We've been working through our kitchen design, now that the construction plans are finalized and dimensions set for the kitchen. We chose to work with Home Depot's design center. They have some terrific design resources (our contractor recommended we work with Shannon at Home Depot San Mateo, she has been GREAT) and excellent product at very reasinable prices.
First choice was cabinet maker. We liked Thomasville as that was what we had in our previous house. Solid and lasting. We only had one drawer in 5 years that came unglued in the seams and that was because we overloaded it with bakery stuff. We also checked out Kraftmaid which is priced a little less, $1.50/sq ft versus $1.55 for Thomasville. Kraftmaid has more door and stain choices and also more cabinet choices. We're going with Kraftmaid for our bathrooms as we're in need of more flexible cabinet options for the spaces we have there.
For the kitchen, the choice is Thomasville Cottage, simple shaker design. I like the doors better than the Kraftmaid - they are beveled and there is also trim on the drawer doors versus flat on Kraftmaid. We're going with the "light"stain which creates a more even finish versus natural (light is actually darker than natural).
In addition to all the appliances we need to accommodate, we wanted to address these issues in our design:
- recycling bin to hold 2 weeks worth of newspapers and plastics/metals etc (our recycling only comes by every two weeks). Put a slideout unit near the main sink next to the trash compactor.
- dishwasher and trash compactor on either side of the main sink
- drawers and upper cabinets near dishwasher for easy unloading
- mini pantry to hold cereals, everyday dry foods (versus bulkier items going into the main pantry) - next to the fridge
- drawer set for tupperware/ziplock type plastics - in the island
- Lazy susan for big bluky stuff that needs to be close by - put it in the corner
- drawer for cookie pans - put it under the double oven
- cabinets near rangetop for condiments and spices: we wanted a pullout unit but the model Thomasville makes had no flexibility on shelf heights so most of our bottles would not fit, darn. We'll have to use the wall cabinets above the rangetop.
- drawers near rangetop to hold cooking utensils. Two sets either side for symmetry.
- roll out drawer cabinet to hold pots/pans. Under the rangetop.
- second sink back to back with first sink. Often one person is chopping while the other is washing so back to back makes a lot more sense than having to walk around the island.
- small microwave built into the island near the fridge to heat up leftovers easily
- nook area on opposite side of kitchen for the laptop (on the counter next to the freezer) and our two inboxes for mail and paper (tucked neatly in a cabinet under the counter) and side drawer for misc nick nacks like batteries, rubber bands, pencils, tape, etc etc
- larger roll out drawer cabinets for pots and pans. One in the island near the rangetop.
It's all coming together thanks to Shannon! We're using every inch on both sides and a 4' x 9' island in the middle! I had some negotiation to do with Brian our contractor to avoid eating into my space with "spacers" to build in cushion (usually you want to add 1-2" in case the wall is not straight). he said he would reduce the size of the walls from 2x6 to 2x4 giving me two extra inches.
One big piece of advice for you: most cabinets come in increments of 3 inches. If your wall space is exactly a 3 inch increment, you'll lose out on space efficiency because you should build in some spacers. For example, having an 11 foot space (132 inches or 44 x 3" increments means you will lose 3 inches to spacers because there are no off the shelf cabinets that are 1 or 2 inches wider). So my advice would be to build to 11 foot 1" giving you a 1" spacer or 11 foot 2" giving you 2". We got nailed on that issue in several places.
