Hello,
I apologize if I am posting this in the wrong area, I wasn't sure which forum topic would be most appropriate for this question.

I am hoping someone here can help my fiance and I settle a dispute that we are having about kitchen renovations.
Recently we purchase a new (to us) home, and we are looking to renovate the kitchen. We both agree that a large pole which runs through the kitchen counter and suspends the cabinets is an eyesore, but we are divided about what our alternatives are.

I would like to install poles in the ceiling to hold the cabinets, however my fiance believes that building a false wall in the area where the pole currently is would be the simplest and cheaper option.
Does anyone have any experience with this kind of work? If someone could share some pros and cons with either approaches, that would be awesome!

 

Welcome to the forums! You'll get several ideas from people so choose the best for you. Just to note some ideas of mine. The wall idea is the most stable (fiance - 1). The pole is ugly. What will you do, remove the pole? What will you do with the countertop? It will need to be cut by a professional. How about the hole where the pole is fastened to the floor? Can it be repaired? You'll also need to determine the plumbness of a line from the lower cabinet ends to the upper cabinet ends. Do they match? Poles from the ceiling may allow for cabinet swaying, so I'd study that a little more.

 

If you are removing all the cabinets I'd build a wall [maybe with a pass thru opening] and hang the new cabinets on it.

 

Couple of things:

- Cabinets purchased at big stores are usually individual cabinets. If you have let's say a 7' run of cabinets screwed together, the cabinets will be weakened without (rear) wall or ceiling support.

- It appears your example is a one piece cabinet that runs the entire length and would be stronger. I personally have not seen such a cabinet for sale, maybe others have.

- Just my personal taste but when doing a complete remodel, I like to see the upper peninsula cabinets gone. I think the loss of storage space is worth it to open up the room.

- I would consider hanging them from the ceiling, no wall and no pole. One idea is to build a shallow box above the cabinets, Acting as a spacer between the ceiling and cabinet tops. The box could be recessed in from the cabinet edges to create a shadow line. Just some ideas.

 

Build a frame from the ceiling to fit the inside dimensions of the tops of the cabinets. Hang the cabinets to the bottom of the frame. Enclose the frame above the cabinets with matching plywood. The enclosure would not be necessary if the cabinets are tall enough to reach all the way to the ceiling.