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Hi Eleena,

Sorry I missed your message the first time around. I've been caught up in the holiday whirl and don't always look in.

The cabinets are all custom made (small local shop, choose the materials, debate the exact sizes kind of custom). The boxes, however, are the standard Euro style full overlay. The part you're calling an inset effect is just chunky framing panels. That was done for style. Usually, people just use the same thickness as their cabinet boxes. My cabinetmaker showed me the chunky ones, which are 3/4" and I really liked the look. That also gives a margin against the wall for hardware (so it won't bang with the door open), which is nice, though not necessary. I'm pretty sure these panels are veneered rather than a solid bamboo product. The boxes, themselves, are maple surfaced plywood.

The uppers don't have "light rails" per se because I don't like the look. There is kind of a hybrid between a stabilizing apron and light rail supporting the bottom shelf, with the cabinet door covering the whole thing. Functionally, yes, they are light rails, however, and also hide the plugmold and junction boxes and all.

Here are a couple of mid-construction photos, which show better:

The lift door hinges are Blum and were purchased by the cabinetmaker. Everything made out of wood was included in the price of the kitchen, including a couple of redos. The very fancy hinges (which are huge) cost beaucoup, but allowed me to have a single panel above each cooler, instead of having to break it up with multiple doors. Worth the money to me. I am, in general, an advocate of function first, rather than looks, but the single lift doors, while they don't really affect function much at all, and if so are probably easier to use than multiples, are one of my big splurge for beauty items (another was an extra couple of hundred dollars so the Advantium wouldn't have a black touch panel (beige instead)).

The lights above the sink are cans, and not particularly small. The cans are housed in the cabinet bridge on either side of the heater duct. These particular cans can be either incandescent or halogen (there's a different insert for each), and I would probably use them more if they were incandescent, as planned, but at the last minute the numbers were off for compliance with the California law and they had to be changed out. They're not bad. I just like incandescent light. It's softer. The glass diffusers make a huge difference, however, and when I do use them, I'm thrilled that they're there. I worked with a lighting designer (Brian Brzycki at Walters lighting design gallery) to make sure I could use the kitchen at night without bugging my eyes. These glass diffusers are the kind that are used near showers, et al., to keep out spray, but they also spread the halogen light around and make it more general (more like incandescent). I have these same cans in the corners, by the pantry, and three in the butler's pantry. The glass diffusers also keep the ceiling from having the Swiss cheese look.

I hope this helps. :)

Oh, thank you so much1

Let me see if I understand this correctly. The inside boxes' sides are 3/4" plus the 3/4" framing panels, 1.5" total?

This is what I thought by looking at the pix. I love-love the side frames as they give you such a finished look. I don't want to see the sides of my cabinet doors, though most people don't seem to mind. :-)

Let me study your "light rails" some more. I may have some additional questions, if you don't mind.

And Happy Holidays!

P.S. Did you mean Sukkot & Simchat Torah?

Phew! Eleena, sorry it took so long to get back to you. Thanks for the good wishes! Yes, Sukkot is my favorite holiday and the most meals in one week. :) There wasn't any downtime. Many meals later, and I'm finally back with the world. :) The pumpkin lasagna was a big hit! I hope your holidays were good too.

The cabinet boxes are 3/4" and the trim frames are 1.5" thick. The doors fully overlay the boxes (with an eighth inch gap between doors so they can open and close easily). The frames are smack up against the boxes.

My own issue is with veneer, especially on cabinet ends, because it gets tatty. My cabinetmaker has a special machine for it, which is supposed to make it better than average, but I think the core of my bamboo fronts looks good! You can see it in the tour on the edge of the shelves. Therefore, I have veneer on the ends of the plywood shelves, but not on the doors. OTOH, I don't think I'd like it as much to see the little squares of the core on my uppers flanking the sink, for instance. It would look unfinished, rather than cute, right? I think whether it looks nice is highly dependent on what the edges of your doors look like. The chunky frames do solve it though, and are very stylish. :)

plllog,

I am so sorry, I have not seen your post till just now.

I was out of town that week and somehow overlooked it.

After that I was MIA and did not come here till two days ago. This forum moves too fast, "you snooze, you lose" here. :-)

Thank you very much for your reply!

I think I am almost done with the design but I have been "done" so many times that I am not sure of anything any longer. :-)