 24”.

    Unfortunately the field measurement happened before the door was framed. I think it might have been caught if the measurements were taken after the door was framed — and if the GC reviewed CADs.

    As I mentioned before, we could compromise to get the door to 37-38”. I now strongly feel the upper cabinet should have been two separate cabinets instead of a bridge cabinet so that there would be a matching filler piece the same as below. It would look better and function better.
  • Grace Smith
    Original Author
    5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    Bry911 — This was a custom cabinet maker who makes the cabinets himself that I introduced to the GC. He can build any size needed. I referred to him as the designer by accident. We didn’t really have a designer. The builder has a person on staff who helps with design selections, but not a designer who has a certification.

    So are you saying the bridge was the cheaper thing to build instead of two separate cabinets?

    We have gone this far and want to do the right thing for the house and not cobble stuff together and forever regret it. I am willing to compromise and even pay for a new set of upper cabinets. I’m worried the GC is going to withhold a payment to the cabinet maker (hurting him financially) and then leave us with a lien on our home. We would end up paying for it all just to get out of this mess. I hope my worries aren’t legitimate. I don’t want anyone suffering for this but for all involved to put together a solution. Mistakes happen. But I am not happy that the CADs were overlooked and I have all these other misplacements in the kitchen (vents, lights, etc.) in addition to the door problem.

  • tiggerlgh
    5 years ago

    What is the contractor looking at if its not the CAD?

  • bry911
    5 years ago

    I now strongly feel the upper cabinet should have been two separate cabinets instead of a bridge cabinet so that there would be a matching filler piece the same as below.

    Again, I am somewhat concerned that you are being fed a line with the bridge cabinet excuse.

    There is no reason that a bridge cabinet can't be designed any way you want. I could build a short single cabinet with 4 doors and every single one of the doors could be sized differently in order to match up with the doors below.

  • bry911
    5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    Just to be perfectly clear. In my opinion, if this is a custom cabinet job, your cabinet maker messed up and he is flat out lying to you, and hoping you trust him over some internet strangers.

    I am not sure why you are calling it a bridge cabinet... It isn't a bridge cabinet. It is just one short upper cabinet with either 2 or 4 doors depending on construction.

    Here is a 3 door diagram I found on the interweb... I am at work right now (office hours) and don't have access to any real design or drawing tools from here, but this will illustrate what I think he is referring to as a bridge cabinet.

    The "facers" above can be moved to coincide with those below. The advantage of one cabinet with 4 doors is that it allows more space to store items that are larger and eliminates the 1.5" of cabinet walls between cabinets. However, aesthetically, there is no difference between one cabinet with 4 doors and four cabinets with 1 door each. From all outward appearances they will be the same. I get to choose where to put the vertical face frame boards.

    In a frameless cabinet this can get a bit more complicated without the face frame to install doors on so most cabinet makers will either use a divider (most common) or a sunken face board (less common) to attach hinges.

    There is no reason that a custom designed cabinet should ever have the problem you are encountering. EVER. You don't build custom cabinets to be installed flat against a side wall, especially if there is a doorway.

    ETA: As a disclaimer, I am not a custom cabinet maker but have made cabinets several times, and I specialize in wainscoting, which is certainly a related skill.

  • Grace Smith
    Original Author
    5 years ago
    This is really sad that this has happened. His work has always seemed stellar so I’m shocked this is happening.

    Here’s a photo of this space from a different angle. He has referred to it as a bridge cabinet so that’s why I was using that term.

    I have sent him an email saying I will pay to have this redone. Is there a specific description of how I should tell him to build it so that there’s not another round of problems?
  • bry911
    5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    OK. I guess I have egg on my face.

    This view creates an entirely different perspective. Most of us were basing our comments off your picture, and I think it was just a bad angle.

    What I took for inset cabinets are actually partial overlay with a picture taken at an angle such that the door looked even with the face frame. Your cabinet maker did actually give you some room between the wall and his cabinet.

    Additionally, the lines seem to line up in your new picture with your upper sitting proud of the lowers. I don't love your pantry entrance. It seems that the vertical frames are larger than they need to be and that is causing the lower faux cabinet to have wide face frames. Since that element is not extending all the way up, it creates this problem.

    You have a few options, which I think are viable.

    First, you can have the cabinet maker redo the cabinet above the pantry and match the vertical face frame width to that of the lower cabinet. This will give you the required space you need.

    Next, you can go with the 1x4 idea, as the cabinet is not actually against the wall it will work.

    A third option that I think might work is to find a different hinge. Since your cabinet is not actually against the wall, I would have your contractor or cabinet maker measure for an offset opening concealed hinge.

  • PRO
    HALLETT & Co.
    5 years ago

    You still need to redo the upper four doors so their width match those below- they currently look like they were ordered from two manufacturers. Once that is done you can install the trim you wanted all along- it will just be narrower on the one side. Why would you want plain or different trim in the kitchen different than the rest of your house?

  • Grace Smith
    Original Author
    5 years ago
    So do you still feel the upper cabinet should be redone with the same vertical frame as below? Or do I just change my door trim? I will change the door trim no matter what. The GC is being helpful now, which I’m very grateful for. By changing to a simpler door molding, the trim can slide into that cavity between the cabinet and the wall. The 1x4 casing would butt up alongside the pantry cabinet filler piece and the trim would fit in the top gap. We would just minimize the top door trim piece by 1/2”. I don’t think it would be noticeable that the door trim is ever so slightly different on this door.

    If this upper cabinet looks bad, I’d rather take my punches and have it redone now versus later.
  • PRO
    PPF.
    5 years ago



  • bry911
    5 years ago

    So do you still feel the upper cabinet should be redone with the same vertical frame as below?

    I really am not a designer and I really shouldn't speak to design principles. So leaving that aside, I think there were other, options for that space that would have created a more cohesive design.

    Personally, I would have tried to match the pantry doors to the cabinet overlay, which would mean pivot hinges on the door. That way you at least keep that design element consistent.

  • Grace Smith
    Original Author
    5 years ago
    I am so grateful for this feedback I have received today. And thank you again PPF and Bryan911 for all the helpful details. I am going to see about a new upper cabinet. We’ve put too much into this project to let two upper cabinets good us up :) I had a lot of people including a designer I hired for a short time out eyes on this, and we still missed it. Just goes to show you how difficult it can be to build a house and get all the details to work out as hoped.

    PPF — the reason we broke up the expanse of the pantry door with shaker panels was since we wanted it to look integrates with the cabinetry and to break up the tall doors since we have 10’ ceilings.

    I do agree also about hinges that can be hidden. It also annoys me that they are such a bright gold when my lights and cabinet hardware will be more of an aged, satin brass. Is it easy to switch out hinges and not mess up the doors?
  • PRO
    HALLETT & Co.
    5 years ago

    Easy to switch out hinges, and frankly even the cabinet modifications will be fairly straightforward- the box can be retained with a new faceframe and doors. I once again would not recommend different trim on this door because it is not needed once you fix the cabinet.

  • jjdooley13
    5 years ago

    PPF's drawing clearly shows how the cabinets should align. Yours absolutely do not. If he is a custom shop, your job can't be the first set he's done with extended uppers, and he should have known better. If they were my custom cabinets, I wouldn't be happy. Can you compare the upper cabinet alignment in the drawings from the cabinet maker that you approved to what you actually have? If there is a discrepancy, you might have grounds for the cabinet maker to replace on his dime. I do not know enough about crown to know if fixing alignment will solve the trim issue. Regardless, the doors should align in the center and on the edge.

  • Susan Davis
    5 years ago

    Dumb question, but why not cut into the wall behind the fridge so it slides in deeper into the cabinets and then make the cabinets 24 inches deep instead of 26 inches deep which is a really deep cabinet to reach into? Silly questions I suppose?

  • Grace Smith
    Original Author
    5 years ago
    JDooley13 — They align on the centers but don’t line up on the outer side. I am going to ask to have this cabinet redone so that the doors are the same width as below. He viewed this as its own entity and didn’t think about alignment. In the photos above in my comments are photos that show they do align. It’s my initial photos that I posted that make it look like they are not centered when they are. I didn’t realize the angle of the photo did that.

    Susan — that is a great idea about recessing the wall a bit but I think that would end up being pretty costly. I can ask the GC his thoughts on that. The pantry cabinet is really a set of doors for a walk in pantry. I have 42” of walk space with refrigerator handles and 45” without.

    Our walls are 2x6 but at this point it would be a significant change. But I’ll ask anyway.

    Thank you for the great ideas.
  • PRO
    PPF.
    5 years ago

    The issue with recessing the cabinets into the wall -- which was the first thing I considered, is the countertop on the counter height cabinet. Normally it butts into a wall or deeper cabinet (or partition).


    And should the ceiling register be turned 90 degrees and moved out so it's away from the crown?


  • PRO
    PPF.
    5 years ago

    PPF — the reason we broke up the expanse of the pantry door with shaker panels was since we wanted it to look integrates with the cabinetry and to break up the tall doors since we have 10’ ceilings.


    I was not suggesting a change in the doors by showing them as I did above, just being lazy and not changing to match yours.

  • Grace Smith
    Original Author
    5 years ago
    PPF — that register is going to be moved. It shouldn’t have been there. That’s one of the examples I have of the GC not following CADs. I hope they can fix the ceiling with the cabinet so close.
  • jjdooley13
    5 years ago

    Grace,

    Good. It would drive me batty not to have the door edges aligned!

  • Boxerpal
    5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    This is not a solution just a way we solved a problem. Someone mentioned the frig. We recessed a standard refrig to look like a counter depth into the wall behind. In my case we had the space to push it back. (an old pantry) And we had to pull all the cabinets forward a bit along with making our counters a few inches deeper. Love the depth of the counters. This was not unreasonable as far costs go. Roughly about $500. This is not a solution for your situation, I am sharing so that others reading can see there are ways to change your space that are sometimes outside the box. Hoping this all works out for your gorgeous space.