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Cabinet Design - Stock
Wall Cabinet - Modeling In AutoCAD
Wall Cabinet - Anatomy
Wall Cabinet - Cut Sheet & Layout
Wall Cabinet - Exploded View
Wall Cabinet - Sizes - CAD Models

Wall Cabinet - 3018 Standard

Cabinet Design - Custom
Part I Basics
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24" Wide Inlay Base Cabinets

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42" Wide Screen TV Entertainment Ctr
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  1800 S.F. Open Plan Ranch

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  Kitchen - L Shaped CAD Model

 

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Kitchen Design

A fully functional and properly designed kitchen is essential in any well designed home. Typical layouts include the L shape, U shaped, galley, Country Eat-In, and Island.

The first decision is to determine what layout you most like. Are there one or two cooks in your family? If there are two, rule out the galley kitchen as the two cooks will be constantly bumping into each other. Depending on the U shape's dimensions, you may also want to rule this one out. My personal choice for a two cook kitchen is the island layout simply because an island affords the homeowners extra prep space. For an effective island layout, your kitchen will need to be a minimum of 13' X 14' (bigger is definitely better). Island size should be a minimum of 48" deep (two base cabinets back to back) and at least 60" in length. There needs to be a minimum of 36" between the island and any other cabinet, appliance, or other obstruction. In other words, you need a 36" isle running all the way around the island.

Conversations tend to migrate to the kitchen of any home, so keep in mind that no matter how great your living area is, guests eventually will end up in the kitchen. Plan for that now and you will eliminate a probable headache later.

How open is your kitchen to the adjacent rooms? Is one of the adjacent rooms the living area? Remember what I said about visitors migrating to the kitchen? The most successful home designs have the main living or entertainment room adjacent to the kitchen and open as much as possible to the kitchen. This promotes entertainment and conversation between all of your guests.

Go to your local home center and visit the cabinet section of the store. Most will have kitchen idea planning guides available for customers to take home. Take several home and sketch what you think is a good design that you would be comfortable with. Cabinets come in three depths, 24" base cabinets (the kitchen standard), 12" wall cabinets (the kitchen standard), and 18" deep cabinets which are used for all sorts of storage and are installed in laundry rooms and pantries. Let your imagination go! Don't forget to locate windows, doors, and mechanicals on your design.

Major kitchen appliances include, refrigerator, cooktop, oven, stove, dishwasher, trash compactor, bun warmer, and sink.

Once you have several sketches, take them to at least two professional designers and have them evaluate them. The designer will make suggestions for improvement. Why at least two designers? Simple, like an architect, designers have personal preferences. You will really appreciate the design variations between one designer and another.

If you have a specific design question, no matter what the topic, email me and I will be happy to respond!  

michaelsdesign@lycos.com

 

Mission Statement

Michael's design was created to educate consumers about the factors which should be considered in any design, to provide design ideas, computer aided design files, renderings, and other information related to the design of cabinets, furniture, mechanical products, millwork, and residential and commercial buildings. 

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Last modified: 07/28/04