Bring cabinets to the ceiling but don't have cabinets that don't go to the ceiling? Isn't that pretty much implied? Also, using cabinetry to conceal appliances is hit or miss. I like the aesthetic of it but I think I'm more likely to change appliances than cabinetry, so I'd rather not pigeonhole myself in a position to have to redo the cabinet face when I change appliances.

Well, in my kitchen, one wall is 10' tall, the other 14. Going to the ceiling is well, more than slightly pointless. 8' tall cabs is enough.
Picture here

I don't like the look of cabinets that go all the way to the ceiling -- I like the airiness around cabinets hung with space on top. In our case, it works well because we've installed lighting on top of the cabinets to add another layer of lighting in the kitchen. We've tiled behind the cabinets, same as the backsplash, to give it a cohesive look. Finally, it makes visual sense because the uppers are different from the lowers. Sure, you have to clean up there, but you have to clean inside cabinets too.

"Don't: Skimp on poor-quality.' ??

@ellabee, ha! You're quite right that doesn't make sense. I've modified. Thanks!

Ugh. The last one I SO GET. We inherited the world's wonkiest cabinets with our new house! Thankfully the previous owners had painted them white (which I love) so I can live with it until we scrape together enough for a full-gut reno... But every time I open and close those drawers wood scrapes against wood, cabinet doors hang ever so slightly askew and won't close all the way, and it sucks. It honestly sucks. Buy quality cabinets, people! Don't just paint what you've got and think that you've solved all your problems!

I really agree with the advice not to cover the walls with cabinets. I live in a cookie-cutter apartment with "builders' special" melamine cabinets and they cover every single inch of wall space--except for the 8 inches at the top where the builder thoughtfully added soffits to make them extra annoying.

Every inch of below-the counter space is covered with cabinets also: cabinets that are extremely deep and have non-removeable shelves cutting them in half, rendering them unable to hold appliances such as food processor, blender, etc. and making me crawl around on my hands and knees to get anything out of them. It also makes the possibility of installing cabinet pull-out drawers seem like a lot of work.

Sometimes I just want to go at them with a chainsaw.

The best advice is to think. Think about how you will use the kitchen and the ideal relationship among the tasks you'll perform daily. Then let that inform the placement of cabinets and appliances. For example, are there cabinets to store dishes and glassware next to the dishwasher? A drawer to hold tools next to the range? Have you made a logical work triangle among the sink, stove and refrigerator, ideally of less than 6'-0" a side? What are you going to do with trash and recycling?

I also have 10 foot tall ceilings and it wouldn't be practical to have them go to the top. I don't want to have to get a ladder out every time I need something stored up there.

I think the best way to go is all the way to the ceiling, but with glass-front cabinets around the top. You still get the airiness and display space that you would with cabinets that stop shy of the ceiling, but without the dust. If you've ever had a kitchen with less than ideal ventilation, you wouldn't believe how much of that awful sticky, tacky dust accumulates up there. It in no way compares to the amount of cleaning you have to do inside a cabinet.

I am 5 foot 2 inches . I'd need a full step ladder to get to the top of my cabinets if they went to the ceiling. This cookie cutter "Do and Don't" advice is worthless in my real world.

3 design pros and this is all they can come up with?

So stupid -- how high and how many cabinets totally depends on the space the kitchen is in.

Living in a house with a recently-remodeled but poorly-designed kitchen is a real bummer. Stubenville has the best advice ever: THINK. I'd add to that, pay attention to behind-the-scenes details. I don't like my kitchen's style all that much, but I like even less having no vent above the stove, a back door that cuts the space in half if you open it, doors and windows that leak in cold air, a super-hard, back-hurting tile floor, etc.

Do have deep under counter open shelving.

Do think carefully before choosing shallow open shelves. They are more decorative than practical in a working kitchen.

Do have some space either side of a stove (and in front if you're lucky enough to have room for an island).

Do think about how you position appliances, sink, etc in relation to how you use the kitchen - our stove faces the living/dining area and, beyond that, a nice view because we spend more time cooking than washing up at the sink.

Don't choose marble counters, especially if you and others use the kitchen a lot. Like open shelves, marble just looks pretty.

Well said @angelinethebaker
The advice in the article is ambiguous at best. I think the apartment therapy online community have some great ideas-the design pros are just stating the obvious about quality doors and hinges and in one of the other tips, it is assumed that we can all accomodate up to ceiling cabinets. Its pretty obvious that if you think long and hard, you can come up with a design perfect for your kitchen-after all everyone uses their kitchen slightly differently.

Really? Why not let the space and the person using the space dictate what the space should be?! duh

Oh, but I do know how much can accumulate up there -- we had tenants in our house for 4.5 years, and they never cleaned up there. Or under hanging cabinets either. They cleaned our stove once though -- with barbecue tools (we now have to replace the liner of our WOLF oven, it is so deeply gouged).

Whatever I touched in the kitchen -- a drawer front, a handle, the underside of a cabinet, the microwave -- my hand stuck to.

Wiping down the top surface of a cabinet is not that onerous, and in our kitchen at least, that space makes it aesthetically pleasing. (and yes, all the uppers are frost glass, lining up with the kitchen window, creating the illusion of the window expanding across the counter).

I can't believe nobody mentioned having base cabinets with deep drawers instead of shelves, it makes a huge difference.

I agree this is pretty bland unhelpful advice from "professionals". Almost bad enough to not post.

stationaryfiend has a great point -- nice big drawers work much better for base cabinets. Deep base cabinets, and even deep lower shelves just mean time on your knees trying to get the stuff at the back out.

I actually feel strongly enough about this that I finally signed up for an account to comment, three years after I first started reading AT...

Our kitchen breaks my heart. Not because it's atrociously ugly or anything, but because somebody put a bunch of money into renovating it but never actually cooked in it before moving. That's my only reasonable explanation for the horrific design it has going on.

Problem A: no wall plugs. ANYWHERE. If you want to plug in the toaster, coffee maker, stand mixer, anything, you have to take it out into the dining room. Now that I live with it every day, I kick myself for not having noticed that during the house showings, but who counts the plugs?

Problem B: there's no triangle. It's a line, and to make it more frustrating, the sink a d garbage are in the middle, so one person can't be cleaning anything up or otherwise prepping if the other is cooking. It's not that tiny a kitchen, but it can definitely only have one person in it at a time.

As much as I wish I could rip it all down and start again, there is nothing abjectly wrong with it. The cabinets are new, the counters are new, nothing's broken... There's no logical reason to other than it drives me crazy and could have been avoided. *sigh*

Bright Lights, at least in Minnesota it is code to have outlets installed every 3 feet on countertops. If your kitchen was recently redone, I am surprised that wasn't addressed.

Two kitchen tips; buy the best sink faucet you can possibly afford. It gets used more than any other faucet in the house if you cook at all. Make sure all surfaces in cupboards and drawers are smooth and easily washed, because you will be doing this when you clean them.

I would never, ever buy into the fad of covering appliances with cabinetry. As others have said, appliances are more likely to change than cabinets, so why fence yourself in? Also, I find it incredibly annoying when I go into an all-cabinetry kitchen and have to actually look for the fridge/dishwasher/whatever. If being able to actually find the fridge makes my kitchen "look choppy," so be it.

My gut instinct is that covering appliances with cabinetry is one of those short-lived trends that is going to date a kitchen very, very fast.

I vote all-the-way-up... if you live in a small place. One foot of "airiness" on top of the kitchen cabinets is not going to make much of a difference in a cramped apartment. You can always use the top shelf/shelves for storing rarely-used items (not necessarily kitchen stuff), and it looks a lot neater than having boxes on top of half-height cabinets. Plus, there's the dust/grease issue.

My first kitchen reno, I went to a cabinet store and sat down with one of their "designers". I ended up picking some trendy cabinets, getting way too many cabinets. (Hey, surprise, the cabinet store lady recommends having a crap ton of cabinets!) It was a horror, and I hope the new owners will forgive me one day.

Many years later, I have learned a lot about what a kitchen needs and what it doesn't. It needs to match the architecture of the house. It needs a minimum of clutter or "wow" visuals that will look dated in a few years. Keep the lines clean and spare, and the layout functional. If you have old original cabinets, try to keep them.

How about this:

Do: Choose a material for your countertop besides granite. Slate, quartz and concrete are gorgeous and not so over-used.

Do: Pay attention to the kitchen work triangle when planning your layout (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_Work_Triangle)

Do: Make your kitchen a reflection of your personality and lifestyle- not just a popular notion of what a kitchen should be.

Don't: Use "Tuscan" as a theme. Way too over-used, like granite.

Bright Lights, I am also living with a recently-remodeled kitchen that breaks my heart at every turn. After hearing from you at least I count myself lucky to have outlets! But really, I think the former owners were asleep when they planned the remodel, which was a fairly pricey one. Like you, I thought it seemed pretty good during the house showings -- not my style, but quality materials at least. Well, I couldn't fit half my stuff in despite the room size being twice that of our former kitchen. Everything is hard to reach. When we replaced the undersized fridge we ended up partially covering a window. Argh.

What's weird about the advice is that no one said things like: think about who uses the kitchen and how it's used. The kitchen has to be a functional workspace. What makes it functional for my needs might be completely different than for someone else. If you have small children, or teenagers, or no children but 4 big dogs, or if you are a serious cook and/or baker, or if you don't cook much, but you have lots of parties, or if you are short or tall or in a wheelchair... all these things should make a difference to how your kitchen is planned.

Blanket statements like 'cabinets should go to the ceiling' and 'invest in good-quality cabinets' are not useful.

@redzinger "My gut instinct is that covering appliances with cabinetry is one of those short-lived trends that is going to date a kitchen very, very fast"

Actually they've been a trend in Ireland and the UK for years, and aren't going anywhere. Most appliances (such as dishwashers and washing machines) come in "integrated" versions and they are standard sized so even if you replace your appliance it will still fit the space. There is a bit more variation in fridge sizes, so it is less common, but generally it gives a much more unified look. If I could have afforded it I would definitely have gone with integrated appliances, but they are a bit more expensive (and then you also need a cupboard door) and my budget was already stretched tight as a drum. However they remain on my future ideal kitchen wishlist (along with a Smeg fridge, which I will not be covering up).

The most important "do" IMO is to find a good kitchen designer who knows the cabinetry line inside and out (unless you can afford custom!). Don't just go with whoever is available at the store that day. We chanced upon a great designer at a big box store; she spent no less than 12 hours total with us (3 appointments), and by knowing her line really well, she found some great work arounds for our old house (variable depth cabinets to get around old pipes, using uppers for lowers, etc).

Don't focus too much on the design of your dreams-- I really wanted a two-level island but the space works much better (and the room appears bigger) with a tall, flat peninsula.

Don't discount shallow storage. We have a 12" deep, 30" wide, 8' tall pantry cabinet, and its amazing-- it holds all our nonperishables and it's so easy to see everything.

Do think about the practical things-- about my favorite thing in our new kitchen is the trash/recycling! We sacrificed a centrally located lower cabinet to have both trash and recycling behind a pull out door. Its such a simple thing but its infinitely more convenient than trash storage in a pantry or under sink, or worse, a trash can sitting out in the kitchen.

1. (Almost) Everything must be easily accessible.

2. Everything must be easily swapped. If it can break it must be replaced without chopping apart cabinets.

3. Everything must be easy to clean.

I expect the most common mistake is not understanding how you use your kitchen. It's easy to get swept up in beautiful pictures and model layouts without realizing how impractical it is. Are there outlets or light switches convenient? When you take something off the stove or out of the fridge it needs a landing spot near by. Where do the dishes go before they get washed? If you have two people in the kitchen, can they function? How does the food get to the diners? Are the cabinets tall enough to hold a box of cereal?! Can my stock pot fit in the sink under the faucet? Can my stock pot fit on the range under that really low-hung microwave? (Honest issues with my kitchen. I'm slowly fixing them!)

I wish I'd seen the small kitchen competition before it had closed - I'd have surely won ;)

Try to keep your new kitchen as neutral as possible and use shelves/accessories that can be easily removed to bring your style and personality out. When you come to sell your place, there are only a few potential buyers who will enjoy that purple and green striped kitchen that you installed.

Drawers in base cabinets are brilliant; I can't believe they are a relatively new thing.

As for appliances inside cabinets, it's a winner and makes your lines very clean and gives the illusion of more space. The appliances and cabinets are built for this purpose and are easy to maintain and replace.

Lolly Otis - couldn't agree more. I have a TINY galley kitchen and installed cabinets with a depth of 20 cm/ 8 inches down one wall. They are great for glasses, cans, bottles and I would have no storage space without them.

Basically, when redesigning your kitchen you need to create it according to how YOU work. The sales lady was very upset with me when I said I didn't want a hood extractor over the stove (they are ugly, not to mention expensive, and unnecessary when you're cooking 20 cms away from an open window). She tried to insist that I have one because that was 'the norm'.

Also, don't be afraid to use your space in a non-conventional way. I have my utensils rail hanging over one of my windows as this is the only place for it. I have shelves over my stove (very high up, there's no danger of burning) and I managed to get a sink, fridge, freezer, oven, stove top, dishwasher and a washing machine into a space less than 3 meters/120 inches long by basically ignoring most 'kitchen design rules' (e.g. no extractor hood, the sink is right next to the fridge) and it works so well I am sad I didn't take the reno plunge years ago.