ACK!! I'm sorry! I don't have good pictures. I love my butler's pantry cabinets. On the east side are full depth uppers (24"). My casual company dishes all fit on one shelf, which is a stack of a dozen dinner each plates, salad plates, rimmed soups, fancy bowls, and fancy desserts. It does mean putting the smaller ones in the front and occasionally shifting them, but if I want just one dinner plate for a serving plate, it's not hard to get to. The highest (ladder access) shelves have things like the quilted casserole carrier and the mesh domes for outdoor service.

In the lowers, there are both horizontal and vertical tray/platter storage, copied right from my mother. :) The horizontal is three feet wide, and will fit anything. The vertical is more for round platters. There's a drawer above for paper napkins and things. Inside the cupboard is a fixed shelf for the doilies. My very biggest platter doesn't fit in there, but I wouldn't put it on its edge, anyway. It's in an upper.

On the West side, I have three "stemware" cabinets. The uppers are for stems, with a little overflow below. The lowers are for teacups and mugs, tumblers, cream and sugars, and a variety of small occasional pieces. I LOVE these. Moved the door over a few inches so I could have them instead of a long, blank wall.

Here are some mid-construction photos:

With a couple of doors gone, you can see the full depth of the uppers, and half of the horizontal trays cabinet.

There's now glass in the doors, and glass shelves, in the stemware cabinets.

Dusty detail of the vertical tray storage with doilies in, but only the plastic platters, taken before I'd unpacked most of the good stuff. Couldn't see the dust until I took the picture, so I let it slide for he who was supposed to have cleaned that cupboard. :)

What I'd do different is for the kitchen dishes. They're in the uppers in a corner between the coolers/MW and the sink window. It's a perfect location, but it's a corner cabinet and two small side cabinets. Not what I would have preferred, but a compromise. It would have been better if they'd been built in place, rather than made as casegoods. The most valuable territory has been lost to the sides of the cabinets. It would work so much better if it was all continuous shelving the whole way round.

These three cupboards--it's hard to see the crack, but the corner cabinet door opens on the left at the same distance from the corner as is the crack on the right, where the hinges are--have settings for 12 (minus teacups), glasses, cereal bowls, Pyrex service/storage bowls and lids, a few mugs, some S&P's, ramekins, and a few occasional pieces like a toast rack and egg cup. What does work well is having the dinner plates in the very corner. They're still easy to reach because they're so big.

BTW, the rest of the BP has flatware (drawers) and serving pieces (cupboards), but the company dishes are in dishsafes in an armoire in the dining room, along with the flatware in fitted boxes, some oversized serveware like the beverage dispenser and cake pedestal/dome. And vases, tchotchkerai, candles, linens, etc.

Thanks plllog. Love your horizontal tray section and appreciate the descriptors of sizes. I'm editing as I unpack, and still don't know exactly what I'll need, but seeing how others have things set up is really great.

In the cabinet with the glass shelves, did you include lighting?

I have some in progress pics but nothing is in them yet. Sorry. The glass insert cabs are finished inside and the ones to the left and right are unfinished. I did go with Seagull Ambiance LeD lights instead of the pucks. You can plug in as many or few of the light pods as you want.

Cab open:

Cab closed (I don't have fancy dishes etc. so I did not go with clear inserts).

Don't know if this will be much help as I'm not using them yet. But good luck Roc.

celtinNE...what an outstanding look!!!!

Hi Rococo,

My dishware and glassware is all stored in an "L" area of my kitchen. It is the only place i have any upper cabinets. They are glass sliders and they rest on the counters, with, if i recall, an 11" reveal.

I love them.

A few reasons:

I love all glass for the light ( i used a subtle restoration glass) and because I can find everything. My dishes are fairly neutral and the cabinet backs are a blue grey wash beadboard.

I have all sliders, which i love for the ease and because there is no slamming and no doors hitting. I think of this as modern, but actually stole it from an historic home in my old town.

I love the fact that they are so low. My kids can easily reach the first and even second shelf to take things out and put away. I can reach even the third shelf very easily. Dishes are heavy and fragile, why should we be struggling with them?

I can understand that, to save space, not everyone can do this. But I love my kitchen paradigm --- no uppers looming overhead anywhere, and when i do have uppers, they are easy to reach. Mimics a freestanding kitchen with china hutch.

I love my cleats (DH's) idea. I much prefer them to the look of predrilled holes everywhere for shelf supports.

I dont have a pantry picture but mine isnt really for dishes.

best,
mtn

PS Ever see Food Network Star? Mary Beth reminds me of you whenever i see it...
{{gwi:1875471}}
{{gwi:1875473}}
{{gwi:1619617}}{{gwi:1938773}}

I love our dish cabinet. It's based on the set up I loved in the 50's house I grew up in where our dishes were stored in upper cabinets over the peninsula between the kitchen and dining table. We had access from both the kitchen side (for putting dishes away) and the dining side (for taking dishes out.) I also loved the way the food could go from stove to peninsula to table. But the things I didn't like were the way the uppers blocked the view and the way the cabinets floated above the peninsula.

After considering the above, I ended up with this hutch-type cabinet for our everyday dishes and most of our stemware. It blocks the view of the kitchen just enough yet I can see through the glass when I want to check on something in the dining area (I can also see the wall clock behind the table.) The counter-height doors open to a pass through.

I love the look of everyday mismatched behind plain glass doors.

We don't have fine china but I keep our better dishes in the hutch behind the table.

{{gwi:1645412}}

{{gwi:1567950}}

plllog your cabinets are amazing. I love the organization and thought you put into them. celtinNE and mtnrdredux, your cabinets are really beautiful. I love that glass, celtinNE

Gee whiz, Mtn. I love 'em too! Swoon.

There are so many great ideas in each of these pics and the commentary and thinking behind the features is just invaluable. With permission, I'm downloading them for my personal use.

plllog -- you mentioned the vertical platter storage is 36" wide but how much vertical space is between the shelves. From photo it looks like 3"

celtin--Visited a cabinet shop last week and he was talking about the exact type of light you have. Do they get very hot? Did you buy or did cabinet people get them? Are they long life or can replacement pieces just be snapped in and out?

mtn -- Your side panel, foot & toekick details are so perfect! I have no uppers in kitchen either -- one purpose of proposed new cabinet. I actually don't watch that show or the food network but everyone always tells me I look like/remind them of someone. LOL.

zelmar -- I love see-thru uppers with glass on the side. What beautiful cabinets you have.

Hoping to see more...

Also wondering if anyone built in a refrigerator/freezer drawer combo but not around the fridge. In a breakfast bar or hutch?

I'll try to explain better but I am no electrician. Pics 1st so you can see what I'm trying to explain. I purchased these from a local electrical supply house. Not the cab mfgr.

Pic of the set up.

Pic of the holder and lamp. The lamps just snap in.

And this blah, blah is direct from the Seagull site. I am not spamming or soliciting here. Just providing the info. (http://www.seagulllighting.com)

The Ambiance LX Lighting System offers reliability and ease of installation; making it the professional�s choice in low-voltage systems. From showcase quality lighting to under cabinet task lighting, the highly efficient, long lasting lamps and LED components deliver the right light for the application.

LX Low Voltage Linear Lighting
A flexible system in both application and its ability to follow the curves and angles of coves and cabinetry.

LED Low Voltage Linear Lighting
With all the best features of its LX "sister", this LED Linear System offers the latest in LED technology, delivering long life (50,000 hours!) and added energy efficiency (4x more efficient than conventional light sources).

I think they are very easy to add, remove or move. The little holders just pop in the cable, without any tools. Bulbs are inserted with a snap. As you can see from the above, they are VERY long life. They are, After about 2 weeks of use, a little warm with the doors closed. Definitely not hot.

The main reason I went with these was from the recommendation from the electrician. He didn't think the pucks would work with the feel of the kitchen. Also, I wanted to keep the wood shelves. With the pucks installed st the top of the cab, I would have had to replace them with glass. I also used them for my undercab lighting. The added bonus is there is no need for a light rail.

View from under the cab. The best I could do with the pic from that angle.

I love them! They actually look like twinkle lights at night. But they are great for task lighting as well. I do have them on separate switches. Maybe someone here with clear glass could provide info on how they look with that option. Oh, and I went with black but it's available in white too. HTH and good luck. Can't wait to see what you decide to do.

celin, those are genius and a million thanks for info & link.

I had been told about that style by cabinet person talking wood vs glass shelves. But never saw them installed. Was thinking about possibility of even doing glass-bottom cabinet but no need with that low profile installation below the cabinet. Big savings.
Looks like you went with the LED Low Voltage option, right? Those would be ideal for any of the options I'm mulling.

Still looking to determine cabinet direction but will definitely post for debugging and collective expertise.

Roc, they are pure genius and solved so many issues with respect to design. I did go with the LED. Each light is 10W. My long baking countertop only has 5 lights. More than a enough light. In the dead of winter I can always add more if needed. Then take them out for summer. I forgot the mention, the cable goes up the side of the cab and wraps around the top then wraps down the other side. Only 1 cable per cab. Same with the undercab cable. One piece that wraps around the corners. Very flexible, like an appliance cord.

Good luck with the cabs. It was a beast of a decision for me.

roocogurl, we went w/ the seagull strip lighting too in order to get wood shelves because I did not want glass shelves. For us, the seagull was about 3x the cost of puck lights, so don't count on it being a big savings. It may be different for others?

Our kitchen is not done but we put a 15 ft. china cabinet in for dish storage as well as a plate rack over the clean up sink for our every-day use dishes. I also did fridge and freezer drawers on one end of the island that is open to the great room and gathering room and breakfast nook. I intend for them to be drinks and ice cream/snack refrigerator and freezers so you don't have to go all the way into the kitchen to get the fridge:

We drink more than we eat. LOL

Adjustable glass shelves to let the light at top through to the bottom. Wouldn't do anything different.

Don't currently have a pic of the cabinets open.

Jodi

Rococogurl,

The glass front cabinets have glass shelves because the cabinetmaker looked wounded when I said they didn't need them. I figured for $250 extra, I'd keep him happy. There are no lights, and the glass has a pebbled texture which makes it mostly opaque. The point was to relieve the wall of bamboo from being monolithic, not to show off the stemware. I think the glass shelves probably are better, however, because the wood ones might be the strongest thing showing through the glass, since the edge is so close, and horizontal stripes being the only thing showing through would not be a good look.

I think in your follow-up question you meant "horizontal"? The horizontal tray cabinet is 33" wide on the inside. The shelves are actually farther apart than I'd wanted, a couple to accommodate the hinges and closers, the rest because that's how it worked out. I wouldn't have gotten another shelf, given the hardware, by crowding them. Optimal would be more like 2". As it is, they're about 3" apart. Since I have another place to store oven trays, and an extra place to store boards and racks, it came out okay.

The vertical cabinet has just barely enough room for an 18" platter, with about 3" between dividers. I have a couple of large platters which don't fit, but I'd worry about contrary vectors if I stored them vertically anyway, and I have them horizontally under the oversized serving bowls....if I didn't have the bowls anyway, they could go in the horizontal tray cabinet, but I feel better with them on the solid shelves. The thin dividers are a bit flexible. All of which is fussing. They'd probably be fine anywhere.

BTW, something I paid a bundle for, and never, ever regret, is the big hardware that allows for 170 degree opening with soft close. It is so much easier taking dishes and all in and out when the door is out of the way. It means a little bother inside, arranging things so that they're not in the way of the big, honkin' hardware, but worth every bit of it not to have the cabinet doors stuck in one's face.

Good point beagles. The OP did not specify pricing. Mine was 2X the price of the the pucks. I got my GC's discount at the supply house. But saved in replacing the solid wood shelves with glass (which I did not want) and the light rail to hide the pucks, it was actually more economical. I can't see the wood shelves through the stained glass, That's why I was hoping someone would post a clear glass with this option. Perhaps it does not work as well? IDK.

plllog, I was asking about the height of the open platter storage slots in the center of the base cabinet -- very first of your photos. I'm in heavy shelf lust over that.

beagles, any construction shots of your "great wall of china?" It would be ideal to see how they lay in the interior lighting as they work.

jodi, do you have pull outs or shelves behind the bottom doors of that beauty? That looks to be a very similar scale as my space though mine would be open on the right end and in view of the front hallway. Great 'splash.

celtin, didn't ask about cost as I can look it up. This type of lighting is never inexpensive but I prefer yours to pucks or recessed. Here's a photo of a lighted cabinet --hard to tell if they are recessed but it looks like 3-inch. I think your system would give more evenly distributed light with fewer shadows and less blockage at the bottom where it's most visible. Like using dressing table front lighting vs overhead bathroom IYKWIM.

We aren't at that stage yet rococogurl. We have another week at least of trim throughout the house, then paint and then floors and THEN cabinets. Maybe September... If I am in town when they do cabinets (it's a long-distance build) then I will take under-construction shots. I trust my cabinet maker absolutely so I'm not sure if I'll even go for the install or not.

Beagles, go! You could have a miscommunication with the very best of cabinetmakers. It's worth it to be on site even if it's just to say, "Gosh, I didn't really have to be here."

Rococogurl, as I said, ideally, the shelves are closer together. My mother's are. Either way, they're slotted into a plywood case, in the same way that the vertical dividers are in the doily shelf. That lets you pull out the shelf if you lose something in the back. :) As good for placemats as trays, btw.

Exactly Roc. With these pods, you can pop them in anywhere and the light is more evenly distributed. I've found with the pucks, the top of the cabs is light heavy and the bottoms have just what trickles down. Added to that there are virtually unobtrusive. IMO worth every penny :)

I agree plllog! Oh Beagles, you are very brave to even consider not going! I would have to be there.

Agree on cost celtin. It is what it is if you want an application that does something very specific.

With our apartment reno I couldn't go check all the time and everything was fine.

Beagles, which fridge/freezer drawer set are you planning for the end of the island? I've also been looking for feedback on either Jenn Air or U line which are the 24" wide vs Wolf's 27" wide.

Now guys, don't think I don't know that everyone telling me to go for construction really just wants pictures ;)

I trust my flooring person quite a bit less than I trust my cabinet person so I need to be there for flooring and I can't just go indefinitely. Besides, I really do trust my cabinet maker, they are probably more meticulous about making things right than I would be.

Rococogurl, we are getting the subzero fridge/freezer drawers. I had originally ordered Kitchenaid ones but I canceled that order because I didn't want an ice maker (we have one in the main fridge) and because the idea that I could not completely hide them (the base filter couldn't be covered) made me nuts. I didn't look at any of the brands you mentioned.

Guilty as charged...

Not guilty. But pictures are always preferred.

Don't need icemaker but prefer 24" to 27" for this spot. The ULine calls for a custom toekick and even has a template, which is refreshing. Will check KA. Thanx.

Zelmar, I am drooling over your cabinets. Wow. Gorgeous!

Mtn -- Love, love, love your cabinet space! Questions:

1) Can you post a close up of the sliders where the fronts actually slide? Is it wood on the bottom there, or something else? And is it flat or grooved? Just trying to figure out what it looks like.

2) How do the cleats work in terms of when you want to adjust the shelves? -- and is this possible?

Lovely!

Mtn -- Love, love, love your cabinet space! Questions:

1) Can you post a close up of the sliders where the fronts actually slide? Is it wood on the bottom there, or something else? And is it flat or grooved? Just trying to figure out what it looks like.

2) How do the cleats work in terms of when you want to adjust the shelves? -- and is this possible?

Lovely!

I love dishware! Mtn, your dish ware cabinets are what I want in my next life!! Gorgeous : )

rg, just something small -- a grooved plate rail for displaying more decorative plates and platters. My old china cabinet has one, and I asked my husband to put one into the open display cabinet he built when we remodeled our kitchen 12 years ago. Again, it's just a small thing, but makes the space more versatile and lets me display some of the plates I like to look at.

Love all the beautiful cabinets and dishware! Judydel, I have that chicken timer and very similar egg coddlers! Zelmar, your kitchen is amazing, I hope in my absences over the summer I didn't miss your big reveal. Is there a link with more pics?

Becky

Love the simplicity of that upper run judydel and the side pane is something I'd want as well. You've got such a great kitchen.

becky, agree! Ether groove on top or gallery rail (raised edge) all around. I'm more likely to hang plates and display copper pots of pottery up there -- not sure yet which.

Saw mtn had beadboard in the back of the uppers -- my pantry and some bookshelves are done like that.

Have enough tile left over from backsplash to use as splash there between uppers and lowers so then same color pattern or variation?

Anyone use tile in the back of cabinets vs beadboard?

Jmc, thank you.

I will take a photo and post it. There are grooves in the bottom. Our cabinet guy was not thrilled with doing sliding cabinets, as he never had before. I saw them in an historic home and liked them a lot. Our cabinet guys are quite high end and I never thought to specify, but the grooves are plastic; in the historic home they were metal, fwiw.

As for the cleats, it sounds scary to permanently affix them, but then I thought about it. In my old kitchen, i had the holes in the side so that you could move them, and never did in 9 years. My old kitchen had glass front cabs, but I had sheers inside on a tension rod so you couldn't really see the holes.

This time, my DH pointed out that, since our cabs are glass with no fabirc and sit on the counter, you'd really see all those holes. I am very happy with our cleats. I just worked with the carpenter and my dishes to pick the placement. Come to think of it, I could have just copied the distances between shelves from my old kitchen ....

I am so happy with our cabinets!