Rethinking Cabinet Depth
Forget everything you knew about wall cabinets. Well, almost.
Since the introduction of the current post-WWII kitchen, there have been standard sizes for kitchen cabinets in the North American home. Base cabinets are 24 inches deep, wall cabinets are 12 inches deep, and the space between the counter and the wall cabinets is 18 inches. Of course these are all customizable, but this is the commonly accepted baseline and customization typically comes at an extra cost. If you’re on a budget or want to do it yourself, these were the standard sizes you would work with.
But as the world changes, so do social norms. A growing trend in home decor design is larger, more creative dinnerware. Literally the largest palate for displaying your creativity is most commonly used item – the dinner plate – and there has been a gradual increase in the physical size of dinner plates.
The old standard of a 12″ deep cabinet was amble storage for the common dinner plate. But as creativity – and products – expand, the cabinet needs to accommodate these changes. It is becoming more and more common that customers require 13″ deep wall cabinets to accommodate their dinnerware. Enns Cabinetry has decided to offer either size at no upgraded cost to our customers.
Alternatives
With the increased size comes increased weight as well, and it can be difficult to lift or lower that extra weight. There are alternatives to just placing your dishes in a wall cabinet. One of these alternatives is to put your dishes in your base (or “floor”) cabinets with a dish peg system. There are many different configurations, colours, and materials available. The one picture below for example is constructed with UV treated Maple plywood, and the pegs can easily be moved to fit whatever size dinnerware you choose to put in it.
Be Prepared
When planning a new kitchen or kitchen renovation, it’s important to be aware of what sizes your dishes are. It may not be something you’ve thought of, but with alternative options to dinnerware storage, maybe you want to consider putting them in a non-traditional place like a drawer.
The team at Enns Cabinetry has experience with a variety of kitchen configurations and storage accessories. We are happy to work with you and create the most efficient, usable storage solution for your daily needs.
