Farmhouse Kitchen // Adding A Shelf Below Our Upper Cabinets (+ other layouts we considered)
THE FARMHOUSE
Remember 5 months ago when we debated what to do with our upper cabinets? No? You can catch up with this post, but the gist of the issue was that we wanted to reuse our good-quality, upper cabinets during the kitchen remodel, but we weren’t exactly sure how.
And since this isn’t the first time we’ve debated upper cabinet layouts and what to do with the inevitable “leftover wall space”, I wanted to dedicate a post to it. Today we’ll be talking about all of the layout options we considered and what we finally decided on for our Farmhouse kitchen remodel. Hopefully this will be a helpful starting point for anyone renovating a kitchen and facing a similar issue.
what we had to work with
Our kitchen came with custom fir cabinetry, curtsey of a previous homeowner’s renovation. And thankfully they were still in good shape. So we didn’t even have to think about placing them. Using the existing cabinets would save money, energy, time, and natural resources.
But…the VG fir cabinets didn’t fit the style we wanted for our 1912 Farmhouse kitchen. Our home is full of original, unpainted old-growth fir moldings and the new wood stood out like a sore thumb. So we felt like this was a great opportunity to lighten things up with paint (we don’t paint original wood). We used our go-to white color.
We also wanted to swap out the glass in the upper cabinet doors for plywood panels since our kitchen design already called for a lot of open/glass storage. Here’s what our upper cabinets looked like before we started remodeling.
option 1 // bring cabinets (or a soffit) to the ceiling
The first layout we considered for the upper cabinets was leaving the upper cabinets in place and adding custom cabinets above them. That would give us the built-in cabinetry feeling we love. (You could alternatively build a soffit to the ceiling.)
We used this layout option at the Tacoma Converted Garage last Fall. We placed the cabinets at 20” above the countertops and filled-in above the cabinets with custom shaker-style panels. I think it gives a custom, higher-end look than floating uppers.
Option 2 // countertop to ceiling
The second layout we considered at the Farmhouse was stacking the two same-sized cabinets on top of each other. Our’s were just perfectly sized to reach the ceiling. This layout would show-off the height of the kitchen and let the range hood stand alone as a feature.
I think this layout is pretty self-explanatory from the image above. At least I’m hoping it is, because I don’t have another example for you (we’ve never done this before). Our main issue with this route is that it would have taken away countertop space. Not a huge deal in larger kitchens, but something worth consideration.
option 3 // raise the cabinets and add a shelf below
When we proposed the first two layout options in a post last Spring, my friend Ashley left us a comment that changed everything. She suggested we push the existing cabinets to the ceiling and add a shelf below them. Honestly, we hadn’t even considered this and it was totally brilliant (plus less expensive and less work, too!).
So that’s what we’re doing! And I wanted to talk about the process…
We played around with the height of the upper cabinets, but ultimately hung them about 12” below the ceiling so normal-height humans could actually use the cabinets (we have 10’ ceilings). As a bonus, the small soffit space above the cabinets came in handy for ducting our hood vent to the exterior wall.
Below the cabinets, we set to work designing shelves that would fit our modern-traditional-country-Farmhouse kitchen. We wanted something that would read more “old hutch” than “modern open shelf” and decided to use large, curved brackets that would connect the shelves to the cabinets. Garrett cut one of the brackets out of 3/4” solid fir (that we had salvaged from one of our houses) and then traced, cut, and sanded the other three brackets. BTW, there will be two shelves, one on either side of the range hood.
Because we live in an old home (where nothing is square, level, or plumb), we opted to build these shelves in place. As far as dimensions go, we designed the 10.5”-wide shelf to sit about 20” above the countertop, which is where we like our upper cabinets to sit. I’m really happy with how the proportions turned out.
We’re not 100% done with the shelf yet, but we’re really happy we went with this layout option. Not only is it a great look, but it was way easier and less-expensive than adding a bank of cabinets at the ceiling (like option 1). But mostly, it’s a great look!
One thing we’re not sold on…the tongue-and-grove soffit. We went back on forth on how to finish the soffit out, and finally paneled it to blend in with the walls. But now that everything’s coming together, we’re questioning that choice. A smooth finish might have given the cabinets more of a built-in or vintage-hutch-on-the-wall feel. So we might make that change.
At this point, it still takes a little imagination to see what this wall will look like when we’re done. But both Garrett and I are really happy with the direction. Garrett even said: “this whole thing is like really starting to look descent”. Haha. High praise! 🤣
Thank goodness for friends with great ideas!
Garrett and I are making a mad dash to finish this kitchen remodel before we welcome 24 guests for Thanksgiving next week. Eek! Wish. us. luck! You can catch all the craziness and behind-the-scenes action in our Instagram Stories!
