Are you ordering box cabinets or custom cabinets?

I ordered custom cabinets for my island and just made them 2" taller than standard (extra storage space).

Great idea!

I found an awesome deal on Renovation Angel for Ultracraft cabinets new in box. They are standard height and I have enough to do the entire house so I’d like to avoid purchasing extras, although they are still current and I could manage to get them if I needed to

Sounds like you may be creating too many "stars" in the kitchen.

And are you adding the "table" to the end of the island?

Want to post your layout?

BTW: I can see why you're splurging on that spectacular stone

I don't think there are other stars in the kitchen - maybe I'm not visualizing it correctly? The cabinets are very light gray and are a shaker style - super neutral.

The cabinets are double stack uppers so they will go all the way to the ceiling.

The sink will be a white farmhouse apron sink (also from Renovation Angel - loving my bargain buys!) It will have a big window overlooking the trees and pond in the backyard.

The flooring will be LVP from Flooret - with some browns and greys in it. The refrigerator will be paneled in the cabinets to make it less noticeable too. Rest of the appliances will be black.

The table is the back side of the island. It will be where we eat most often. I'm using cabinets behind the island cabinets to give more drawer space - so the plan was for those two rectangles under the 'table at table height" would be large drawers on either side and then we would sit on the back 6' stretch of the island.

Sorry for the weird placement of the cabinet door. I tried to add it after and now I can't move it. LOL!

Not too thrilled about the island in the current design. You might need a few more iterations to get this right.

I think it's awesome to make the dining area from solid wood instead of countertop material. That'll look much more attractive for a place to eat on. If you want it to be a dining table, then make it look like a dining table.

But I am not happy about a prep sink right next to a dining table. Personally, I'd just skip it. But I understand that some people really like their prep sinks.

I also don't like how the dining table is plenty deep, but then the raised working surface on the island is shallow. That's the exact opposite of what I would look for in a functional kitchen. I find 24" countertops too shallow for some of my prep work. We have a 32" deep section of countertops in our prep space and it makes a huge difference.

The extra storage cabinets under the dining table look like a mistake to me. I think they drive a lot of the other awkward design choices. Get rid of these cabinets and find storage somewhere else.

Don't love the entire thing. Show the kitchen in relation to the rest of the house. I see no issue with a 36 inch height work top island. You have 48 inches of cooling and a mere 30 inches of cook. There's no window?The dining is too deep for the "island" prep. Post the entire space with adjacent areas.

M - Thank you for the input. I agree with you about the awkward drawers. I have them and want the storage but I think you’re spot on about the awkward shallow prep space. I’ve been mulling my options over and need to change that up.

I’ve never had a prep sink before, but my current kitchen has flow problems that I am determined not to repeat with this one. Even if it’s used for hand washing to keep the kids out of the work area, I think it’s worth it! Lol

What do you think about using a wood base to raise the island a bit? Any other economical ideas about how I could manage that?

What about putting 12 inch depth cabinets behind the island to make it 36" plus overhang of counter and then doing something like this?

Most architects design overall spaces not specifics of unique kitchens. You could benefit from good kitchen designer especially doing what you are proposing. How much of additional height do you want? More height is going to affect views of peripheral cabinets and your farmhouse sink. How tall are you? Even with your health issues, have you done a mock up with cardboard boxes to try this height out? It can be done but just make sure it will be what you hope for. With the island raised, doing a banquette butting up to it would mean raising the back of the banquette and that would make it a custom build. Two level islands are not desirable. I worked with an NBA player who was 7’ and we raised the whole kitchen up, not just the island. He did everything custom. So it can be done. Just make sure you are going to end up with function and esthetic you desire.

Thanks Flo!

I have a very thick cutting board that I use and it helps, but I think I would prefer a higher surface. I'll create something to give me an extra 3 inches and see if it feels better. That's a really good idea.

My poor architect JUST got started on the job. I will have my first meaningful meeting with him in the next few weeks. He's modifying a floorplan we chose of his designs for us specifically. I gave him all the cabinet sizes we bought from RenovationAngel and he's willing to work with them. However, I bought them because the L shape fits fairly nicely in the current floorplan layout.

Above are ALL the cabinets I purchased and I'm winnowing it down for my kitchen.

We have an adult son with autism, so he will have a casita with a very small kitchen. We will also have a large mud room and game room for the bar so we will be able to use a lot of these I hope, and work with a local UltraCraft distributor to order whatever I might need - which can be custom sized.

After thinking about it, I'm really considering doing the sofa/banquette pushed against the back cabinets to give myself some hidden storage and just put a table there with chairs like in the photo above. I've found already a few sofas that could fit the space and I could build the bottom up to make it a perfect fit,

This is the floorplan we are basing the house on (reversed intentionally LOL). There will be quite a few changes overall, but the kitchen/living space stay close to the same. Would like to reduce square footage overall in that area, though so that's part of my intent. Pantry is a work in progress, but it won't be where it's placed at the moment.

Using bargain cabinets for the island is probably not a good choice as an island with the gorgeous stone is usually the star of the show. The bargain cabs might be a good choice for the perimeter lowers but generally people prefer drawers there instead of cabs. Also raising the island height might work for you, but if resale is a consideration, it could be a deal breakers for future shorter buyers. If by mitered edges you mean waterfall sides on the island you could eliminate those if you got nice end panels, but not sure how much you would save.

Hey Suzy!

When I say bargain cabinets, I only mean because I got them for a steal.

They are full overlay, solid maple shaker cabinets in a light gray with glass front double uppers. We received custom end panels & beautiful matching crown molding we weren’t even expecting.

They would’ve been close to exactly what I would’ve chosen if money were no object and I had ordered them myself. :)

They are very neutral so it allows me to get such a pretty stone but still excellent quality. I truly lucked out. I bought them two years out and am storing them in my current dining room, but I think they’re worth the hassle.

This is our retirement home so my poor kids will have to fuss about resale - hopefully FAR in the future!

Ah o. No on raising sofa for banquette. Your feet won’t touch the floor and your table will be too low. Think that through. You could create a bunch of problems.

Thank you, Flo! You would have saved me heartache!

I didn't write that sentence very well, I'm afraid. I didn't mean raise a sofa for a banquette, I meant if I could find one JUST the right height, I could raise the island worktop a few inches and have the banquette match it.

I did manage to find one last night after hours of searching and only finding 'almost' a perfect fit.

Dimensions seem to be perfect if I leave the island height alone.

• Overall: 72'' W x 37'' D x 35'' H
• Seat: 66'' W x 23.5'' D x 19'' H
• Legs: 6'' W x 6'' D x 2'' H

I admire your determination. Now, when searching for a table you will need to take it’s height into consideration. When sitting on a sofa you have a tendency to sink down some so a lower than normal table height might be needed. From the drawings you posted I don’t understand the orientation yet. Have to get to my desktop to see it bigger. Bbl

Thank you so much for sticking with me on this. LOL!

My poor husband couldn't keep up with me. I had to create a sticky note island to help him understand. He's on board now - the way I'm doing it *now*, the island is still a nice size if we ever change our minds and move the banquette or table.

We will predominately use the chairs I get for the backside of the table and will likely never actually sit on the banquette. It will be my 11 yr old that will be on that side, plus our adult kids when they're home. If anyone else is around, we will probably use the dining room.

You're right on with the table. Luckily it should be the easier of the things to find. My thought was to get a 72" rectangle table? I worry if it would be difficult to get into the banquette with the table that large though, so maybe something a little smaller?

Love that stone! I raised all my cabinets (kitchen and bathrooms) by 3" (more comfortable for us - we're all tall.) My cabinets are custom so they were built that way (as mentioned above - more storage space.) Many years ago in my pre-reno kitchen we added a new island using stock cabinets, and we raised the top by building supports (e.g. 2x4s or something) on top of the cabinets, surrounded by trim to match the crown molding. The counter was a bit wider, because the trim was angled out just a bit (e.g. like crown molding.) This looked and worked fine, although it didn't give us extra storage. No picture as that kitchen was demo'd long ago.

My DW is raised to meet the taller counter height. It's on a small platform (like what you're talking about I believe) with trim in front of it. Looks great - blends with the surrounding cabs and toe kicks, and functions better (for us) because it's higher by 3".

Awesome, chicagoans! I'm glad that it worked out for you.

Oddly enough, I'm only 5'4" but I have back problems and being able to stand up straighter really helps me.

It's good to know that I'm not crazy and someone else has given this a go. HAHA

I can't comment on how well this works, if you are 5'4". But yes, there are tons of us here who have raised their countertops. I raised our counters by 2" and extended depth by 6". It's life-changing how much more useful the kitchen got this way.

The only potential downside is that our upper cabinets are now harder to reach. In our situation, that's not a big deal. Because of the extra-deep cabinets, our lower cabinets are extremely spacious. And since we installed drawers in all of them, the space is very accessible. So, our upper cabinets aren't used for anything important. And the few things that are in there, are easy to reach since everybody in the family is taller anyway.

But if you are on the shorter side, and then you raise your countertops, you should plan on not using your uppers much if at all. Just keep that in mind. Other than that, your plan is awesome and you'll love raising things higher.

I have the opposite problem at 5'3". I wear platform flip-flops to reach above the second shelf in our upper cabs. DH at 6'4" uses a thick cutting board stand when carving. We had high bath vanities in our previous home and I could barely lean over to wash my face or use a water pic.

spitting out my toothpaste! Yes, I am nearly 5'. I actually lowered designed a lower center island in a two island kitchen we built, so I could do things like roll out cookie dough, and do anything that required me leaning over and working. Worked great. The woman who bought the house was short and LOVED that feature and was a "baker" and with the granite countertop, which stays cool, she was imagining doing her baking with ease there. Higher is more difficult. But it can be done, you just have to consider all the details. The devil is really in the details in a kitchen.

hehehehe - so here's the deal

My family lovingly calls me T-rex. I have fairly short arms. So even thought I'm short, I still find myself doing a lot of bending to work on counters.

Yes, I can't reach most upper cabinets. The bottom two shelves are my go tos for everything I need and stuff that barely gets used, or is used more by one of my guys goes higher.

That's why I'm only considering raising the island because I can prep there instead of the perimeter cabinets and still reach the uppers fine.

I honestly hadn't thought out WHY at 5'4 I hate normal sized cabinets until today when I had to really think about it. I even made sure we had extra high vanities in the master and I love them.

I'm weird. I embrace it. ;)

lol - I'm like monkey arms. But stubby legs. I need my platform flip-flops to play pool too.