Non standard counter depths

13 years ago

We are doing a total kitchen tear out/remodel. My wife wants a fairly deep refrigerator, which can hold fairly large cakes, so we are considering a full depth one. Rather than have it stick out from the counters, we are thinking about making the counter along that wall 30" instead of 24". That would also give more counter depth, allow storing small appliances or canisters along the back of the counter while still having working space, etc.

Is this a crazy thing to do?

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attofarad
Original Author

8 years ago

We ended up with 30.5" counter tops on the wall with the refrigerator, with 29" deep base cabinets and extra deep drawers. In 6 drawers, we have the space that would usually be 8 drawers of standard depth. 16" deep upper cabinets. I pulled my range hood 4" forward, to line up with the uppers.

On the adjacent wall, I ended up making the counter top 1.5" deeper, so as to better accommodate my sink/faucet selection without having the granite in front of the sink be too narrow (fracture concern). There, I have standard base cabinets, furred out from the wall with a 2x4. 14" deep uppers.

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Comments (11)

Fori
13 years ago
It is totally awesome.

Make sure the uppers are extra deep too so you can reach them!
melaska
13 years ago
Hi there...we're in the design phase of our house for next Spring. If you can, how about just jutting out on the back of the wall to make room for a deeper fridge & keeping everything else standard size? I have a 36" deep French Door fridge that will be set back a bit.

But, 30" counters sound cool, too. I would love to have room for an appliance garage. Good luck in whatever you do!

An older thread: (I'm also linking another site discussion below).

30" fridge & 24" counters
http://www.thathomesite.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0510310114511.html (copy & paste)

Here is a link that might be useful: Thirty-Inch Deep Base Cabinets & Refrigerator discussion
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onedogedie
13 years ago
As somebody who is contemplating this herself, I have a suspicion that the crazy part will be when & how it affects countertop pricing.
davidro1
13 years ago
They charge per square foot.

The average slab is 55" by 120".

If it's one and the same slab you want on all your counters, cut this slab roughly down the middle and you have one counter 29" deep and one counter "regular" depth.

With solid surface (quartz) you can use two slabs from the same lot (same shade) to get two 29" deep counters and leave the 26" remnants for someone else.

Since they charge per square foot, and only that, the larger counter costs a bit more but not much.

Drawers will cost more. Example: deeper Tandembox sliders cost more than the average size ones. Since fewer are produced, more cost/item has to be recuperated (marketing, inventory and distribution).

All in all, it's not a huge price difference.
jakabedy
13 years ago
We did this, but used the standard cabinets underneath. We simply built out a short wall of 2x4s against the wall and mounted the cabinets to it. The countertop then extended all the way back to the wall. But we have no uppers on that wall, so didn't have to sort that out. Also, ours is a galley kitchen, so we didn't have to worry about corners.

Another slightly higher expense will be with the panel on the side(s) of the fridge. But that shouldn't make a big difference in the whole scheme of things.
rhome410
13 years ago
You'd want the deeper panel to make the fridge look like it wasn't sticking halfway out anyway, even if you didn't make the counters deeper, it seems to me. We also used standard 24" bases under our deeper counter, as Jakabedy did. I think we might have furred out on the back wall to attach them, but we may have just attached them to the floor, like island cabs. I'm pretty sure it was some of both. I know we put up a cleat on the wall to support the back of the countertop.

If you have the room, having 30" counters to use and help the fridge flow into the design is a great idea.
onedogedie
13 years ago
davidro1 - thanks for explaining the logistics of slabs. Makes me think it will still be doable. We are probably going with DIY soapstone.

I was going to go with deeper base cabinets but let go of that bone and agreed to have them furred out, or however they phrase it. DH will be building the cabinets.
attofarad
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks for all the replies, suggestions, and slab technical details. We would probably go with the standard depth cabinets for the base, as our architect suggested. I hadn't thought about the uppers, so thanks for pointing out that concern.

Thanks, melaska, for that link.
attofarad
Original Author
13 years ago
"With solid surface (quartz) you can use two slabs from the same lot (same shade) to get two 29" deep counters and leave the 26" remnants for someone else. "

davidro1 -- wouldn't a bit of the leftover width be needed for making the edges taller?
jakabedy
13 years ago
Oh, and another thing to consider -- you're going to want a range with the controls on the front. The raised control panel on the rear on a freestanding range will be a problem, because you're going to have 5 or 6 inches of countertop behind the range.

As for the mechanics of it, We have the range in the center of the wall with a 30" cabinet on either side, and the fridge to the right of that. We used 3cm quartz and there are separate pieces on either side, with a third piece running behind the stove (mounted on a cleat on the wall and on the sides of the cabinets). That put a seam at the back corners of the stove, but I don't even notice it. It could be a bigger deal if you use a stone with a pronounced pattern.

We built out a wall to enclose the fridge in an alcove, so didn't have to worry about the panel.