When designing this Illinois kitchen, the architects at Stuart Cohen & Julie Hacker Architects had seasonal affective disorder in mind. They wanted their clients to enjoy as much sunlight as possible during their region’s long winters.
The lines on the traditional divided windows presented a challenge. If the windows and cabinet doors both have divided lines, the lines of the muntins (the bars between the glass panes) should line up for a clean look.
Here they started with fixed windows, then had the cabinets custom built so the muntins on the doors would line up perfectly. The windows below the cabinets are separate awning windows that open. Their panes are the same size as those on the windows above them, which creates a cohesive look.
To support the cabinets, the architects had to get creative. They couldn’t hang them from the angled ceiling, and there weren’t walls on either side to attach them to either. So the sides of the cabinets contain steel plates that are fastened to steel angles built into the vertical posts between the windows.
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There is a simpler way to line things up for a transitional look. In this Northern California kitchen, designer Rochelle Silberman used a vertical picture window that was free of lines. The glass cabinet doors have only horizontal muntins, and she used glass cabinet shelves that disappear from view.
Note: If using wooden shelves inside cabinets, line them up with the cabinet door’s muntins for a clean look. Otherwise, there will be too many horizontal lines, which is not visually pleasing.
Silberman filled the cabinet in front of the window with glassware, which allows the natural light to pass through. This makes the most of the window and the storage potential. And the countertops are pewter, which reflects the light.
This renovated Edwardian home in San Francisco is just a few feet from the neighboring house. So when the homeowner, contractor Aaron Gordon, decided to install windows along that side of the house, it was more about light than views. “The window glass behind the cabinet is translucent. It produces a luminous presence that erases a sense of depth,” says Eric Hartz of Gast Architects, the firm that helped Gordon bring his vision to life.
In order to nod to the home’s original architecture, they chose Edwardian era-appropriate leaded glass for the cabinet doors.
This kitchen facing Lake Minnetonka in Minnesota is all about windows, so the homeowner, architect Laurie Kruhoeffer, concentrated upper cabinets on an interior wall. A tall countertop cabinet is the sole upper cabinet along the kitchen’s exterior walls.
“We didn’t want there to be any dark corners in the kitchen,” Kruhoeffer says. So she designed a window that extends all the way behind the cabinet. When the solid wood doors on the bottom of the cabinet are open, they also offer a view of outdoors — a fun surprise.
If you’re more of an open-shelf type, you can implement this idea too. In this Toronto kitchen, designer Shirley Meisels added long floating shelves in front of a row of three windows. She lined the shelves up with the windows’ horizontal muntins. And painting the window trim black gave them a strong presence behind the shelves.
Note: Long shelves like this will require strong structural support, as they will have to accommodate the weight of china and glassware — shelves will sag or worse without proper support. Here the wall contains structural steel supports for the shelves. In new construction this can be planned at the framing stage. If renovating, your contractor will need to work around existing plumbing pipes and electrical conduits inside the wall, so be sure to plan properly before construction begins.
Harris, Becky. “Great Idea: Windows Behind Kitchen Cabinets” Houzz, November 13, 2018. https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/115749943?utm_source=Houzz&utm_campaign=u9444&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery14&newsletterId=9444