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I love my lower cabinet, but not too crazy about the upper one. Never knew what to do with it. Hate that one wall is wood and the other is painted. Help me like this or suggest what you would do with it.

Make a drink center there. Coffee pot or tea pot on counter, pretty cups in the upper cabinet and store your drink items in the bottom!

Bobbier,hello.I think this area is adorable.The wood wall could be sanded and painted the same color as the other wall.Right?

I like CaraRose idea.A coffee center,or phone message area.Leave the top cabinet there & display pretty items in it.Cover inside with pretty fabric or wall paper or chaulk board paint.Then on inside hang messages,ect.So many ideas.

I'd remove the upper cabinet and put in open shelving. You'd be adding depth to the shelves which would make them more useful than the upper you have and you can then turn in into a coffee niche which would look great!

I love that area. So many options, coffee area, memo center or display area. I agree with Jackie that the wood area would look great painted the same as the other wall.

Here are a couple of fun options:

pick an accent color you likefor the interior

or a fun print....

Annie17,I love those inspiration pics.Gives me an idea to paint to add wallpaper to insides of bookcases in my livingroom.

Sunnydaze,I like your idea too.

Take the upper cabinet down and use it somewhere else. It's a cute little cabinet and would be a shame to scrap it. It seems out of scale for the cabinet below as well as appearing to be a different type of wood than the side of the cabinet is is attached to as its color and grain pattern are more distinct. If you do the open shelving as has been suggested, make them wider than the little cabinet that's there. This little corner could also benefit by the installation of an outlet if it's not too much trouble.

I like the idea of leaving the cabinet and using the area as some kind of center. I would paint the wood wall to match the painted wall.

I like the idea of the drink center . . . except how far away from the water supply is it?

As far as painting the wood, I think that is a good idea, but I think I would use chalkboard paint . . . that way you'd have a place to write cute sayings, "coffees" available if you go that route.

Martha

I would leave the upper cabinet but take the door off. The cabinet is out of scale but I think without the door it wouldn't look quite so off. I like the idea of painting the side that is wood. Or if you are handy I would do as Sunny suggested and take that tiny cabinet down and do the open shelving with larger shelves. You can find corner shelves at most home improvement stores but measure what you have now or you might end with the same size shelves.

Can you buy an upper corner cabinet to match the rest of the kitchen?

quote:

Originally posted by *~Bella~*:
Take the upper cabinet down and use it somewhere else. It's a cute little cabinet and would be a shame to scrap it. It seems out of scale for the cabinet below as well as appearing to be a different type of wood than the side of the cabinet is is attached to as its color and grain pattern are more distinct. If you do the open shelving as has been suggested, make them wider than the little cabinet that's there. This little corner could also benefit by the installation of an outlet if it's not too much trouble.

And I would NOT paint that wood that is on the end panel for the fridge! That is part of the kitchen cabinetry and without seeing all the room and adjacent room in one photo I am sure that is not going to balance out the space. Not a good resale idea nor would it look right with the rest of the kitchen (those side panels are expensive to add to a kitchen... )

Open shelving with a backer board sounds like the best solution for your space (and larger like Bella mentioned).

Here's another idea since the backing colors make you think of a jester's costume!

What if you paint the upper cabinet itself a lovely green - perhaps not the exact tone on the wall, but one shade darker since colors that work on walls look so much lighter on furniture. If you love the look of a print backing, line the inside with a contrasting print, OR, use another accent color that is now in your space next to the sage-y green. Robins egg blue would be wonderful, pale yellow would be wonderful, even crisp white to match appliances and tops could work. (Not seeing your colors and accents, I don't want to prescribe - just think about using a lighter contrast for the inside back too - that will hide the 'jester's costume' line.)

Finally, if the drink center idea doesn't fit, I wonder if it isn't right for just one kind of drink - a tea service / tray / teacups and saucers. or bring all your different dishes teacups and saucers here to show off togeter. Add one pretty tray on the counter below in a coordinating color with a little teapot, pretty containers of teabags and all the fixings for tea. You could add hooks to the bottom of the cabinet and hang teacups since it seems fairly high. When friends pop over, you are ready to offer hot tea with all the honey and stirrers, stevia / splenda or whatever your preference on a tray at the ready.

Hot tea is my kitchen centered self-comfort thing - but it could be thought of here as just an archetype for what is yours?

It ought to be functional for you in the kitchen, but also attractive and that depends on what kind of cook you are / what you do for relaxation.

Other ideas - displaying a collection together, using it for seasonal display only, or storing cookbooks here w/ cute bookkends and a large one on an open iron kitchen bookstand below. Could be pretty glass or ceramic canisters of flour and baking essentials or different pasta shapes w/ olive oils displayed below.

I think it has potential, so I wouldn't take it down until I put some things in it and stood back to look - but it does have a small scale for the space, so painting it out differently before you try something else might help that.

I would hang 'art' on either side of it rather than make it bigger - depending on your decor style, a happy kitchen saying plaque on the left and a chalkboard on the right could work with almost any style if you get the right style of plaque and chalkboard.

Hope this spark your own creativity - I know you need that space, and can make it beautiful too!

I agree with the take it down idea. It is too small, it looks uncomfortable.
I would put some open shelving on the wall for interest but not out of the same wood.

quote:

Here's another idea since the backing colors make you think of a jester's costume!

LDE, I'm totally lost here??

That tiny cabinet is absolutely wrong for the space. I would remove it.

I can't see the space in relation to your kitchen, which I also can't see, but it seems that the ultimate best solution would be a full floor to ceiling height cabinet in that space next to the fridge.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: cocok,

Wow, I didn't think I would get so many great ideas. Thanks a bunch. Here is a picture of my kitchen. To the right of the cabinet is a large breakfast nook with a round out of window. Hopefully soon we will be installing ceramic floor tile, new counters, lighting and some of the cabinet doors need refinishing. I have decided to keep my oak cabinet color.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bobbier,

I meant to say ceramic tile flooring.

Annie17, Love the idea of painting the back, if I keep the cabinet up. Thanks for the inspiration pictures.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bobbier,

Bobbier: Very nice large kitchen.. I just caught that you said in the future you were going to remove the cabinets to lay ceramic tile floors.. That caught my eye.. I was just wanted to say as someone who does this kinda work every day, there is no need to remove your cabinets.. that just adds a lot of unneccesary expense. Typically people just lay the tile up to the cabinets and just put quarter round trim down..

I'm with you on removing the cabinets and laying the tile under them. Most people don't do it that way, but some of us prefer it. At some point in my past, I ran across a problem with tile that wasn't installed under the cabinets. Later, when they wanted to put in new cabinets, they weren't able to install them in anything but the existing configuration without also replacing the floors. Also, the cabinets had been put in decades before and not only were they kind of difficult to remove with the flooring in the way, the new cabinets weren't as deep as the old and there would have been a gap between the existing floor and the new base cabinets. It doesn't always happen that way, but to floor to the front of the cabinets instead of going all the way underneath can create issues with future configurations. One more thing it does is make the toe kick space more narrow. If you will be installing a concrete backerboard on top of a wood subfloor (which is probably what's under the vinyl) then the tile, you'll be decreasing the toe kick height by at least 1/2 -3/4" of an inch. Doesn't seem like much, but it can be rather cramped if you happen to have on shoes. For these reasons, I like my flooring to go under the bottom cabinets even if it's more costly. I think it's more of a personal preference.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: *~Bella~*,

Bella, that is interesting.

I just added new cabinets, replaced the appliances and changed their location. I was worried as I love my floor and wondered what could be done under the new appliances.

Luckily, they just removed the floor from under the old fridge and stove and reinstalled where the new appliances were going.

There is no end to the potential problems when you remodel!

LOL! You got that right!