Brooklyn Garden Apartment: Kitchen Plan

This is the line of cabinets I'm ordering. Aren't they sleek? I'm over my disappointment that I can't use Ikea cabinets. They don't come in enough size increments for me to be able to make the best use of every inch of space. The main sticking point is the corner sink cabinet. IKEA corner sink cabinets are all L-shaped with a lazy susan in the blind corner. While I applaud IKEA for their price points and innovative thinking, their sink cabinets are all simply too big for the space. Having a corner sink is key to my design. It's the only layout that will give me enough room to fit all the appliances I need and let me locate the refrigerator in the one place where it will not block the line of sight to the French doors and garden.

IKEA also doesn't offer 12" high cabinets, which I also need. In order to make use of every inch of vertical space, I plan to stack the longest available cabinet, 39", with another 12" row above it along the refrigerator side, perpendicular to the soffit, which is exactly 12".

It's too bad. I really love IKEA kitchens for the cost savings and clever internal organizers. I love the look of the European style glossy doors, as well. That is the modern door style I'm looking for.

With prefab sizes out of the question, I turned to semi-custom lines—the midway offering between stock and custom. Where custom cabinets can be ordered in any size you dream up, semi-custom come in 3" increments. That will do just fine for my needs, at a savings of about $1,000 off custom. I found what I was looking for at Kraftmaid—a new line they just introduced called Venicia. The kitchen guy at Home Depot did a double take when I said I wanted to use them in my kitchen as, apparently, they were designed for offices—like dental and medical offices or hair salons, he says.

Well, I think they're beautiful. Look at the glossy finish on the doors. And I especially love the built-in horizontal chrome pulls.

Kraftmaid Venicia in "Chianti"

Do you like this lipstick red? I am a big fan of red, but I think I'd soon tire of it in a kitchen. I went with a glossy white called "Bianco." White will make the kitchen meld into the white walls and make the kitchen feel bigger. I'm also considering resale value. Some buyers will just hate the red. White appeals to more tastes and will withstand the test of time. Nothing dates a kitchen faster than color—who can forget the avocado and goldenrod appliances of the '70s?

I designed the kitchen myself on paper before I even sat down with the kitchen planner, so I knew what I wanted. He really didn't add anything, but he did put it into their design software and print out a plan for me that is to scale. The $150 deposit is credited back to my order once I've placed it, so the service is well worth it to get this professional floor plan I can hand to my contractor.

I had a tricky moment with the kitchen guy because he was resistant to me adding the 12" high cabinets above the refrigerator. His program kept warning him that I needed extra inches. He said that this is in case my measurements are off, but I stood firm. I needed every inch of space for storage—plus, I know my measurements aren't off. (Measure twice, right?) Still, he made me sign a release saying that I'm aware and purchasing at my own risk.

You can see here how the corner sink allows just enough room for the tall skinny Liebherr refrigerator to fit along the short wall of the L—out of the line of sight. Were I to put it anywhere but here, the kitchen would look cramped and dark, not spacious and open.

The red arrows show the 12" upper cabinets. Here's the cooktop span—you can see the soffit.

There is just enough room to accommodate a 24" Gaggenau cooktop, an 18" Miele dishwasher (gotta have that upper cutlery sprayer and tray), and 24" LG Combo washer/dryer.

The most exciting thing about getting a printed plan is this 2D view.

The vision in my head in 2D. Next up: 3D!