I planned a drawer so that I have the option of opening a door without having to have the counter completely clear every time. Of course, you'd have to have it clear to open the drawer, but I'm thinking the doors would be opened more often.

"Stacked cabinet" - is that the official name for an upper cabinet that goes all the way down to the counter, or, as you put it, that looks like it sits on the counter? It would be great to have a term for that so I can stop referring to it as upper-cabinet-that-goes-all-the-way-down-to-the-counter. Thanks for including the example photos.

A garage-style section at the bottom of the stacked cabinet would work just as well as a drawer for allowing you to swing open the top section door without pushing off anything that was on the countertop in front of it. If you leave off the "floor" piece of the garage you can just slide things in and out of it from the counter too. Also it might be cheaper than a drawer which requires a bit more tooling/carpentry.

Jan - I have no idea if "stacked" is the right word...I heard it somewhere but not sure where!!

I don't have a need for an appliance garage and would overall prefer the look of the drawer. Our GC is a friend who is giving us an amazing deal on custom cabinetry.

I see the point about being able to open a door while something is placed on the cabinet...in a way...but that something would have to be really short, and I'm not sure if it would make sense to have anything on that counter anyway??

Does anyone have an example of a stacked cabinet (there it is, I used that term again ;-)) with no drawer or appliance garage on the bottom??

It all depends on how tidy you keep your counters. We always seem to have miscellaneous utensils, hot pads, vegetables or fruit, pens, recipes, reading glasses.....lying around on the counter. I'm constantly having to clear the way to open our appliance garage doors. If I didn't have to have a door that swept open over the counter, I wouldn't. Of course I want the appliances sitting on the counter so it's ok. But if I had the opportunity to have the door swing over these items, I would go for it. We have about 6" of counter in front of our hutch drawers and it seems that DH is always placing his reading glasses there---making the bottom drawer a little hard to access. I learned to keep rarely-used items in it.

Hmm...that's a good thought Zelmar. I am such a complete neat freak and rarely have anything on the counter, so i guess that answers it for me!! I am the type to always tuck things away. My husband calls me "Miss Throwaway" or "Miss Putaway", meaning that I always return everything to it's rightful place or in the garbage/recycling bin. I just can't stand visual clutter - it must be a condition. =)

I wish I could see an example with no drawer on the bottom though. Anyone?

I have one of those with the little drawer. At first, I really didn't like that little drawer because it IS really short, and shallow too, and seemed like a total waste of space. It was clearly almost useless.

But after using the cabinet for two years now, I'm really glad that stupid little drawer is there. I keep most of my everyday dishes and glassware in that cabinet, and having that little drawer at the bottom allows me to set a stack of plates or even glasses on the countertop in front and still open the doors. That's a really useful feature, and the entire cabinet wouldn't function as well without it.

Now the drawer itself really isn't useful for anything but napkins. It could be fitted out as a silverware drawer, I suppose, but none of the silverware dividers you could buy in a store would fit.

I remember seeing at least one on the Omega Cabinetry Photo Gallery

There are other configurations as well, see my "Sat, Apr 5, 08 at 15:40" post in the thread linked below.

Here are three...
http://www.omegacab.com/gallery.asp?f=2&pg=35
http://www.omegacab.com/gallery.asp?f=2&pg=15 (upper left corner, glass doors)
http://www.omegacab.com/gallery.asp?f=2&pg=32

Check out this one!

http://www.omegacab.com/gallery.asp?f=2&pg=30

Have you considered just getting a tall cabinet w/drawers on the bottom and shelves above (around counter level and above) or shelves all the way up...either full extension or fixed? The reason I suggest this is that when we were talking about getting the "stacked" cabinets, our KD told us that a tall cabinet would be less expensive than a base cabinet + stacked upper cabinet...that's even before you add on the additional granite (or whatever your countertop will be).

Here is a link that might be useful: Cabinets that go all the way down to the countertop

Buehl - Thank you so much for the links! This photo makes me feel better about how it will look. My doors won't be the french door look but be plain glass doors where you can see the wood shelving.

{{!gwi}}

Sweeby - Now you have me thinking about the use of it. I'm sure I could find something to put in the shallow drawers, be they tea towels or special cake servers or something. Is there any reason why you wouldn't just take the dishes and put them to the side of the stacked cabinet, rather than the front? How much counter space would there actually be in front of the stacked cabinet? I think countertops are 2 feet in depth...stacked cabinets are...not sure of the depth here. I guess they fit the average dish?

Maybe your point is that you want to grab something from the cabinet and set it down right away, then close the cabinet doors, then move them to wherever? Oh, actually that makes sense given that the door opened would block my access to the countertop to the side of the stacked cabinet. Makes sense now...hmmm, from a functional standpoint it looks like I would need a drawer. Darn, I was hoping to keep my everyday dishes there and have most of the bowls, plates, etc. be at eye level.

Uh oh, I'm thinking aloud here. Words are a jumble. =)

Sorry, I meant to say Buehl, not Sweeby.

Even with the drawer there, I still get two shelves at EASY, EASY reach level, plus the front of shelf #3. (And I'm only 5'2")

As to how much counter space is in front, we pulled the base forward 3" and increased the depth of the upper to from 12" to 15", so there's enough counter there to be really useful. (Same as a standard 12" and 24" set.)

By the way, our cabinetry is from Medallion, and the 54" top w/ drawer is one of their standard pieces. The leaded glass is after-market. Here's ours:

I can imagine a time I might set down a spoon, while I get something out of the cupboard, or set down a plate of food while I get a glass or mug. Mine will be 42" wide, with counter on only one side, so setting things off to the side counter would be a stretch. I'm planning to keep our silverware in the drawer at the bottom. I don't imagine there will be anything on that counter a lot of the time to knock off by opening a door, but my thought is, why build in a possible aggravation? I like to keep my options open and build in flexibility.

Sweeby - thanks for the details, that really helps!! I was thinking that everyone on here was 5 foot 7 and up for some reason, so it helps to know that you're 5 2"!! I would only need to shelves within reach so that's perfect, perfect, PERFECT!! I will get my mini-drawer then. =) I like the look of it better anyway.

Let me say too, that that is probably the most gorgeous stacked cabinet I have ever seen. What a beautiful focal point!

I love the look of the cabinet the way you have it in the drawing. I think it would be neat to open the doors and still see the countertop material inside as the 'floor'. This is another thing I should keep in mind for a future kitchen. My DW is only 5' tall, so upper cabs are problematic! We kick a little step stool around the kitchen all the time.

- D

Don - Great idea!!! That is actually a really, really great idea to showcase the granite underneath. Thank you!

We're meeting with our KD this week so I'll get her thoughts o nit. The only thing i'm thinking is stability of the cab....but I'm sure they could figure a way to do it.

I guess that would only be an option if I didn't do a drawer. Doh.

Take a look at aktillery's kitchen.

Here is a link that might be useful: Aktillery's FKB

This is the 2nd thread on stacked cabinets I have seen today...very exciting as I am thinking about my "hutch"--

Sweeby, WHERE is you "after-market" leaded glass from? It's beautiful!

Also, please forgive me for asking, but do you by any chance recall about how much your hutch unit ran? my architect is scaring me saying it's going to be 5-6K.

I think these cabs are such a good idea, esp. to maximize storage at heights short people (like some of us!) and also kids can use most easily.

I saw these "stacked cabinets" made with antique windows as the cabinet doors at an open house kitchen a few weeks ago. The designer/owner explained that the bottom rail of the cabinet frame (I think that's the right lingo) was wide enough that she could leave a platter or short stack of saucers on the counter in front of the cabinet and still swing the door open to get inside. If you want a cabinet door opening that's very low with no drawer or garage section underneath, it's something to consider.

I like the old windows as doors!

I have 2 drawers below the uppers on my hutch, just 15" wide, and those little drawers are great! Even that smal;l, they are good for nakpins, trivets, coasters, teas, hot chocolate, corkscrews and wine gadgets, bottle openers, phone chargers, medicine bottles and vitamins. We thought about using them for silverware, but that went in a drawer below the counter and all the little drawers still found useful jobs.

Love Sweeby's hutch too --I've seen a longer drawer like that used for silverware or for linens. Could be your charging station, keys, phone list and menus -- so many things. All depends on where yours is located in the kitchen and what your needs are. I'm sure you will find yours useful.

I'll add to lascatx's list. I love having shallow drawers for storing lids--I have jar lids in one and pyrex lids in another. We also have binoculars in shallow drawers in our kitchen (wishful thinking for wildlife sighting.) I seem to have collected a lot of graters--they have their own special drawer.

Sweeby, your hutch is gorgeous.

You're welcome!

Seeing all these stacked cabinets, I'm wishing we had figured out a way to put one in our kitchen! They look so nice!

We will have one of each - ie one with a drawer and one without. The one without will actually have 2 sets of cabinet doors - one 18" high with a 42" high set on top of it. And it will be 18" deep on top. The 18" high set of doors will actually open up and in to high a microwave. in essence it will be similiar to an appliance garage - but with the look of a regular cabinet door (really don't like the regular appliance garage type rolling doors).

In terms of cost - yes, these can get costly. We have two - both 8' high. One is 36" wide, the other 33" wide. Both have the strip of granite in (we prefer that look) rather than being one tall cabinet. They will be in a painted, distressed finish. Off the top of my head, I think they were about $9K for both

"Sweeby, WHERE is you "after-market" leaded glass from? It's beautiful! "

Thanks for the nice comments, and for giving me the opportunity to once-again rave about this particular glass company. The quality is very high, service was fabulous and IMO, the glass was very reasonably priced. The company is Middlefield Glass and their website is linked in below. The site takes a LONG time to load, but that's because they have an interactive 'window-builder' that lets you take any of their many standard designs and change out the glass colors and textures. When we do a similar hutch piece for our master bath, I won't even have to shop around -- know exactly where I'm going for glass.

Here is a link that might be useful: Middlefield Glass

Great idea Jan! The trim would solve the issue of usable countertop space in front of it, and if it was more costly to put in a drawer that it perfect.

redroze, I'm glad you liked the idea of having the cabinet door raised off the counter just by having a wider (taller) bottom section of the cabinet face frame. It's the first time I've "contributed" to this forum after many months of lurking and learning.

Aww...I feel honoured! =)