Extra high worksurfaces

[loughran]

I've been making furniture for fair few years now, bespoke kitchens are the mainstay of my business. I'm sat at the drawing board this morning tickling the final designs for a customer who has requested finished worksurface height at 950mm.

The customer says she has a bad back and the increased height will alleviate the problem which is fair enough, that's what bespoke is all about but I have a sense of foreboding. There's a lot of furniture that's going to be two inches higher than it should be (in my experience) and I think the whole room is going to look very odd.

I did suggest she keep the kitchen standard and use chopping blocks to increase the working height when and where she needed it.

I know there are quite a few kitchen pros on here.... any thoughts on higher worksurface heights and their implications.

[loughran]

Thanks for you replies, some things I hadn't considered. Making standard height cabinets and jacking them up isn't a bad Idea, means that when the job's fitted and the customer has a change of heart (my real fear) the whole thing is easily reversible. But then how big can kickers get before they look too big, I make mine 120 as a rule, I'll try 170mm tomorrow, see how it looks.

Appliances ! I was wondering how far you could wind those feet out of the white ware before they snapped off, never really pushed the limits before. Platforms for the appliances are going to be necessary.... perhaps I should provide 'service extension platforms' so the dishwasher etc can be pulled forward easily at a later date. The stove is going to have to go on a low staging but then very often Agas sit on some sort of plinth.

The worktop to wall cabinet dimension is the critical one for me and what prompted me to post. I like my wall cabinets 410 above the worksurface, 1310 from the floor, It sets the scene when you walk in the room and creates a certain intimacy. What's it all going to look like when we're 2 inches adrift.

I think I might have to make the wall cabinets just the right size so I can hang them, stand back and if they don't look right, rehang them till they do.

So then, I meet with the customer on Tuesday evening for a progress report from the builders and to discuss these finer points and to meet the husband for the first time. The deal is already done and I've promised myself, after finishing a couple of very challenging jobs recently, I'm going to enjoy this one if it kills me.

All this has made me realise I always always aim for worktop finished height to be 900mm.... is that the normal norm for you guys. It's easy to get out of touch with these things.

[loughran]

Wozy68 said:

Nicey nice, I had to focus for a moment to see what's going on there, is that kicker painted a shade darker or is it shadow. It's a good point, well made though.. who actually cares about kicker height when they've got a lovely kitchen to look at.

Here am I getting all unnecessary about what others are taking in their stride... Now I think about it, I remember years ago one of the sleek German manufactures advertising worksurface heights, 'tailored to you exact requirements'. Possibly Pogen Pohl, revolutionary at the time. I bet they did 950 worksurfaces in the 80s

As you've said, the world is getting taller, (well some of it is) and a lot of it has a bad back so who knows, ten years from know we'll have metre high worksurfaces... or hydraulic floors even.

I'll let you know how it goes but now I can sit with the customer and look all confident about 950 worktops.

Thanks very much.

[loughran]

RevHappy said:

Don't worry if they want deeper worktops and units, 60 deep is old hat as well now

I love putting 700 worktops in. Space permitting they look sooo good and make customers smile like they're doing something naughty.

[loughran]

Surely deeper base units offer an enhanced opportunity to loose even more stuff at the back of the cupboard, a feature that's not really a benefit.

And an 8x4' sheet cuts nicely down the middle for standard cabinets.

10'X5' sheets are heavy.

[loughran]

So this is what 960mm high worksurfaces look like finished.... 13 months later.

Some customers like to take their time with the big decisions.

At the end of the day, the extra 2 and a bit inches in height didn't make an appreciable difference, you wouldn't walk into the room and think anything of it.

Job jobbed, Cheers.

[loughran]

Podie said:

Two sinks?

Two sinks and less than a meter between them.

Pretty standard fare these days, a big main sink/sinks and then a smaller prep sink often in the island for washing your lettuce. If nothing else it serves to break up big boring island slabs and make them more fascinating.

[loughran]

All Farrow and Ball, the wall cabinets are skimming stone, the low cabinets and fridge cabinets are elephants breath and the island is brinjal.

I thought the wall cabinets would look better in mouse testicle but the customer is always right.

[loughran]

Wozy68 said:

Fisher and Paykel rule.

What is that splashback Wozy, it looks like glass.

And the sink worksurface ?