Ceiling height kitch cupboards – do they exist?!

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Ceiling height kitch cupboards – do they exist?!

We are looking to have our kitchen redone. It’s not huge, but not small. It’s about 2.5x3.5m. In a house of 5 it needs to have as much usable storage as possible. Also I don’t like the current void of about 300m at the top of our cupboards. I make it look lovely and then DH puts spare packets of pasta up there and half opened crackers. So for our new kitchen I’d like the stashes he has up there out of sight.

I have had drawings done by Howdens, Magnet, and done my own in Ikea & DIY Kitchens. None of them have units tall enough for an 8ft ceiling. So I thought I could put a small horizontal cupboard on top, but these open up and need about 100m clearance too. I’d really like it flush. Anyone know of a solution?

Thanks!

You need to get the appropriate size cupboards to fill your space, and then use a cover panel to fill any remaining gap on the top. Ceilings are different heights, and kitchen ranges are different, so the precise measurements will depend on what you are using. You may need to use a combination of two cupboards instead of one. For example, I have an Ikea kitchen, and I have base units, worktop, then one 40cm cupboard below, and one 60cm cupboard above and a cover panel to fit to the ceiling.

What Whiskyowl says - in a flat we had a bank of floor-to-ceiling cupboards (Victorian, high ceilings) and just played with the different options of size of cupboards to create it, and where we placed them.

So instead of putting one "standard" wall cupboard, then top-opening ones above, you could fit 2 smaller cupboards that will then make use of the whole space, or even fit the "standard" cupboards closer to the ceiling, use a panel to make it flush, then use open shelving below, perhaps.

You need to look at all the measurements of all the units and have a play, don't rely on the usual way of doing things.

"You need to look at all the measurements of all the units and have a play, don't rely on the usual way of doing things."

This x 1000.

Listen to the kitchen designers -they've worked on loads of places, and they give good advice. But don't rely on them completely to know how you, personally, use space. The more investment you put into the space, the more thought you give it, the better the result will be for you.

If you get a good kitchen/cabinet fitter, they can also build you storage around the carcasses which will fit.

Two smaller cupboards to run flush

Flush with open shelving below

Thanks for the ideas guys...this is what I asked Howdens to do - the open shelves at the bottom:

my-kitchen.howdens.com/plan/4iD87128100013mr

And then this is the magnet version, but I think this just doesn't actually show the real height of the room which will still have the gap.

panorama.magnet.2020.net/view/prnsxymcrukihxb1sesoda/

I like the Howdens one loads better. It's going to be really hard to reach into the corner of those shelves Magnet have put in, and they don't look as nice. I'd put a cover panel on the top of the Howden units and I would also think about a boxed in extractor rather than a hood, as it will look loads sleeker.

I would put the washer where the fridge is, the dishwasher where the washer is, and the fridge where the dishwasher is.

On the howdens one, you could have under counter fridge and freezer opposite the cooker. Then the wall to the left of the foot can have floor to ceiling narrow cabinets (wall cabinets) which will give you lots of storage space. Also the breakfast bar bit could be rounded off so easier to move /flow into the kitchen from the doorway.

I didn’t see the dishwasher opposite the cooker - if you want to fit that in too, my suggestion above may not work!

Have you got a garage to put a freezer in - then you could have an under counter fridge.

Also think about other places you could move the washing machine. My friend has hers under her stairs (in a cupboard) - it deadens the noise too.

Ooops, just realised that may be an undercounter freezer and not a fridge? When I say 'fridge' I mean whatever appliance is currently next to the dishwasher.

You guys are better than the pros! I am amazed!

whiskyowl - I agree with all your thoughts! I actually have worked out that we can move the drier and the washer to under the stairs, so that opens it up a fair amount. But does create issues with getting into the corners on the base units.

Magnets only edge is that they had plinth drawers, which I like the idea of for pans. As I currently have pans in the cooker!

But in reality I am leaning toward Ikea or DIY kitchens for the units so that we can make it exactly as we'd like.

Get the tallest cupboards available and box in the gap above them using beams and plasterboard.

I can thoroughly recommend DIY kitchens for customer service, delivery and quality of units. Once you have a drawing, ordering is a doddle too.

And I can thoroughly NOT recommend Ikea for customer service and delivery. My kitchen was supposed to be with me on 27 December, and it's actually coming in 7 separate deliveries to 5 February. Customer service worse than useless on the phone. Quality of units is fantastic, though.

DailyMaileatmyshit - I keep reading that about them - which is really reassuring. We've just redone our bathroom and had a really big issue getting tiles from posh - Fired Earth. Totally useless. So I am keen for a simple transaction with a good supplier!

Whiskyowl - I keep reading hot and cold issues with Ikea. How are you coping with that much of a delay? Do you have space to keep it, are you doing it your self? We'd not be able to cope as we have no storage. I'll ideally have the new kitchen come a day or two before the old one is ripped out!

We had an Ikea kitchen in our old place - it was great. The units were huge and went all the way up to the ceiling (we had high ceilings) and they also do plinth drawers (not that we had them, but I would have liked them). I've heard good and bad things about customer service. We had a great experience with them....

Thank you ok. I am currently looking at a juicer, a smoothie maker, a food processor, a slow cooker, a bamboo steamer, various biscuit/cake tins and a plastic box of gubbins, all of which belong to DH and are gathering dust on the kitchen units.

When we replace our knackered and falling apart kitchen, I have already told him that one side will be floor to ceiling units and I'm quite happy to lose worktop dh's dumping ground space to achieve it!

Hi there, new poster here.

In my kitchen I have some floor to ceiling cupboards which are 2150mm + 150mm plinth + about 50 mm cornice thing, and this fits just right.

You could also take wall units up to ceiling (eg using 900mm high instead of 720mm I think).

Obviously as mentioned above, depends on spacing, distance between worktop and wall units etc. Also watch out for uneven ceilings!

We've managed to install some cupboards, but we can't store anything in them, or use the kitchen since it doesn't have an oven, hob, sink or worktops. All of our stuff is piled in our front room in boxes, and we are literally cooking on the floor for want of usable space. It's utterly, utterly grim, honestly the worst customer service experience of my entire life. When you try to ring them to deal with the problems, you wait for hours on a hold line and then no-one on the end of the phone can do anything. It really is just "computer says no". In the meantime, we ahve incurred a load of additional costs -
everything from delaying the fitting to eating out a lot. I'm going to be launching a hefty claim for compensation when it is all over. I would seriously advise NOT using this company.

whiskyowl - holy cow! Thats terrible. I would be keeping receipts and try them on twitter. I have found twitter gets companies moving as bad press can so quickly go viral. Nonetheless I hope its sorted sooner than later for you. Poor you!

I've tried Twitter. It's hopeless, they are a juggernaut so huge that they can't adjust anything or pull out any stops, even when they've royally screwed up. This is also why they are cheap.

They spew a load of old bollocks at you, too. Particularly galling is the following line: "Whether customers have spent £5 or £500 with us, we treat them the same". Laudably egalitarian, until you realise that the problems associated with a £7000 kitchen vastly outweigh anything you could possibly experience with a £5 shelf, but that you're actually being treated in the same way as the £5 shelf person, i.e. like shit!

There are a lot of people out there with similar issues - check out online reviews on Trustpilot etc.

You could put wall units in then top boxes above them? You may need a ladder to reach them but at least you get units to the ceiling and stuff out of sight! :-)