Upper Cabinet Heights with Nine-Foot Ceilings
Cabinetmakers consider the options for cabinets heights in rooms with high ceilings. September 27, 2008
Question
A nine foot ceiling seems a bit high to run the cabinets all the way up to the crown. But the customer doesn't really want a gap between the cabinets and the ceiling. So what are your ideas and experience for this type of ceiling? Built up crown? Run paneling or frieze above the cabinet to connect to the crown?
Forum Responses
(Cabinetmaking Forum)
From contributor K:
Do a 3-D cad drawing for them and make sure they see what it will look like. If they still want it build it. I would bet they change their mind once they see it in 3-D.
From contributor J:
36 base,18 back splash, 36 wall cab,12 wall cab with 6 inch crown build up. Or you could do 36 base,18 back splash, 42 wall cab with 6 inch decorative soffit and 6 inch crown build up and let the room crown match all the way around.
From contributor F:
We did 54" uppers recently and it looked great. Nice change of pace from the 30" uppers from the distant past and now the 42" uppers that are 98% of the current trend. Yes, they are way up there, but the look was more important and they can store things on the top shelves. We use a 3" top rail and WM 52 crown.
From contributor M:
Build them as Contributor F says 54" (would depend what size crown you will use) but divide the door to have a 12"glass door on the top. We have done quite a few like this.
From contributor J:
We keep door total heights to 42 inches or less to prevent warping. Most door companies will not warranty a door over this.
From contributor A:
We did a sweet kitchen with nine footers a few years ago. We did typical height solid doors with smaller glass doors above. It was a beaded inset faceframe job so it looks really class with the beaded frames between the two doors. We still had room to use a 5 1/2" crown with a 1 1/2" apron.
From contributor D:
Try to convince them they could use the tops of the cabinets to install some indirect lighting. You could even toss up some rope light behind some trim so they could dim the lights if they wanted. It would be easy access also.
