I guess I'm becoming an expert in home office setups the hard way. I'm a lawyer with a true home office (not just a place to pay bills and do scrapbooking). Version 1.0: built in one 11' wall of downstairs bedroom, cost $7K (1999 dollars) for maple. Custom built by local cabinet person. 85 year old mom moves in and takes over downstairs bedroom, so office gets moved into spare bedroom upstairs. Version 2.0: I research all over the internet. I rule out the nice looking armoires because (a) I have too much stuff and (b) you still don't have a place to put your feet even after the worktop slides out; I suspect that all well used armoires end up with lots of scuff marks at foot level on the face of the cabinet. I buy lots of Christopher Lowell Shore (the same line that bestyears bought) and start assembling it. It's all crappy particleboard/OSB/pressboard with a hideous printed finish where you can actually see the pixels of the supposed distressing. It starts falling apart during assembly. Cost: $2200, 2009 dollars. Version 3.0: I order solid maple, made in California not China, from local furniture company, cost $3400, 2009 dollars, which takes up most of a 10' wall -- not built in. (Design wise, it looks a lot like the Logan office suite available at Pottery Barn.) It's decent quality but probably a grade or two lower than my kitchen cabinets. However, I think that a 10' wall of kitchen cabinets would cost substantially more than $3400 from any reasonable quality cabinet company. Version 3.1: My mom is now talking with cabinet companies about installing pull out drawers on the lower shelves in the former office so that she'll have drawers in which to store her clothes...grrrr! I really want my home office back -- although I really, really don't want my mom gone. One important point on drawers: File cabinet drawers look and function very different from kitchen drawers. Blue

Sure, we did this in a house (that we have since sold). I designed it and I loved it. We didn't have room to have the big kitchen we wanted PLUS a standalone table, but did have room to make the island bigger with seating. We also had a separate dining table. We really enjoyed this set up (and didn't use the dining table unless we had extra people visiting). We had no problem with the counter height, though my elderly father did not like it. Also, it was admittedly a huge pain for the period my son was in a high chair because there are no chairs that tall. We still had plenty of room for island storage and didn't need any more kitchen cabinets. In fact, if we wanted to fit a table in the room, we would needed to cut out some cabinets. This allowed us to maximize cabinets. We're currently designing another kitchen for our other condo, and also struggling to fit all of the cabinets I want plus a table. The island seating is the perfect solution. I also really liked sitting at that island while my husband cooked and vice versa. Much more casual and intimate than sitting at a kitchen table. Here's a picture from the mls listing (ignore the wide angle lens :)

Hello! Have you checked out West Ninth Vintage fixtures? We create a variety of fixtures. Take a look at some of our ideabooks for inspiration. Let us know if we could help!

You need to show us a floor plan of what is there now and what you want to change. Plus a floor plan showing how the kitchen relates to the other rooms in the house.