Barndominium/Shop or "real" House?

[ETD66SS]

Anyone have a best approach to frame out the kitchen island for the GGS600AVFS range-oven I just orderd?

I don't know much about cabinets, but need to get the range in to get the gas hooked up ASAP, and electrician needs the island rough framing done.

I'm thinking a C-shape frame with 3/4" plywood on the outsides. I could fit 4 cabinets in it, two in front and two in back. The gas supply and electric would come up through the plate on the back wall between the 3 studs there.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

My island is just 2 sets of cabinets back to back with finished side panels that span both sets. I don't see a need for 2x4 framing inside them. Standard depth cabinets on both sides of the range and a run of shallow ones behind. You could just notch the bottom of the cabinet behind the range.

 

[WM75Guy]

Our island is just 6 sets of custom cabinets screwed together. No framing. Some trim pieces on the top to support the granite top.

 

[EddieWalker]

On the islands that I've built, I just frame the back wall where the cabinets mount to. This gives you a place to run your lines up through the floor. Cabinets are 3 feet tall, so that's how high I make that wall.

Since your island is 72 inches wide, the center cabinet for your range is probably going to be 30 or 36 inches. The side cabinets should be the same size. They will have a nice finish on their sides that will be the most attractive.

 

[EddieWalker]

Here's one that I did. It's the biggest one I've done. I think the overall island is 9 feet long and 5 feet wide. The cabinets are KraftMaid from Lowes.

 

[ETD66SS]

On the islands that I've built, I just frame the back wall where the cabinets mount to. This gives you a place to run your lines up through the floor. Cabinets are 3 feet tall, so that's how high I make that wall.

Since your island is 72 inches wide, the center cabinet for your range is probably going to be 30 or 36 inches. The side cabinets should be the same size. They will have a nice finish on their sides that will be the most attractive.

So, looking at my layout, I can just build the wall highlighted in red for the electrician and plumber to bring the untilites up through the floor?

Do I need to make the wall a bit longer to give the slide in rage room on each side? Right now I am showing 1/2" gap around the 3 sides of the range. The wall is also not centered on the depth of the island, so it's not as simple as using four of the same size cabinets?

The range is 30" wide and 28-5/8" deep, so I think it is too deep to have any cabinets behind the range? The goal is for the countertop to be 6' x 3'-6". It can be a bit wider to fit standard width cabinets on eaither side of the range, but I don't have room to make it deeper.

I'm showing a 2" countertop overhang, is that normal?

I'm 6ft tall and I dislike working at the standard countertop height, so when I framed the wall for the kitchen countertop, I framed it 37-1/2" from the subfloor.

37-1/2" - 3/4" (finish floor thickness) + 1-1/4" countertop thickness = 38" tall countertops from the finish floor. I assume I'd have to mount standard cabinets on a riser to get to that height or am I looking at custom height cabinets?

 

[EddieWalker]

If the fronts of the cabinets on either side of the range will be facing the front, then you need that wall to be the full width behind the cabinets. You have it at 72 inches. For cabinets, I always use inches instead of feet when figuring layout.

Is the island going to be granite? Will the granite be 3/4 of an inch thick? Build the wall the height you want the granite to be, minus the thickness of the granite.

Are you having custom cabinets built or are you buying them already made like KraftMaid? If you are having custom cabinets made, then they will make them any height that you want so you can have the counter height you want. If you are buying them from a company like KraftMaid, then they will be standard height. Off the top of my brain, I think that's 35 inches for a finished counter height around 36 inches. If you do that, you need to figure out how to make a spacer above the cabinet that wont look ridiculous after the granite is installed.

I personally prefer pre made cabinets. They are always exact in size and nothing will have a better finish then a cabinet that is put in an oven for a period of time to bake on the finish. It's not even close how much better the finish is from being in an oven compared to what is sprayed on in your house. Costwise, it's always been cheaper to buy them premade too. Cabinets from a shop will be cheaper for just the cabinets and install, but the painter will charge almost as much as the cost of the cabinets to give you a good finish. And it wont be as good as a baked on finish in an oven. If you go with the pre made cabinets, wait until they have a sale. Three day weekends are the best time to buy, they have huge sales then. You can also add on other discounts, like Military, Senior Citizen and even a New Address discount that comes from the Post Office when you move into a new house and register your name for living there. I've seen a $24,000 cabinet total reduced by $10,000 doing this!!!!

 

[ETD66SS]

If the fronts of the cabinets on either side of the range will be facing the front, then you need that wall to be the full width behind the cabinets. You have it at 72 inches. For cabinets, I always use inches instead of feet when figuring layout.

Is the island going to be granite? Will the granite be 3/4 of an inch thick? Build the wall the height you want the granite to be, minus the thickness of the granite.

Are you having custom cabinets built or are you buying them already made like KraftMaid? If you are having custom cabinets made, then they will make them any height that you want so you can have the counter height you want. If you are buying them from a company like KraftMaid, then they will be standard height. Off the top of my brain, I think that's 35 inches for a finished counter height around 36 inches. If you do that, you need to figure out how to make a spacer above the cabinet that wont look ridiculous after the granite is installed.

I personally prefer pre made cabinets. They are always exact in size and nothing will have a better finish then a cabinet that is put in an oven for a period of time to bake on the finish. It's not even close how much better the finish is from being in an oven compared to what is sprayed on in your house. Costwise, it's always been cheaper to buy them premade too. Cabinets from a shop will be cheaper for just the cabinets and install, but the painter will charge almost as much as the cost of the cabinets to give you a good finish. And it wont be as good as a baked on finish in an oven. If you go with the pre made cabinets, wait until they have a sale. Three day weekends are the best time to buy, they have huge sales then. You can also add on other discounts, like Military, Senior Citizen and even a New Address discount that comes from the Post Office when you move into a new house and register your name for living there. I've seen a $24,000 cabinet total reduced by $10,000 doing this!!!!

I think Google may have failed me on the standard countertop thickness being 1-1/4" when I was framing the kitchen countertop wall.

I'm not sure if I am going with granite or lamanite. It really depends on cost. I'm fine with lamanite.

I assumed I could not go with pre-made cabinets because my kitchen was not designed around standard cabinet widths, so I think they need to be custom.

I'm asking the plumber and electrician now what they want. I just need to get the gas meter hooked up, so hoping we can just go through the subfloor for now.

 

[EddieWalker]

If you go with laminate, be sure you know what the edges are going to look like. It's impossible to roll all four sides, so you will have some odd looking edges, or sharp edges all around the island.

I've had clients tell me that they couldn't afford granite and when we went over the prices of other types of counters, granite became more appealing. Eventually they went to a few Granite businesses and realized that they could afford Granite.

My wife and I are going to move our kitchen to the other side of our house. I wont have the money for Granite when it's time to install the counters, so I'll put some plywood down and let her nag me until I save up enough to get them. That motivation will make it happen as soon as possible!!!! But whatever it takes, the couters will be Granite.

 

[WinterDeere]

If you go with laminate, be sure you know what the edges are going to look like. It's impossible to roll all four sides, so you will have some odd looking edges, or sharp edges all around the island.

Unless you go full-retro 1950's, with the chromed steeel edge banding!



We had that in one house I lived in, with a kitchen built in 1953, until my parents re-did it in the 1980's. They did laminate counters with mitered edges, which softened the corners a lot:

Of course, there are miles and miles of durable and inexpensive solid surface options today, that just didn't exist in the mid-1980's. There are dozens of options in cost and durability, between granite and Formica.