We have something very much like this. It actually was a built in hutch that was on one wall of our dining room that got moved to another wall in the dining room during the remodel. The shelves in it are just wide enough for two wine glasses. One upgrade we did in connection with moving it was to swap out the wood shelves for glass and put downlights inside to shine down through the glassware. Since you're already doing glass shelves, you should consider lighting the inside.

You mean other than in my house? Except the counter part. I have a full depth counter across the way. I'd be scared of that narrow a counter in a passage, especailly for something as easily knocked over as wine. How about setting a couple of wine chillers into the counter so that you can put the bottle in and use the chiller for leverage as you pull. And to keep the bottle from going flying.

Mine are 8.375" deep exterior dimension. Interior they're 7" deep, which is plenty for two goblets or flutes, or one oversized goblet or balloon. I also have mugs and teacups in the lowers, and small items like butter dishes and cruets. Things fit better and more securely staggered, but they can fit doubled.

I don't have any finished pictures yet. Here's one from during the construction. The trick to making these work in a passage is NO KNOBS. I have pressure latches on all of the doors, with magnets. They're very secure and work with the 170° Blum hinges. People inevitably bump into the cupboards. Knobs would grab, poke, scratch, etc., and if they got hung up in clothes they'd pull the cupboard open, exposing the contents to flailing limbs. If someone bumps into the pressure latched door it only opens half an inch or so and the magnets hang onto it until you pull on purpose. This model has two springs/two magnets per latch, which makes it doubly secure--when one gets sprung or something the other holds.

For similar reasons, I advise against open shelves on the lowers. The cookbooks would be fine, but it's not a secure place for bottles.

Our sink is on an interior wall - I stepped back the cab over the sink so it is about 2 glasses deep. It works very well.

My wet bar has a section of shallow cabinets (below one section of countertop). I can fit glasses and liquor in there, but not much else. It certainly works for the purpose. The countertop is fairly useful as well. Sounds like you have a great plan.

Can you make the shelving deeper by entering into the stud wall, similar to niches over ranges?

Also consider having doors be sliding ones of glass instead of ones that open out. Have been talking to local shop that makes shower enclosures, etc. They are perfect for this kid of work.

They were named 'cup boards' for a reason & the original cupboards only had enough depth for a cup with a plate standing behind it - at least that's the way they look in old pictures, LOL. I have a shallow cabinet built on a fireplace mantle that holds my china & I haven't had any problems. I think your idea is a good one.

Hi johnliu. We just did what you are talking about.

Our kitchen is so tiny (11' x 9') that we had to find every inch of available space. One of our walls is between the kitchen and a staircase; it's a standard wall made with 2 x 4s. My husband opened up the wall and devised sets of shelves sized to accept Avsikt glass doors from Ikea. The shelves themselves are wood. There will be six of these "cabinets" altogether, three lowers and three uppers. Picture six Avsikt glass doors nestled into a wall. The back side of the wall (the stairside wall) will be sheetrocked.

The shelves are not quite finished and have no doors yet, but so far, I love them. They are 5" deep. I'm using them right now to store my glass spice jars at comfortable eye level. The jars are all the same size and have simple labels, so I hope they will look OK behind glass.

The shallow width is also becoming useful for other tiny items that hog cabinet space -- short jars of organic honey, cans of tomato paste and roasted peppers, bags of sundried tomatoes, little boxes of tea, anchovies, and boxes of sugar-free Jello.

The lower set of shelves holds my 21 old glass mayo jars full of dried goods -- beans, lentils, shitake mushrooms, popcorn, elbow macaroni, raisins, and other items bought in bulk from our local co-op. These jars are all the same size too, they all have white plastic lids, and the contents are sort of colorful, so I hope they won't look too bad either once they get their glass doors. I don't plan to illuminate these shelves; visually, it would be too noisy for my contemporary kitchen.

There's a lot of glass stored inside and I have quarry tiles for flooring, so I'll have to be extremely careful not to drop anything. No glass stands a chance against quarry tile.

Your idea sounds very workable, and what's more, I think you'll love how it will work for you.

Cheers,
rc

The idea is fine because the whole point is for your storage to fit the things you want to store. As noted above, free-standing glass-fronted furniture, china cabinets, especially older ones before the giant plates came into fashion, were pretty shallow compared to kitchen cabinets.

If you have concerns about multiple functions you want to include--opening wine, etc--you can brainstorm about that some more for the best design, customizing the storage to have something like a pull-out board section, or a hinged flip up, or something, but otherwise build what is reasonable and use it for the things that fit there. Sounds like good use of space.

Thank you, everyone, for the feedback. I will probably run with this.

You know, at times in the kitchen planning process, I get really nostalgic for simpler days.

Used to be that everything I owned fit in a car. I owned a single enameled steel cup, that I used for everything from coffee to scotch to wine. My pot was thin aluminium with a folding handle and doubled as my backpacking cookware. I didn't know the word ''cookware''.

Now my junk occupies four thousand square feet and I'm thinking about hogging out a perfectly good wall to make room for balloon stemware. Crazy.

I think your idea is a good one, shallow cupboards are very functionnal. Using pllog's picture as a start, maybe the upper doors can be shorter and end 18 inches above the bottom. That bottom can then become the wine open/pouring area and not stick out beyond the cabinetry.
(not sure if I am expaining very well- you will need your great imagination!)

Here's a photo of a cupboard which might fit your situation. It's along a walkpath and is not very deep.

Here is a link that might be useful: This Old House shallow glassware cupboard.

rc.... what you're doing sounds brilliant. I'd love to see it when you're done (or in progress!!)

We're doing something similar except I'm having doors on the bottom. We have a little alcove that is 80" high 37" wide and 13 3/4" deep (to end of the wall) and 9.5" deep to door trim on other side. I would like to put in a shallow cabinet here. Basically my husband would build some shelves and then build the front of the cabinet around it. I won't waste precious space with a wood back.

I'm thinking glass doors on top and solid doors on bottom for me. I do like a little area to place things down so the upper won't go all the way to the lower cabinet. Glass shelves would not go with my house either. I'm probably painting it the same color as my red BS range and my future built in bench. The top would hold some of my wine glasses. My DH wants to know why I have so many wine glasses. I like to hold wine tastings with 6 or so wines. Everyone then needs 6 glasses!