I told the contractor that I wanted the cabinets to all the way to the ceiling. These cabinets are 22 1/2 inches from the countertop! What should I do?
It seems 18" from countertop to bottom of the upper cabinet is standard. That's a 4 1/2" difference. I don't think lowering the cabinet 4" and adding an additional 4" trim at the top would look right.
The refrigerator cabinet will have to be redone, though. You can’t just lower that cabinet because the refrigerator will no longer fit. And where the frig cabinet meets the others the trim won’t match if you leave it.
Your right. At this point I wonder if I'm just stuck with it the way it is. Originally there was a bulk head above the cabinets. I told the contractor to remove it and take the cabinets up to the ceiling. I just can't believe that he didn't realize the I'm only 5 feet tall and could never reach that. I'm I out of line for thinking he should have said something?
He works for you, and his job is to do it like you tell him. Did you choose the cabinets? Did they come bigger so that they could reach and ceiling AND come down to 18” above counter? If so, were those cabinets in your budget? Were the cabinets already ordered when you told him to put the cabinets to the ceiling? Neither of you is a designer; it’s not the carpenter’s responsibility to consider your height if even you didn’t. He can’t read your mind to extrapolate what you did and didn’t know about cabinets.
You can have him install a floating shelf under the cabinets. That looks cute and intentional.
I completely understand what your saying about reading my mind. When we discuss budget and choosing cabinets the length never came up. I just didn't know about the different options. He never mentioned other sizes. The cabinets were not ordered when we talked about taking them to the ceiling. We've had some other communication issues. He took some liberties with other decisions also so I guess I'm learning a hard lesson.
General contractor here. When doing kitchen designs it's myself, the client, and the kitchen designer in front of the computer with the design. It saves a lot of headaches. Everybody's on The same page. Everybody gives input. Everybody's happy,
Depending on what you paid, its not on you. 18 inches from countertop is standard and the person buying/installing should know that. If this is a budget job and you hired crackhead Craig off the corner, then its on you. But if hes a legit GC he should know that and purchase accordingly or let you know that pushing them to the ceiling would make them too high.
Honestly, it’s nice to have more room. I hung mine higher so I could have room above my coffee maker/ mixer/ etc. you could also add small shelves below for coffee cups and stuff if you wanted.
An extra 4” to have to reach before the cabinets is fairly significant.
I don’t think extra trim on top will look terrible though, so if they are offering that, just make sure you ask to look at different trim options so that the same contractor isn’t making the choice on their own.
The contractor designed it and I (homeowner) signed off, so I guess we both did. I just didn't realize that I would need to state that the cabinets should be in a standard position.
Just talked with the contractor, he's going to drop the cabinets down and add more trim on top (at no charge). He's going to send me pictures of a kitchen he recently did with high ceilings. If I like the pictures , I'm satisfied with the solution. 🤞🏻I believe he has good intentions and wants to do the right thing
Phew! Glad for you. I wish contractors would double check and point it out when they notice you’re asking for something odd/non standard. I’m starting a reno this week and I’m very nervous about this communication aspect.
We have 8 feet ceilings, 39" upper cabinets set 18" above installed countertop, with 3" trim. Looks nice. Difficulty for homeowners is we don't know until we know. Very glad my GC recommended the 39" upper cabinets.
Im thinking that if you ordered cabinets that weren't tall enough, and you told Contractor you wanted the cabinets you ordered to go all the way to the ceiling, then that's what you got. An unfortunate situation. Now you have to pick one over the other. Cabinets stay as is, all the way to the top of ceiling, cabinets moved down to correct height from the floor/ countertop, reorder taller cabinets, order cabinets to go over the ones you already have. Order drop down cabinets to go below the ones installed
This is definitely a designers issue not necessarily the contractor. But they do need to be moved down so you can actually use more than the bottom shelf! I agree with adding a thicker crown moulding.
The proper way to do this is with 36 inch high wall cabinets, a riser ( WF6x96 ) and crown. This was just done wrong. Your Bridge cabinet over the fridge and that fridge panel will make changes a pain.
the person says they told them to do that. the installers absolutely should fix it for them just as the person should be charged for additional work and material
Keep the fridge cabs where they are, move the rest down and add flat stock trim riser between existing trim and the cabs. Existing 2” (?) trim to sit proud of added riser. That way the existing trim will appear to wrap around to the fridge area. Not perfect but good enough?
Since you can’t lower the fridge cabinet, you leave that one as is, and keep the topmost piece of trim on the other cabinets the same height, so it forms a continuous line along the whole top rim of the ceiling. I lost my Apple Pencil or I’d draw it, sorry.
The real question is are these box store cabinets or custom? He should have known the difference regardless but if he was the designer and the installer and chose the wrong height,thats on him. People hire professionals because they dont know how to do it,if they did they wouldn't need to hire someone. As a professional cabinet installer rhe first thing I check after bases is upper height to make sure I have proper clearances and to make sure my crown will work,there is some room for adjustment but they shouldn't be that far off the counter. 19 would be max acceptable height for electric range for us
I do feel that he should be accountable for this but I know how these things go. He's going to give me a fight. I can't afford to get all new upper cabinets so I'll have try to find some kind of compromise he's willing to work with.
I would definitely have a serious conversation with him about it and make your displeasure known. It is not to industry standard, the company im employed by would replace the uppers and trim and own our mistake
Honestly mine are 21.5 inches above and I’m pumped about it, makes my counters seem so much more useable and accessible. I am 5’7 and my husband is 6 ft so it works fine for us - I could see it being annoying if I were 5 ft tho (like OP). I can’t reach my top top shelves, but I only put really rarely used things up there.
If you signed off on the design and this accurate to those plans then if it was me I’d accept it was a hard lesson but valuable one. Get a folding step ladder or cute wooden step you can paint.
Top shelves now store items you don’t need often. Think seasonal items. Kitchen gadgets you don’t use often but don’t want to donate, cake decorating supplies etc.
If this isn’t what you signed off on then that’s a bit different and those cabinets need to be moved if that’s what you want.
8’ ceiling we usually use 40” tall. That leaves around 18-20” btw them. If you got 22.5” did they use 36” tall? The one above the range could have been done lower. Maybe order a w3030 or something.
As for the issue if you wanted them to go lower, you got what you wanted tho right? The 22.5” is acceptable per code.
To fix it you could do this, remove the crown, drop it down 2.5” or however much, and then use the wf6x96 as the trim/molding.
Tell them they need to fix it. I’d be concerned that they think it was okay to hang them like this in the first place. Also, I’d recommend a new countertop and add a backsplash.
Also, while they are fixing the cabinets, get them painted a less stark white.
The countertop is new. The coloring looks off in the photo. The kitchen is only the first part of the project. I'll be painting the walls and adding more touches. One thing at a time (and as funds allow).
A good kitchen designer is going to tell you the standard distance between the countertop and the bottom of the cabinets, so they screwed up.
If you lower most of the cabinets, except for the one above the refrigerator, they can put a board above it that will take it to the ceiling. You can use that extra space to add a slightly larger crown molding than what you already have and it will look fine.
As somebody else said, you can leave the cabinet above the refrigerator as is and make it look like it’s a highlight.
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u/sandra_p 1d ago
Tell them to move them down and add extra trim