At the ends will you still pullout or have a return counter facing it?

Are you thinking of drawers when you say pullout?

Consider also making your uppers a bit deeper than normal - use 14 or 15" deep ones. Particularly when you use inset cabinets, the extra inches can make the difference in storing large items in upper cabinets.

PS: I always thought the 30" referred to the countertop depth, not the cabinet - the base cabinet would be 28-28.5"?

Has this got a standard?

I have 29.5" counters and 15" uppers in one spot, and it works very nicely for us. Like Sweeby, I love that it gives us visible storage space (we cook a lot and are big countertop-grabbers) while leaving enough room to really work.

I just installed some with 18" uppers. I haven't tested them yet as we're still under construction, but I still find that SOME appliances still take up too much counterspace:

Seriously, our galley had wide aisles and we wanted more storage. The extra counter space will be nice, I hope. And my cutsie cupshelves won't be in the way. Much.

And if you do it in your fridge run, you can get a standard depth fridge that'll look counter depth but hold more! Wish we could have done that...

I think it's a great idea ... I wish we'd had the space to do it.

One suggestion: use drawers instead of pullouts to store your tableware. Drawers are more easily accessible because you don't have to first open a door to get to them. You also won't have to worry about a drawer banging into your dishwasher. Those doors have to be opened very wide in order to access the pullout shelves.

Ha, Fori, what's in there -- the body of your last contractor...?

I have a run of 30" and a regular run as well. I have the 30" in the prep/baking area to provide more space for things like rolling/kneading/shaping. I love having that counterspace.

I did it by pulling out the cabinets from the walls rather than having deeper cabinets. I'd have to pull the drawers our 30" to reach the back of them... and I'm never going to do that. So we ended up with a hollow space behind the cabinets of about 3 inches and spent the money on the ctops instead. There is often a bigger additonal charge on ctops than anticipated because of slab size and offcuts.

One of the things to keep in mind is that if you DO have the deeper ctops making the upper cabinets deeper may be a requirement if you are shorter. With a 30" ctop you have to reach much further forward to reach the items on the shelves.

morgne, your post made me realize that I do have deeper countertops on my window wall because the window is bumped out 8 inches. The countertops are 32 1/2" deep which works especially well in the baking area. The base cabinets below are standard depth. I'm not sure how many people have the option of bumping out a window like we did, but it is another way to achieve and extra deep countertop.

My kitchen is 11'x14', and I chose to have one long counter along the 14' wall (containing the sink and range) that was 30" deep. I just used regular base cabinets, but had them bumped out from the wall a little. My priority was to have more work surface rather than more storage. I like the 30" counter depth a lot; even though I keep my counters clear of appliances and clutter, I do like to keep a few potted plants/herbs at the back of the counter under the lights.

I would think more carefully about 30" deep counters if you are short. I am 5'7", and reaching the back of the deep counters is a bit of a stretch. My 5' tall friend can't reach well at all.

Additional benefit - harder for the dog to countersurf if things are kept at the back of the counter :-)

I put 15" deep upper cabinets along the whole run. I love them. I can easily store my large dinner plates in them, along with good-sized appliances like the 12-cup food processor. And bottles of wine. Very important to have the wine accessible at all times.

Thanks, everyone. I'm debating whether losing 6" of floor space is worth it, as I only gain depth in one base cabinet.

I have a trash pullout to the left of the sink, then the sink cabinet, then the dishwasher, then one base cabinet, so I'm not sure it's worth it.

For what it's worth, you don't actually lose 6" of floor space. Even though a standard 24" cab actually is 24" there's also the ctop overhang to take into account. Most ctops hang over 1.5 inches or so. That means you are only losing 4.5 inches of walkway.

Another thought about the ctop measurements if a "standard" laminate top is 25.25 deep ... but the built in back splash is several inches. So you only have about... 22.25 inches of work space. So if you do a thinner backsplash, say metal, then you gain working space from it.

If I was looking for a deeper counter top I'd go with a thinner backsplash and pull the cabinets out from the wall just a few inches. That would provide an increase of about 4 inches, which is just the amount you'd get if you widened it to the full 30".

If that makes sense.

You've described what I'm planning to do.

Since drawers are only 21" deep in real terms, pulling cabinets forward by 3" gives me a 6" gap to work with behind the cab.

In that space behind cabinet drawers I'm thinking about embedding a couple of rails to hang deep containers on.
Containers for
refuse / garbage / compost, and
the handshower and hose, and
some food (e.g. onions+garlic, root vegetables, bread box / bakery)
See "1/6 size" and "1/4 size" restaurant containers (stainless steel, polysulfonate, polycarbonate) 6" deep or deeper.

To get access, picture a 5" x 20" opening cut out of the counter, along the back wall.
This gives you room to reach into these storage containers that slide on rails about 3" below the counter level.

It's like an undermount garbage chute and onion box.
Once you know where your garbage is, you slide things over there and not into your onion box.

If this makes sense.

So, yes, cabinets can be pulled forward (e.g. 3") and a bigger (deeper) countertop can be made.

We pulled both base cabinets and wall cabinets 6" forward along our refrigerator run. This way we will be able to have a regular depth refrigerator that doesn't jut out into the walkway, 18" deep appliance garages underneath the wall cabinets, and 12" of counter space for our breakfast and sandwich making area. The built-in convection microwave is also in this run of upper cabinets and we had enough room with the pulled out 6" that it is only about 2" in front of the flanking cabinets. All is not yet finished but we are very happy with our storage space and counter space in this area.

fori is not pleased - how did the 18" deep upper cupboards work out for you? We are installing a 30" deep counter and I am considering a shelf that deep above it.

Oh golly. I'm still here, aren't I? They were awesome. I did it again in my new kitchen. :)

Great! I am going with a massive 18" deep shelf over my 30" deep counter. Thanks so much, Fori. That's what I wanted to do anyway.

I know this is a really old thread, but we’re looking at doing 30” deep cabinets and I’m not sure what to do for the sink. We need to keep the width (left to right) to a minimum because it’s a super small kitchen but we have the floor space to make it deeper. I’m considering turning a sink 90 degrees since I can’t seem to find anything designed for the deeper countertop. We could go with the standard size and either shift it to the front or center it I guess, but that seems odd to me. I have to replace all of the plumbing anyway because it is all old cast iron. So new pvc is going in and O have the flexibility to do what I need to.

I wouldn't expect to find one for a deeper counter. [Be sure your faucet reaches far enough forward--a fabulously deep (front-to-back) sink can give you back trouble if you're not tall and have to reach for the water flow.]

My sinks are both brought forward as close to the front as possible. (I had to have the hinges to the undersink cabinets lowered because they interfered with the sinks.) My sinks do go pretty far back but my priority was having the sink close to the front. I have 10.5" behind my prep sink and just under 2" in front of it. I picked the depth (front-to-back) by sticking my arms out over a counter and laying my faucet down and seeing what felt comfortable. Custom sinks are great. :P

So look into custom sinks if you can't find one that works. And a Tapmaster if you don't want the stretch.

Thanks, as I was looking around, it seems that most just go with a standard sink pulled forward. Might be easiest to use a standard 24” cabinet with the six inch space in the back in thinking for that particular cabinet. Thanks for the suggestion on the tapmaster!

@Travis Furman What did you end up doing? We're planning a remodel that will involve moving/replacing the sink on a wall where I'm thinking of doing the 30" countertops. At this point I'm thinking of an apron front workstation sink so I have lots of work surface, with the extra counter depth behind the sink giving me a place to set something if I need to without it falling into the sink. Just above the sink we have a window with a deep sill.

Currently we have a standard counter depth (and a shallow divided sink that we hate) and it feels so crowded. The sink also doesn't have enough space to its right; that's the corner that needs to serve as the coffee station. I'll be gaining some space by shifting the sink left to center under the window so that pinch will be improved.

@davidro1 If you're still on here I'm curious about this space on rails at the back of the cabinets you describe above. I can't envision this. Are these just very short stainless containers that lift out from the top? Do they have lids or do you have open bins of veggies hanging out at the back of the counter?

@bikewalkbarb, we used a regular 24x30 cabinet and pulled it forward 6” by building the hip wall. I put in what most people would call a prep sink. It’s this one: Check out this NORRSJÖN from IKEA.
Here’s a little more information:
https://ingka.page.link/1BkPy6CpRXDnUGK17

I pulled the sink as far forward as the original sink was, so I now have a large space in the back where I have my knife block (since the cabinet above the sink allows me to pull the knives out without sliding the block forward), a dish storing my scrubbing pads, and in the back right corner is an ikea dish strainer. We didn’t have enough space on the right either and so I went with the smaller deep sink (still fits the Insta pot fine). So on the right I have the dish strainer pushed all the way to the corner and our coffee pot right in front of it. Probably looks a bit crowded, but our kitchen is smaller and I can fill the coffee pot directly from the pull down faucet (I went with moen (sp?)). I pushed the sink as far as left in the 30 inch cabinet as I could and turned the right side into a pull out drawer where our garbage and recycles are now.

Still working on trim and some touch up painting. Took these quick this morning so things might be a bit of a mess.

Oh, if you’re going with a laminate like I did (wife hates stone and I hate paying for it :)
The ikea island pieces work great if you can use them as they are 42” deep. You can cut the back to 30” and they give you a large laminate strip you can use for any exposed sides.

@Travis Furman Thanks for the pix and tips! Very helpful.