So two years ago we replaced the countertops with granite (originally we were just going to retile it) Told my husband once we added granite we could not replace the cabinets and was he sure. Yep he didn't want to replace the cabinets. I was trying to be practical so agreed and went ahead. Fast forward to last month when my brother came to help us remove the wall. Then I told my husband about the pendant lighting I wanted. He scuffed about it and then like a good husband put it up for me and crawled in the addict to wire it up. This is what it looked like last month before we removed the tile.

Now with the updated LED Cans and pendants we are not liking the cupboards as much. To make matters worse when we went to find the matching pantry we found out the cabinet maker went out of business last year. I was given the name of a cabinet maker that matches cabinets and he won't return my phone call.

We went to look for new appliances and my husband saw all the fancy kitchen setups and now he want to replace the cabinets. But I don't want to tear out $3,000 of granite.

So I got into my Disigner software and thought I would add 18" Cabinets to take it to the ceiling. Paint them out off white or cream . Can't find the size cabinets I need so I contact a few craigs list and local cabinet makers I found locally on the internet and no one will return an email. I thought a custom cabinet maker could match the cabinet doors. I finally found Barkers cabinets on line and they have all the custom sizes I need. I can also replace all the doors for a reasonable cost. This is my design idea.

However Barkers has a frameless cabinet with 1/8 reveal on the edge My cabinets are made with 1 1/2 inch face. I'm wondering if I can get the doors to match up so that they don't look funny even using a large overlay hinge. Also Barkers cabinets charge almost as much for their 18" tall cabinets as they do for 48". Only about $300 difference. I thought I could replace them all with 48" but I don't think they will look as good.

Does anybody know of any other similar online cabinet makers with decent price that make a framed cabinet. Forget local tradesman because none of them seem to want my business.

Another idea do you think I could take the 48" cabinets and put 2 doors on them if I kept the reveal between the doors tight enough. Or would It not look stacked. Open for thoughts and ideas. I really love the stacked look.

I think the way it is in the pictures is lovely. I actually tried to do similar stacked cabinets but I have 8' ceilings so that was out. You have a nice space to work with. Can you get some "granite people" to remove and replace your granite?

On removing granite most just shake their heads. They will remove it but not with any guarantee. The sink area is very prone to breakage. It is a 3cm slab. I would trust us more then someone else to remove it with care except that one big slab at the bar is very very large.

mylazydazy:

Build a 2x4 temporary structure to the right of your peninsula. Remove your sink and hot melt some 2x4's to your sink rails (mostly to make you feel better). Slide scrapers under your stone to break the adhesive and slide the top off the cabinets and onto the temporary structure.

Reset new cabinets in the exact position of your old and slide the granite back. You may break the top at a sink shoulder, but it's not that big a deal to repair.

I've done this before and it works.

Mylazydazy, I love the look of the stacked cabinets but I would choose a different backsplash. I hope you can reuse the granite counters.

Would this help?

Here is a link that might be useful: raw doors and frames

Trebruchet, I personally want to say how much I appreciate the knowledge you share around here. I have learned much about what can and cannot be done with counters from you. Thank you.

rmtdoug:

You're very welcome. I get a kick out of posting here. Thanks.

Scherrs is another cabinet place online that many around here have used. Not sure if their prices are better or not.

I have used Barker cabinet for a small project and was pleased with the quality, but their shipping is a bite especially if you live several states away and the website was a bit intimidating for a novice like me when ordering, though they will try to help you with questions and it turned out fine in the end.

Ikea?

Here is a link that might be useful: Scherrs

Something doesn't mesh way back in the beginning.
>>However Barkers has a frameless cabinet with 1/8 reveal on the edge My cabinets are made with 1 1/2 inch face.It sounds like you're just looking at Barker frameless, when they certainly make framed cabinets like yours. I think you might want to wander around their site a bit more.

Other than that, I got nuttin'.
It seems like you fell into the reno trap. Change one thing and everything else starts looking crappy. The more you change, the crappier something else starts to look! LOL

Good luck, girlie. :)

I actually like your current cabinets and counters a lot. What I would do is change the flooring and add a backsplash, and maybe a new range/hood. I would not bother to add an upper tier of cabinets unless you truly need the storage space.

Thanks everybody for all the helpful posts. Its my indecision on everything in life that causes me the most grief. I took yesterday off from kitchen plans as I needed one headache free day.

Trebruchet. I've read on the internet some of these ideas but didn't think about the temporary structure to set the countertop on. What a fabulous idea. We have the two base cabinets we took out when we demo'd the wall that we could use to temporarily set the counter top on. I"ve also read about repairing the sink area if it breaks. I'd hate to contact a tradesman around this area. I thought the market was still down but with my expierence of not one local cabinet maker returning my call or email there must be much bigger fish out there to keep them busy. At least we don't have to completely nix total replacement Idea.

Lynn 2006 - Yep I know, that is a hideous backsplash. I'm new to learning this software and the included library was blank of any good splashes. I've been looking for 3 years for a glass backsplash that won't be too busy with my counters no luck as of yet. Again indecision. I wish I could have been that way on the counter tops.

Nosoccermom - Thank you for the link. I'll look into that site as another possible options for door fronts.

gr8day - Before I pull the plug on doors I'm going to be looking at Scheers also as a possibility. If I totally replace I'll look into Ikea but their sizing is very different. Love their pricing though. The thing I love about the barker website that although confusing at first glance, 90% of what I have learned about reveal, overlap, face plate, and possibility of cabinets available I have learned from their site. They offer so many videos to watch and most sizes of cabinets are available. But just today I learned that their reveal is not 1/8" but 1/16 along the side. That will be difficult to duplicate on my face frames.

CEFreeman, yea barkers did make a framed cabinet but a few years back I guess they changed to all frameless. There is a kit that is sold that offers a framed solution I found on my internet search but that company only sells to professional wood workers. Apparently these so called local cabinet makers are ordering these kits and doors and passing them off as custom made when they are merely putting kits together. This would be the best solution If I could find someone who sold these to the public.

CTN30 - Yep the floor has been ripped out and we are living on cement right now. We are putting down a dark brown hand scraped laminate. However another hurdle we have to get through is getting a crew in here to level the floors. We could run rivers through the house. We put the laminate in our master bedroom and I feel like I'm taking a hike everytime I cross the floor and falling into quick sand holes. As for a vent hood, my husband will not allow it. He is insisting on a microwave there. I made all kinds of suggestions for moving the microwave and drew up a plan with a vent hood, but he didn't like it.

But yea we do need the extra cabinet space, not only for storage but for resale. We took out a good share of cabinets with the wall removal and as this is a 5 bedroom house when we go for resale, the possible buyers will most likely have a bunch of kids and need the storage. Our current cabinets only being 30" tall are just not big enough for the house size. At first my plan was to have a cabinet maker copy the pantry cabinet but since that can't be done, to keep the cabinets we will need to reface and paint all of them to match the new pantry.

You mentioned that you are looking at resale, I would check your neighborhood. If money is a factor then what you ultimately do depends on how long you going to love there.

It is extremely common practice for cabinet makers to farm out or buy components from other companies. A cabinetmaker isn't always as it seems. It doesn't mean the cabinets are any less custom, and sometimes probably better made.

Think about it. A cabinetmaker who never does frames starts now. Who would be better at it? A company that only makes frames, or someone who decides to start on your project? Someone who makes frames, but decides today, on your project, to make the boxes, too?

Not saying it's right, but it's not wrong, either.