A counter has been added to the north wall
I’ve been working on the design in more detail using a computer model. I’ve modeled the actual cabinet sizes IKEA has available and have been playing around with how I could use them. It’s a bit frustrating that certain things I want to do I can’t do because of the limited sizes available. For example, in one place I originally wanted a single door base cabinet that is only 12 7/8″ deep. IKEA makes a number of cabinets this depth that have a drawer and door or with multiple drawers but none with a single door. This is curious since even this cabinet would be simpler to build than what they do offer. In another place I wanted to use an 18″ wide high cabinet with a 18″ wide short wall cabinet above but they don’ make a short wall cabinet this width. The limited sizes make it a challenge to do what I want to do.
As a result of looking at IKEA’s cabinet offerings in more detail and thinking the design through a bit more, I’ve made a change. On the north wall I was going to have a whole wall of cabinets 12 7/8″ deep that were 88″ high so they would align with the cabinet above the fridge. However because I also need a couple of drawers here I found out I couldn’t get the cabinets to stack without a gap of a few inches that would require some sort of filler to get to the 88″ height. I just didn’t think this would look good so I decided to split the base and wall cabinets and create a counter. This will actually be a great place for small appliances that I use frequently like the toaster and blender. An appliance garage would be ideal for these here but once again they don’t make anything that would work except for a cabinet with a contemporary-looking rolling door. I’m comfortable with this change and I will save something on cabinets but the the cost of the kitchen will be higher because the cost of the additional counter and backsplash tile are much more than the cabinet savings.
I bet you could concoct the single door 12 7/8″ base cabinet you need from IKEA. When you actually order their cabinets every single thing is ordered separately, from the drawer slides to the hinge packs to the door fronts. Just talk to your salesperson. They’ll make it work.
I frankenstein-ed some 24″ deep base cabinets (ones with two small drawers on the top and two large drawers below) into bench-height cabinets for my mudroom. They now have two small drawers on top and one large on the bottom. There was very little waste because of their ordering system. Just had to cut the boxes down and waste two inexpensive drawer fronts. No waste of hardware at all. I love IKEA!
Posted by Carol Roggenbuck | January 2, 2012, 9:38 amIn today’s post (http://www.convenientoldhouse.com/closerlook/balancing-cost-and-happiness/) you will see that I modified the design again. I will be buying the cabinet parts I need and cutting them down to create a cabinet depth that isn’t available. As long as it is possible to get the door size needed, it appears possible to cut the components down to create some of the cabinets that aren’t available. However if the door size isn’t available you would be out of luck unless a custom door or doors were used. There are things I really like about IKEA cabinets but like anything else there are also drawbacks.
Posted by jmetzler | January 2, 2012, 11:51 pm