How to Design Kitchen Cabinets with Mock-Ups

When they were house-hunting, Craig and Amanda Zehnder were immediately attracted to a 1901 farmhouse in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood. Although it was in great shape for its age, the kitchen had been gutted in the early 1980s and remodeled in a style that was deficient in practicality and aesthetics. The Zehnders wanted to redo the space to look like a farmhouse kitchen, as well as make it more functional. The key to enhancing functionality turned out to be moving a stairway whose door opened into the kitchen a few feet to the east and then moving the door to the hall. After that change was made, Craig made mock-ups of the cabinets and counters out of cardboard to make sure the proportions of the new kitchen were correct.

Online members can read the Fine Homebuilding Magazine companion article, From Cardboard to Cabinets.