Hello! We run into these questions quite often when we do two toned kitchens. What I can say is that usually tall cabinets (Refrigerator areas and Pantry cabinets) are usually chosen to be in the wall cabinet color- in your case Dover. We supply a color picture with both options to the customer, and usually 9/10 times they go with the wall cabinet color.

But your current working layout is different, in that that whole area can be treated completely seperate, since it has those walls breaking up the run. From the kitchen looking into the room, you are really only going to see the pantry and base cabinets. The wall cabinets will be hidden from sight from the refrigerator. If that little cubby area tends to be dark (not a lot of sunlight coming in that door & window) then I may make the entire thing Dover [Personally speaking] so that it doesn't become this little dark corner of the room. If lighting isn't a problem, then I would do maritime for the base cabinets & pantry.

In making that area ALL dover or ALL maritime you can visually set it apart from the kitchen to be used as it's own little room- mud room, coffee bar station or hutch.

PS- This is Masterbrand cabinets isn't it? We sell Kemper and these are two of their finishes :)

Get a real dedihnercand not a box store one cramming your sink in a corner and a whole bunch of other issues. That is a really poor design. And you are overpaying for it, despite their perennial and never changing "discounts". Anyone not offering you the 3D visualizations of each option is someone you do not want to work with.

The issue with tall cabs in a two tone kitchen is how it will look visually with the top finishing trim pieces when the two different colors meet. I suspect that is why Cab. Dist. said most do the tall cabs in the color of the wall cabs. It looks like you will have the issue I had if the tall cab is Dover and the other lower is Maritime with the floor trim pieces. I thought it looked a tad off being the same height so had the carpenter trim down the white slightly.

I agree with the first poster that stated: pick a color and do all the cabinets in that area the same. It will look nicer and not like a checkerboard, and it will set that area apart. I agree also about using the Dover for that area.

Hi Live Wire Oak. I'm not sure about the tone of your comment. This design is not from a big box store and we are working with a "Real designer." We do have all manner of 3D visualizations, but I don't personally find CGI very useful. I have no idea what you are referring to re. discounts. As for the layout, we are constrained by the fact that this is a 105 year old house with associated weirdness and three different entrances to the kitchen space. I requested the sink in the corner (actually a foot from the end) because a) I'm a lefty and b) I wanted it in front of a window. If you have other thoughts about the design I'm very interested to hear them, but please don't insult my intelligence.

I'm not sure either of these options would look like a checkerboard. There's no place where two trim colors would meet. In option A, the pantry would be Maritime and the only thing it abuts would be the Maritime dummy base. The only uppers in the vicinity (which would be Dover) are on the other side of the dummy base. Option B would be making everything in that side of the kitchen Dover. We are not considering what rantontoo's picture shows, with two different bases next to each other. The pantry's top finishing trim doesn't touch any other finishing trim and we are not doing crown molding in that part of the kitchen (because of the lower ceiling)

@Direct Cabinet Distributor, yes these are Schrock cabinets which I believe are Masterbrand.

How about the stove wall base cabinets and sink wall base cabinets and the rest white

I would not do different colors for upper vs lower cabinets in a kitchen that has a floor to ceiling pantry (such as yours) for the very reason you're stating .... because you can't keep it consistent at eye level. So if you want to do two colors of cabinetry, then separate them in terms of one side of the kitchen vs. the other side instead of separating them by top vs bottom. It will give a more comfortable look to the eye and prevent any disjointed-ness that may happen otherwise.

Thanks. It seems like the consensus here is to make that whole part of the kitchen Dover. Base cabs on the stove and sink wall would still be Maritime, and all the uppers would be Maritime. The more I think about it the more I think that makes sense. Thanks all!

By the way...any other critiques are welcome :-)

We chose the white upper color for all of the tall elements here.

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I agree about your sink location. There is too little space to the side. You’re forced to only use one side of the sink, combining cleanup and prep tasks. That leads to traffic accidents and dual demands at the same time. That should be avoided if at all possible.

I would think about centering it between the windows. Then the short L cabinets could become tall cabinets, or hutch to the counter cabinets, to make up for the lost storage. The corner next to it would be a great appliance storage cave area.

You would actually get more storage, and have two nice, easily accessed, work areas in front of windows. And cleanup and prep can now share the sink simultaneously. You just increased the possibility of multiple helpers, and added storage both.

Definitely thinking hard about centering the sink. It would also let us put the trash and dishwasher on either side of the sink, which would be nice.

@artemis thank you for posting those! That looks great! I have a meeting with our KD tonight and asked him to draft up a plan with the sink centered between the windows.

We went two tone by making the base cabinets dark and the door and drawer fronts the lighter color. Took care of all the issues being discussed here. It's a lot of decisions made in the blind--drawings/pictures etc are great but still there is an element of the unknown. Here's hoping your finished product meets all you dreams!!!

Here's a reveal with similar colors and tall cabinets.

my-full-reveal-finally

I would also center the sink which would allow you to go with a wider sink. It could be a beautiful focal point on that wall. I like to have plenty of space on either side of my sink, so having it that close to the corner would not work for me.

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if you are eliminating the upper cabinets on the sink wall anyway, any thought to putting in a window? I realize there are always budget considerations as well as aesthetics when viewed from the outside, but it would allow you to have your sink centered and keep the view.

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Thanks Elunia. It's a good thought, but we are not doing any exterior revisions to the house, primarily for aesthetic reasons.

The current plan has a 28" sink with a corner drain in a 30" base. We could of course go wider. But in my condo right now we have a 20" sink and it's never seemed small to me! Maybe I just don't know how to live...

You will love the larger sink. Just being able to soak a cookie sheet and easily wash a roasting pan make it a wonder...

A few inches wider on the sink base would allow you to get double pullouts.

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Believe it or not, a cookie sheet and roasting pan fit just fine in a 20" sink...but they will definitely fit better in a wider one! I picked out the 28" one from Create Good Sinks with ledges. I like that size because it comes in an 8" depth which is nice for my tall husband. It's a little weird how excited I am for a new kitchen sink.

I don't think I want sink pullouts though. I feel strongly about putting the drain in the corner, so we discussed doing a side pullout trash...but I think it might be annoying to have the trash under the sink at all, because if someone is at the sink they're blocking the trash.

KD sent over a revised plan with the sink in the middle...It looks way better. I think I'm going to go with Dover in the whole side of the kitchen with the pantry.

Rule of thumb is uppers and tall match so that crown molding is consistent.

No crown molding in this part of the kitchen because the ceiling is lower (there is a structural beam and the roof slopes), but I think we are going to do the whole area the same color, uppers and lowers. Thanks!

Just curious which countertops you decided to use. I am doing maritime lower and coconut upper cabinets. Reading this has helped me decide to do the pantry in the coconut instead of the maritime, so thanks for that.

Hi! We actually ended up deciding to do the pantry in Maritime (along with the lower cabinets in that part of the kitchen), but it is a set off area with no crown moulding - this way the pantry matches what's next to it. Only the uppers throughout the kitchen will be in Dover. We (i.e. my interior designer) did a poll and the Maritime pantry won handily. We haven't picked our stone yet (cabinets are not yet installed), but the plan is to do a soapstone lookalike granite in a honed finish (something like Jet Mist or Silver Grey).

We have crown molding so it does flow a bit better. I love the maritime cabinets, but our kitchen is too small to do all of them throughout. I hope your Reno comes out beautiful!

Hi @emho23!

Any pics now that it's been a couple years and I assume the project is done? Lol

I'm about to start a kitchen remodel and we chose Dover for our upper cabinets and Maritime for our lowers and I can't find any pics anywhere on the entire internet of a kitchen done in those two colors! Would LOVE to see how yours turned out.

@Jess Cunningham I have a few jobs that are Maritime and White... but not Dover. Although my personal kitchen is Dover

Maritime bases/ White Tops (cherry shelves)

Dover Kitchen

Stay tuned to our social media. We have another Maritime White Kitchen coming. We are just doing the countertops now. Should have pictures in the next month or so. @adirectcabinets

@Jess Cunningham Yes I am happy to share photos! We ended up doing Silver Grey honed granite. We love it, but it does get a patina. I'm planning to put a wood floating shelf between the windows, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

Pardon the mess -- we have a toddler and I took these right after dinner.