Make enough space in your new kitchen for that stuff OUT of the box. You will be more inclined to use it. I see this both ways. If you don't use it, get rid of it. If you had it located where you could use it, you would. The main point of my new kitchen was to get my stuff out of the boxes in the garage and out where I could use everything. I've been baking up a storm. But, I was always a baker so I needed my "stuff". If you aren't, those items stored in their original box mean nothing to you. If you use an appliance garage you will still have to pull the items out of there to use them. Will you?

Here's mine that I just added. I added one on each side of the fridge. One for the toaster oven and one for the coffee stuff.

My mixer and coffee machine sit out on the counter. I don't think they look bad. I wanted to hide my toaster oven when we entertain. Our appliance garage is open most of the time.

We will have an appliance garage for the toaster oven because I didn't want it out on the counter and we use it too often to keep in a drawer. We will have room in the garage for one or two other small appliances. I personally am more likely to use appliances that are already on the counter and plugged in (as opposed to the box in the basement system we had previously), but also want to hide them away for looks. We will also have a base cabinet with an assisted lift mixer shelf for our heavy stand mixer. I previously only used the hand mixer because the stand mixer was just too heavy, but designed the mixer shelf into my kitchen so it will get more use.

I had my KD build in two appliance garages with power outlets. One to hold my toaster oven and the other for my coffee maker. I use these appliances daily but I don't want to see them all the time. I prefer a clean uncluttered kitchen so that's why I added them. My kitchen install is scheduled for January, so I can share pictures then.

I leave my food processor and mixer out on my baking counter all the time. I didn't build appliance garages because cabinets that come down to counter tops bother me, for some reason, unless they are way out of the way where I wouldn't use the appliances anyway. Now I bake more than I ever used to. (That may not be a good thing, however.) I'm not one who thinks that the things we use in kitchens have to be hidden, though. I prefer to have my tools within easy grasp.

Posting as blfenton as my username byronroad seems to have disappeared and the forum gave me a new one?
One of my goals was also to get my things out of their boxes - the hand mixer, the coffee grinder,etc. and I just built lots of drawers for them. I personally don't like appliance garages. My KA mixer is always on the counter ( a little heavy to be lugging it out of drawers or cupboards) as is the toaster because my kids use it throughout the day. I do have a spot for it when company comes in a drawer right underneath its spot on the counter.

Thanks, all. I guess this is all, always, a psychological exploration. I think I have no problem with seeing appliances; it's only that I let surfaces get majorly cluttered and reboxing allows them not to take up that precious space. But I would be thrilled to have them accessible in a drawer. I will try to schedule that in! Can anyone tell me what height you need for a Cuisinart? Or does it depend on the Cuisinart -- mine is so old it's from a day and age when there was only one, but I just bet that's not the case anymore.... Still, is there a suggested drawer-height for appliances?

TIA.

Also, cpartist -- I'm just getting started on understanding cabinets. All these years I had never really noticed the difference between framed and frameless cabinets. Am I correct yours are frameless? I really like the look of them, can you please tell me 'stuff' about them, type, material, installation, purchase, etc, etc -- I'm so new to this I don't even know what questions to ask!

Thanks a ton....

I'm going to have an appliance garage for my KA mixer I've had since the dark ages--it's harvest gold! It needs to be hidden! I think I am going to love the "hiding spot!"

We're getting two garages, side by side. One is at the end of the baking counter and will hold the mixer. I don't want to leave it out since doing so would block a window.

The second one will house our seldom-used microwave. A door in front of it makes sense in this case because due to the house's sight lines, that is the slice of the kitchen that one sees (through two arches and a doorway) when one enters our house. We would rather hide a cheap microwave than invest in an attractive one.