Kitchen Cabinet Design - Just when you thought a design could not be improved upon

"The kitchen really is the castle itself.  This is where we spend our happiest moments
 and where we find the joy of being a family."

- Mario Batali - 

Like many modern household designs, we really wanted an open-concept design to maximize usable living space.  We find ourselves hanging out in the kitchen a lot, like most families (don't be confused, I'm not a great cook, but we all love to eat).  For this reason, my Mom and I were very focused on the kitchen layout from the outset.

For starters, I did not realize that typical architectural plans do not do specific layouts (vertically) of cabinets.  While an architectural plan would lay out the dimensions of the cabinets from a top view, you would not typically expect to see drawers or other features called out in the plans.  

From the beginning

Just to remind you of the original layout of my parents' side of the house (Bar = kitchen, gaming = dining room) from our incredible architect, Tom McDonough:

And now from our side of the fence:

We were smitten with these designs.  Our nightly activities involved unrolling the plans, imagining what we would be doing in those areas and how we would use, and dreaming about decorating them...

In all honesty, I imagined our kitchen cabinet meeting going pretty quickly...basically something like "See these plans?  Please put all drawers on the bottom, cabinets on the top.  Thanks!"  Boy was I wrong...in a good way!

Enter Harris Wood Products

Our interior decorator guru, home construction sherpa, and all-in-all super star Betsy Judd guided us through the cabinet design process in a fun, collaborative, and non-stressful way.  She sets up the right meetings with the right subcontractors in the right order, then gives great guidance and takes meticulous notes to make sure any selections are accurate.  Love her!

Betsy set up our first cabinet meeting with Bart Harris, owner of Harris Wood Products.  While I expected Bart to install cabinets just like the plans suggested, I was blown away by the innovative ideas he had to make the kitchen function so much better.

Layout Changes

As for my Mom's side, Bart's suggestions and ideas did not drastically change the footprint of the cabinet plans/layout.  However, sometimes a little change can have a huge impact.  Bart's suggestion was simple:  let's eliminate this vertical accent soffit in the corner, extend the cabinets to the 18" and the island 18", and just move the dining room table more toward the windows.

This little change had a HUGE impact on my Mom's usable space in the kitchen.  She had been worried that she didn't have that much counter space on either side of the gas cooktop.  The island went from a little over 7 feet long to almost 9 feet long.  The cabinets against the wall where the cooktop sits went from about 7.5 feet long to over 9 feet long.  

I can't tell you how many times we looked at these plans and wished that my Mom could find a bit more countertop space.  Then BOOM!  Just like that!

Now hold on to your hats...things are about to get fun.  Bart took a look at my side and was not happy.  He said that we could do the layout proposed, or we could kick it up a notch.  In a short time, he had made a significant change in the layout.  

From this: 

To this:

Or, as is easier to see, like this:

The improvements of this design cannot be overstated.  First, I did worry that I was going to feel a bit claustrophobic at the stove...you know, during that once-a-year event of me cooking.  The original layout only had a very little room to the left of the stove and then the stacked oven/microwave.  Second, the original layout had a tiny section of counter tops between the pantry and refrigerator.  Third, the counter top depth in the 'coffee bar' area (leading to the pantry) was very small.  This new configuration allowed for a deeper counter.  Finally, the kitchen island and back counter got longer, to the tune of 14 inches!  Now the island is about 9 1/2 ft long and 5 feet wide.  

Kitchen Cabinet Design

Now that we have talked about the layout changes, let's focus on some of the cool cabinet design choices Bart suggested (and we took him up on)!  Because my Mom and I opted for some similar features, I'll talk about them together.

First, drawers.  Can you have too many?  After walking through model homes and seeing various options, we both decided that it would be awesome to have all drawers on the gas cooktop cabinets.  All of the cabinets come with hidden hinges and soft close drawers.  How many drawers is too many?  Let's take a look and see if we border on that number...  :)

...and my Mom's side:

Extra wide drawers mean that you have to be careful about hardware.  You either need a long bar or two pulls per drawer.

Second, my Mom and I both liked the look of lighting up above the kitchen cabinets but we also were drawn to cabinets that went to the ceiling.  Solution?  Glass door cabinets with lighting in them above.  You can see above that my Mom wanted "X" panels in the glass doors and I went for the basic "+" look.  Note that it is pretty expensive to add the glass doors, plus expensive to wire (because each cabinet needs a separate electrical drop), PLUS the cost of the puck light itself which goes into each cabinet.

Trash bins...sigh.  I hope that we get better at reducing our trash footprint, but it always seems like our trash is full.  I worried about having a pull-out cabinet trash which seemed like it would be small and always be full.  Well, Bart mentioned that we could upgrade to the double 50 quart option on our islands.  SCORE!

Speaking of islands, Bart also suggested upgrading the narrower drawers on the islands to full 30 inch guides.  This essentially means that you can pull the drawer all the way out.  DOUBLE SCORE!  Here is my island front (there is an apron sink):

We also both decided to get some cookie sheet dividers placed in a cabinet:

My side:

My Mom's side:

Now things start getting unique, which I love!  I think we were initially concerned that the kitchens would look too similar...or maybe too different.  Bart and Betsy were able to help us make these kitchens flow together but still stand apart.

My Side of the Fence - Kitchen

Okay, so the cabinet drawings look brown but that is not the look I am going for.  So imagine something like this:

Old Sea Grove Homes

All white cabinets, white marble countertops, hints of raw wood.
So let's run through the raw wood elements:

Like the gorgeous kitchen picture above, just the gas hood is going to be rift sawn white oak.  Also, I have a section of the kitchen (like a bar area) with open shelving.  Just the shelves are going to be rift sawn oak (with shiplap behind.

Finally, to round off the great room, Bart got creative.  I showed him this picture that I found on Pinterest and fell in love with...

Source

I know, right?  Stunning.  This is the look I thought was out of reach for the cabinets beneath my TV:

Nope, Bart jumped right on them!  Matching rift sawn oak door insets.

I will get the hardware separately, but he is providing the cabinets with the glass.  Baller!

In the kitchen cabinet area near the gas range, the length of the cabinets allowed for one more cool feature...spice pull outs on either side of the center bank of drawers.  For all my spice needs?  Hmmmm...

My Side of the Fence - Pantry

Bart altered the original layout of the kitchen, thus making it much more functional.  This change, however, required a redesign of the old pantry area.  We still wanted a coffee bar concept like we had originally:

Now, that coffee bar got moved to the area where we were originally contemplating a second oven.

Cool, huh?  The pantry will have all white cabinets with a solid white oak counter top.  Because my pantry is fairly long and narrow with a window at the end, I began searching Pinterest for ideas.  Then, I saw this one:

Drool.  Drool.  Drool.  So we are going to try to recreate features from it, like the wire baskets and the countertop.  However, our trim carpenters are actually building the upper shelves, and man did they have a cool idea.  So those shelves to the right of the coffee bar area are actually going to be mounted like this:

Fixer Upper

LOVE IT!  Thanks Joanna Gaines!

My Parents' Side of the Fence - Kitchen

Not to be outdone, my parents' side has some awesome unique features too!  First, they decided to go with an exposed stainless vent hood.  AWESOME!!!  They also have the rift sawn white oak shelves over their coffee area.  The rift sawn oak is going to be an awesome way to make the two spaces coordinate without matching.  Now things get interesting...

While my side is going to be all white with wood accents, my parents are going to have a more playful design...a blue island :)  Something like...

Decor Pad

They will have the "X" detail on the side but a floating counter off the end.  Stunning!!!

Also, their pantry is not walk-through, but to give it an airy look, they are going to have glass doors to enter.

When you open the doors, Bart is installing a magnet board on your left and a cork board on your right.  I'm jealous...

My Parents' Side of the Fence - Pantry

Their pantry is going to have more cabinets and drawers than mine (wait, I'm getting MORE jealous...).  When you walk in, you will see this set:

And when you look to your right, you will see:

When you look to your left, you will see standard white pantry shelves.

So there you have it.  We are totally smitten.  Can't wait to update you with the actual cabinets when they arrive...should be soon!!!

J.S. Robinson sure picked a winner with Bart Harris.  He was such a pleasure to work with, had so many great ideas, and his cabinets are built to last.  Check out Harris Wood Products at:

Harris Wood Products 

Get in touch with Bart at 816-665-8470 or at his email address:  bharris@harriswood.net.

Or just walk into any of JS Robinson's model homes on the Parade of Homes to see his workmanship in person!  Here is a link to JS Robinsons' model homes in the upcoming Parade:  

Check out J.S. Robinsons' website for more details!  Link

AND...because I just today got this update picture from Bart, here is a sneak peak at the actual kitchen island on my parents' side.  Wait, are you sitting down?  Okay, because you need to be:

"If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."

- Harry S. Truman -