Extreme cabineting

When your space is crazy deep or too shallow and feels impossible to work with.

I’ve mentioned before how challenging I find deep cabinets and closets. This has actually become a recurring theme around here.

It’s a tough problem. At first you think: Sweet, so much space for THINGS!

But then, items start disappearing into the black hole that invariably forms at the back. You find yourself buying duplicates or breaking a sweat digging deeper and deeper into the recesses of the space, until you finally give up and make peace with just not knowing what’s back there.

When we bought our new house and were in the early stages of remodel planning, I knew we’d chosen the right architect when she suggested we just wall off the back of a couple of the weirdly deep closets in the house (“I find very deep spaces unhelpful.” Amen, sister!). She also made the ingenious suggestion to add shallow cabinets along a formerly unused kitchen wall.

So this episode of Your House Machine is about Very Deep Cabinets and Very Shallow Cabinets. A veritable Country Mouse/City Mouse story pla…