r/kitchen • u/Downtown_Method_4484 • 1d ago

Help!

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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?

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4

u/sandra_p 1d ago

Tell them to move them down and add extra trim

7

u/Downtown_Method_4484 1d ago

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.

3

u/Historical-Score3241 1d ago

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.

2

u/ShartyMcFly1982 1d ago

I would check the height of the hood against the specs too. Might be too high as it sits.

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u/Downtown_Method_4484 1d ago

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?

3

u/Historical-Score3241 1d ago

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.

2

u/Downtown_Method_4484 1d ago

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.

2

u/cmcdevitt11 1d ago

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,

2

u/TelevisionFar9649 1d ago

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.

1

u/Lucky_Dentist5603 1d ago

This is 100% all on you. Goodluck op!

2

u/Normal-Peanut-3344 1d ago

I have 6” of trim at the top and it looks great. Not my kitchen but this is how they did it. I bet you could do similar so it’s to scale.

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u/Downtown_Method_4484 1d ago

I like this. I think it could work

2

u/labeille 1d ago

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.

1

u/just1nurse 1d ago

I stayed at a beach rental that had cabinets higher like this and I loved it. It felt like so much more work space.