Kitchens of Convenience
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Your customers will love custom details you can put into their kitchen. Here’s a gallery of ideas you can pass along. Most are easy to add to the cabinetry on your next job.
Shown: A track mounted library ladder makes it easier to get to upper cabinets than hauling a step stool out of the broom closet. The ladder can be rolled to a corner when not in use or even used as a makeshift seat for kitchen visitors. But think twice if you have a climbing cat.
No Visible Means of Support
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No sharp corners on these shelves will prevent dinged knuckles. And the lack of vertical supports in the inside corners make the storage space more usable.
Cutaway Shelf Partitions
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Dividing a lower cabinet with vertical partitions makes an excellent place to store and organize platters, cutting boards and serving trays.
What You Need Near the Stove
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Installing drawers behind lower cabinet doors uses space wisely. Condiment bottles are highly visible when stored on raised racks inside a drawer.
Pots in Their Place
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Heavy-duty, under-mount drawer slides hold heavy pots near the cooktop.
Articulating Shelf for Upper Cabinets
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KraftMaid’s Contempo pull-down storage unit has a cushioned grip handles that pulls forward and downward for easy reach and comfortable use.
Built-In Countertop Knife Rack
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Instead of a standard backsplash, ask your customers if they want a custom made space for their knives. It’s a nice extra to offer.
Pull-Out Pantry
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Sliding shelves make for easy access to dry goods in a tall, deep cupboard.
Stackable Washer and Dryer
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Hiding a stackable washer and dryer in a nook off the kitchen allows your client to throw in a load while dinner is cooking. A corkboard on the side of the cabinet improves the use of the otherwise dead space.
Drawer Partitions
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Adding partitions to kitchen drawers is a fast add-on extra that customers love. They’ll think you’re a genius.
Double-Duty Hutch
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Of course, this won’t work with every floor plan, but a built-in hutch between a kitchen and dining area breaks up the two spaces. One side can have kitchen gear, and the other store dishware, silverware and serving items.
Hidden Vacuum Cleaner
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What a cool idea! Hidden behind this hinged faux drawer front is a vacuum hose that’s attached to a canister vac hung from the floor joists in the basement below. It’s a perfect crumb picker-upper for the kitchen.
And where there are kids, there are cookie crumbs, so Eric rigged up his own spin on central vac, using a $40 shop vac and some ingenuity. After hanging the canister from the basement ceiling, he threaded the hose up through the floor and into a bottom drawer in the island that faces the dining area. A drawer front flips down to reveal the hose and wand, and a switch built into the cabinets turns it on. Now the kids take turns vacuuming as part of post-dinner cleanup.