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Kitchen Cabinet Design Mistakes to Avoid

January 6th, 2010 Leave a comment Go to comments

Being a manufacture of custom kitchen cabinets, there are design mistakes that we must avoid. Sometimes beauty and functionality do not mix. The ultimate cupboard layout will be aesthetically appealing and functional at the same time. Only “real” cabinetry designers understand what the things are that must be avoided.

Here are a few things to be aware of when designing your kitchen.

1) The distance from the countertop to the bottom of the upper cabinet should be in the neighborhood of eighteen inches, give or take one inch. If you are short one inch can make you or break you. Sometimes people will install upper cabinets that you have to stand on a step stool to get into. This can happen when open shelves or pot hangers are installed below the cupboards. Fancy decorative spice rack shelves attached below the wall cabinets can create this problem too. Pay attention to the distance between the top of the counter and the wall cabinet bottom when designing your kitchen cabinetry.

2) Always use things like chairs, canisters, baskets and vases to accent bright colors in the kitchen area. It’s best to work with neutral or normal colors on your cabinets and add the brilliant colorations in other places. Not everyone has the same tastes as you do when it comes to designing a kitchen. Stick with what works and avoid the design mistake of having blues, greens, bright yellows and reds all missed up on your cabinetry. Accent colors with everything but the cupboards.

3) Open shelves are pretty, but too many of them make for a horrible mistake. It is in these open shelf areas that the elegant pieces of fine china, crystal or beautiful vases get displayed. If you display too much in these areas, things get a bit tacky looking. Always use eye focal accents in moderation. Just because there are angled open shelf cabinets available for the ends of the cupboards, that does not mean that every one of the finished ends should have an open shelf display.

4) Avoid mixing checkered patterns on the counter, diamond tile layouts on the floor and vertical lines with dots on the walls all in one place. Your kitchen is not a carnival fair grounds. If you want a bunch of flashing things that grab people’s attentions, then take your guests to a circus. Avoid making the mistake of your kitchen design being too busy because you have combined too many patterns. You wouldn’t wear a checkered shirt with neon horizontal striped pants would you? Then why on earth would you want to design the most important room in your home that way.


There are hundreds of design mistakes to be avoided when you are designing your kitchen cupboards. These are only a few of the common ones that I have seen in various places. Design your cabinets with more than just your opinion in mind. Listen to the professionals and always get second and third opinions. There are quack designers you know. Probably more so than doctors, so get others involved in helping you make right choices for your kitchen cabinetry design. Avoid making costly mistakes that you will later regret.

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