We are planning a new kitchen - it is a long and narrow room. My wife is dead keen on tall wall units that go to the ceiling. I am not so sure as I think it will make the kitchen look narrower and as she won't be able to readily reach into the top shelf as she is only 5ft, I think the top shelf will be full of unsightly junk.
Any observations? (other than change the wife)
If they fit to the ceiling that's one less place for dust/detritus to accumulate, and you will always have lesser-used items to store (junk).
Phil.
Get her a stepladder and put in a cupboard? Actually you are right, tall cupboards in a narrow room make you feel like the walls are closing in. I don't notice any more, but I used to. Brian
She's right. The tops of shorter cupboards will be full of unsightly junk anyway, except the junk will be covered in dust. In my case miscellaneous vases and a wok that's too big for any of the cupboards
Unsightly junk is no longer unsightly on the top shelf of a closed cupboard. And if you want to hang on to it, where its not going to attract dust, then you're going to have to put it somewhere.
Whereas if the cupboards don't quite reach right to the ceiling, then you either create a dust trap on top of the cupboard which will be difficult to keep clean, for those who worry about dust on the tops of cupboards - more difficult than reaching a top shelf anyway. Either that or you fit panels on top to bridge the gap - providing you can find the right size - which will then make the kitchen just as narrow as if you'd fitted cupboards in the first place.
Taking cupboards off the floor to make rooms look wider is a good idea as it also helps with cleaning. The same doesn't necessarily apply at the other end.
michael adams
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We are planning a new kitchen - it is a long and narrow room. My wife is
We fitted a double row of wall cabinets installed so that the trim around the top touches the ceiling. Its great, no tops of cabinets to clean and seldom used stuff is stored in the topmost area. A set of small steps kept in the larder make for easy safe access and are very handy for changing light bulbs etc.
put doors on them, so at least the unsighly junk is in a cupboard and out of sight.
Most women I have lived with obey the EHS rule. Every Horizontal Surface will eventually become covered with bric a brac, and generalised 'bargains' that 'I couldnt possibly throw away'
Live alone in an orderly fashion.
I cannot answer to the visual look - for that you are better off trying to draw it up in a 3D CAD (even a cheap "Room Designer" program or Sketchup (with more effort) would be worthwhile.
However, I have decided to go for to-ceiling units. Why?
1) The top of non full height ones gets loaded with unsightly crap. Only you cannot close the door on it and the crap gets covered with greasy fluffy crap. 2) Even without the crap the top of cupboards becomes disgusting in short order. 3) Empty tops are a waste of perfect good storage space for less used items. 4) That's what kitchen steps are for.:)
I ran my cupboards to the ceiling to avoid the dirty area that would otherwise exist up above. Dirty because grease from cooking tends to accumulate up there. Having done this I'm very pleased I did. It actually looks a hell of a lot more classy (the small gap at the top otherwise tends look like the units are not merely made to measure for one thing). It just looks dead good with the units going right up. I've noticed in posh houses that if the ceiling is normal height they always run the cupboards right up, although where the ceiling is really high they don't, often having the top of the units actually lower than normal. There's often a plant or a statue or something on there in that case. We have some very tall units which have tall doors, so I have made these doors look like they are two separate ones, one above the other. That makes it look a lot better. We keep a small set of sets (those kitchen ones with two steps and big platform) in the cupboard with the mops and things. The extra cupboard space along the top is very welcome. I have used one cupboard as a sort of hub for the AV stuff, with psus etc in there. Hidden cables link to the radio, TV, and PVR.
Bill
I'm with the others. Enclose as much space as possible, and go to the ceiling, thus removing a dust trap.
Chris
Stilts?
How narrow? According to the IKEA kitchen planner widget my 2.5m kitchen means a slim units on one side.
I'm looking to refit my kitchen at the moment, and I can't see how this works. Do you make up your own cupboards and doors? And where cupboard meets ceiling - wooden trim?
I would add that I'm hoping to spend no more than £500 on units, but then it's a small kitchen (3m x 2.5m).
Ta, Rob
Nope, you start at the ceiling and work your way down using standard sized units. The gap between worktop and wall cupboards can vary quite a bit.
Standard units, but with a filler piece scribed to the ceiling, otherwise the inevitably uneven ceiling will be even more obvious.
Chris
I have coving (100mm) so I would start mine just under that and use some of the cornice that matches the cabinets.
Has anyone tried bringing the coving down onto the front of the units, like you would do with a built in wardrobe? (Hope that makes sense or I'll have to go and find a photo.)
The doors go right to the top - would that work?
Loking in our kitchen ...... They are not tall cupboards, but the tops are covered with nsightly junk, bleach etc, despite my protestations that that sort of chemical should be below eye height.
SWMBO has slightly longer reach than me and can reach them, I need a stool or high heels or something.
I'd go for units up to the ceiling if re-fitting, at least the junk would stay cleaner.
If the coving is say 100mm "high", you'd put in a vertical piece of MDF that's 120mm high say, then you'd apply the coving to the MDF to cover over the join between the MDF and the ceiling. That would carry the coving right round the kitchen and save scribing the MDF to the ceiling. It would also save buying cornice for the cabinets.
Also a very good idea...
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