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Building a Home Design Dilemma Kitchens

Bulkhead in high ceiling kitchen?

Lisa Nixey-Primier

4 years ago

So I am in the process of building a house and am planning the kitchen. We bought our cabinets from an auction so it is up to me to do the layout and design. Our ceilings ended up 10'5 (!) and our cabinets are 8'. I can increase the height by ordering additional cabinets, or I can have hubby build a bulkhead above the cabinet to fill in the space of 2'5". We would add crown molding to the bulkhead at the ceiling and possibly between the cabinet and start of the bulkhead. However, the bulkhead may look quite large. Another idea I had is to add more space between the counter and cabinets (I have it at 18" right now) but then our cabinets are higher than our pantry and wall oven cabinet. Should I add extra 12" height cabinets at the top to make it a 9' cabinet height and leave the 17" gap between cabinet and ceiling open? Do I add the bulkhead and crown molding? I would prefer not order the extra cabinets for budget reasons but I will if it's the only proper way of making this space look balanced. 8' seems short to me with a 10'5" ceiling. All help is appreciated!!

Featured Answer

chispa

4 years ago

Agree with Worthy, I don't understand the phobia of open space above cabinets! I prefer to have it open than to have the room closed in by a soffit. There is no right or wrong answer, unless you plan to sell in 5 years and need to please some mythical future buyer!

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Comments (6)

PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
4 years ago
2.5 ‘ of space is too large IMO for a bulkhead so I would opt for I would add 18” high cabinets to the ones you have do glass door and lights inside it will look awesome that also keeps the crown in the right size IMO
Susan Davis
4 years ago
Add more cabinets to existing, or sell existing and have cabinets built that look best with your 10.5 tall walls.
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I would not do the perimeter bulk heads. They look heavy and compress the space. If you have 'joists' in the ceiling, there is no need to drop the ceiling. IF you do have to drop the ceiling, look at the ultra thin integrated LED's instead of 'pot' lights.
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If you really don't want to mess with removing the bulkhead and dealing with the ceiling, even though that is your best solution, Hafele, for one, makes a shelf suspension system. It needs to hang from studs, and can be used with wood or glass shelves. (I have no experience with them and am not a kitchen designer.) I have seen some photos of hanging shelves with the rods on the outsides of the bulkhead. I don't think it would look all that bad and would give you needed space for plates and glasses while allowing in light. (I've always wondered, though, if plates or glasses sometimes get pushed too far and fall off the other side....LOL.) Why don't you discuss with a local kitchen designer, who might have other ideas? https://www.hafele.com/us/en/product/shelf-suspension-beta-system/0000001700013b9c00020023/#SearchParameter=&@QueryTerm=Hafele+Shelf+Suspension+System&@P.FF.followSearch=8636&PageNumber=1&OriginalPageSize=12&PageSize=12&Position=3&OrigPos=3&ProductListSize=6&PDP=true
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Comments (19)
redirecting can be done most likely but probably between $2100-$4000....we are putting clear glass door uppers...since I really won’t be using them. (plumber) said he can put it in 3 joists (So these are I-joists vs old school 2 x joists?) That is spending quite a lot of money for something you aren't planning to use. Especially given that your ceilings are 9'. We're flying blind without pictures and a floor plan sketch. Try thinking out of the box. A couple of other ideas... Lower the ceiling in just the kitchen? (Iffy if this is an open floor plan...) Or, rebuild/ resize the soffit over the problem area and hang solid cabinet doors on the soffit and stack the real glass door boxes on another wall. I'm assuming that these will be full overlay cabinets so using dummy doors should work. But you will likely need a good finish carpenter to pull it off convincingly. Or a really good, experienced 'cabinet installer'.
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PRO
Mark Bischak, Architect
4 years ago
Lower the ceiling; you will save in many ways.
worthy
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
I don't see mention of the height of your cabinets. Here's one kitchen I did with 10' ceilings and no bulkheads. I really don't understand the benefit of bulkheads--other than eliminating cleaning the tops of the cabinets once in a while. (Green added by subsequent owner.)
User
4 years ago
Why is the ceiling higher than it is functional for the space? Design to function first.

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